September 24-25th Treeleaf Weekly Zazenkai - "Not Open, Not Closed" Zazenkai

Today's little talk will be coming from this: The Eyes of Zazen: Neither Open Nor Closed
https://www.treeleaf.org/forums/show...346#post290346

Dear All,

Please sit our Treeleaf Zazenkai for 90 minutes with Zazen, Heart Sutra and more:

10am Japan Saturday morning, NY 9pm, LA 6pm Friday night, London 2am and Paris 3am Saturday morning, or any time thereafter here:

https://youtu.be/8wxrpx_nwLY

However, "one way" live sitters are encouraged to come into the Zoom sitting, and just leave the camera and microphone turned off: Join live (with or without a camera & microphone) on Zoom at: TREELEAF Now OR at DIRECT ZOOM LINK, password (if needed): dogen

00:00 – 00:15 CEREMONY (HEART SUTRA in English) and Dedication
00:15 – 00:45 ZAZEN
00:45 – 00:55 KINHIN
00:55 – 01:25 ZAZEN
01:25 – 01:30 VERSE OF ATONEMENT & FOUR VOWS
01:30 - 01:45(?) Informal Tea Time (All Welcome)

Gassho, Jundo

SatTodayLah



PS - There is no "wrong" or "right" in Zazen ... yet here is a little explanation of the "right" times to Bow (A Koan) ...

https://youtu.be/GR6POpsXh9Q

Chant Book is here for those who wish to join in: CHANT BOOK LINK

The other video I mention on Zendo decorum is this one, from our "Always Beginners" video Series:

Sit-a-Long with Jundo: Zazen for Beginners (12) - Basic Zendo Decorum At Home
https://www.treeleaf.org/forums/show...093#post189093

I also recommend a little Talk on why small rituals and procedures are so cherished in the Zendo:

SIT-A-LONG with Jundo: Small Things in the Zendo
https://www.treeleaf.org/forums/show...s-in-the-Zendo

See you all there. gassho1

Gassho,
Koushi
STLaH

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Koushi

See you all there. gassho1

Gassho,
Koushi
STLaH

---

Not if we see you first. :p

Gassho, J

STLah

See you all later! [emoji1374]

[emoji1374] SatToday

See you all then

-satToday

Will be there with the bells [emoji348]

Gassho
Jakuden
SatToday/LAH


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Zoom and youtube are ready to go. I will be doing the "techno-Ino" thing from my desk tonight (camera off).

Deep bows to all,
Sekishi
#sat #lah

Looking forward to sitting with all of you!

Gassho,

Shade

ST

see all on Youtube

Jon T

I will have to join you all on demand this time. Not enough hours in the day; glad I can join you all across time gassho2 See you all soon.

Gassho,

Ryan
SatToday LaH

Know that I came late. Know that this week I shall not miss one single day with you and watching now.
Gassho
sat/lah

Thank you, Jundo, Jakuden, and Sekishi, and everyone, for another lovely zazenkai with a thoughtful talk. Tea time was eye-opening as well.

Gassho,
Onkai
Sat/lah

Thank you Jundo, Jakuden, Sekishi, and everyone for a wonderful zazenkai!

Jundo's song of choice at the end may have been a little too far back for me, but I was reminded of Rockwell - Somebody's Watching Me, if anyone needs a nice Halloween themed ear worm. [happy]

Gassho,
Koushi
STLaH

I thank and appreciate all of you!
Deep bows to Jundo, Jakuden and Sekishi! [emoji2309]

[emoji1374] SatToday

The image I mentioned in the talk ... by a physicist, John Wheeler ...

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/i...QEiJo&usqp=CAU

More about him ...

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com...ate-the-world/

... and the song ... in this version (although the title is not so PC) by legendary film director Busby Berkeley, who truly understood that one is many, many just one ...

https://youtu.be/P76cUtCGRQs

Gassho, J

STLah

Thank you everyone, todays talk was especially interesting!

Sorry I had to dash from first Zazen sit a minute early, area leader came over to talk to me about the Lion Dance I'm about to go participate in! But I came back quickly straight into Kinhin. The Tea House afterwards was also really enjoyable. It's always a pleasure to hear other people talk about their practice or life experiences.

Gassho
Mark
ST

Thank you Jundo, Jakuden and everyone else! It was nice practicing with you!

Many of you will probably know the famous quote from Carl Sagan: "The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself."

Gassho, Nikolas
Sat/Lah

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gassho2

Thanks for sitting, everyone!

When you sit, the universe is sitting on itself!

gassho2
Sekiyuu
Sat Today

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

Thank you, all

Thank you everyone.

Gassho, Seiko, stlah

Thank you everyone. I sat with you this morning.

gassho2
Tairin
Sat today and lah

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Nikos

Thank you Jundo, Jakuden and everyone else! It was nice practicing with you!

Many of you will probably know the famous quote from Carl Sagan: "The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself."

Gassho, Nikolas
Sat/Lah

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---

Oooooh, I forgot about that! I was a pretty big Carl Sagan fan, and somewhere in the back of my brain I knew that whenever Jundo talked about us being the universe looking at itself it reminded me of something, and now I know what it was.

Gassho
Jakuden
SatToday/Lent a little hand

Thank you everyone!

Gassho,
Kotei sat/lah today.

Thank you others for allowing me practice in one way 1/2 time.
Gassho
sat/ lah


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Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Nikos

Many of you will probably know the famous quote from Carl Sagan: "The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself."

---

Apologies in advance - I have a thing for this quote...

A month or two ago my son had an upset stomach and took some Pepto-bismol. He said something to me like, "You know, bismuth cannot form in most stars, only red-giants that eventually go super-nova. Through massive explosions our upset stomachs are calmed." gassho1

But, one of my favorite deliveries of this line comes from the character Delenn on Babylon 5.

> The molecules of your body are the same molecules . . . that burn inside the stars themselves. We are star stuff. We are the Universe, made manifest, trying to figure itself out.
>> ~ Delenn, Babylon 5, _A Distant Star_


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhD0hbGEDSU


A while back I really got into exploring this expression of "being starstuff". In particular the word "stuff" really strikes me - so non-specific and simple. Another word for "dharmas", or for the "red dust" of some of the old Zen stories.

But, I found that there is an older usage of the term in this context. This one by science author H. Gordon Garbedian in 1929:

> We are made of the same stuff as the stars, so when we study astronomy we are in a way only investigating our remote ancestry and our place in the universe of star stuff. Our very bodies consist of the same chemical elements found in the most distant nebulae, and our activities are guided by the same universal rules.
>> ~H. Gordon Garbedian, 1929 August 11, New York Times, Section: New York Times Magazine, _The Star Stuff That Is Man_ by H. Gordon Garbedian, Quote Page SM1.


But, it is possible that he in turn borrowed it from Albert Durrant Watson who used it in a way even more aligned with "dharmas" or "skanhas" in 1918:

> Thus we come to see that if our bodies are made of star-stuff, and there is nothing else, says the spectroscope, to make them of—the loftier qualities of our being are just as necessarily constituents of that universal substance out of which are made, "Whatever gods there be."
> We are made of universal and divine ingredients, and the study of the stars will not let us escape a wholesome and final knowledge of the fact.
>> ~Albert Durrant Watson, The Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, Volume 12, Number 3, _Astronomy: A Cultural Avocation by Albert Durrant Watson (Retiring President’s Address_, Annual Meeting, January 29, 1918


Perhaps there are older formulations. I do not know. But how lovely it can be when science, astronomy, philosophy, and religion find the common ground of truth. Right here in the world of the red dust - starstuff.

Deep bows,
Sekishi

Apologies for yet another post, but during the talk all I could hear in my head was a sample (original from Cowboy Bebop) used in an old lofi hiphop track "The Eye of Truth" from the Driver album _Bumps_:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haL29Hnhfac


> Know this Swimming Bird: This blue eye perceives all things conjoined. The past, the future, and the present. Everything flows and all is connected. This eye is not merely seeing reality. It is touching the truth. Open the eye of truth... There is nothing to fear.
>> Laughing Bull, _Cowboy Bebop_

Ok, enough with the quotes. Enjoy your day, conjoined with all things, different but not separate, at one - not two, starstuff walking and talking - head nodding.

Deep bows,
Sekishi
#sat

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Sekishi

Apologies in advance - I have a thing for this quote...

A month or two ago my son had an upset stomach and took some Pepto-bismol. He said something to me like, "You know, bismuth cannot form in most stars, only red-giants that eventually go super-nova. Through massive explosions our upset stomachs are calmed." gassho1

But, one of my favorite deliveries of this line comes from the character Delenn on Babylon 5.

> The molecules of your body are the same molecules . . . that burn inside the stars themselves. We are star stuff. We are the Universe, made manifest, trying to figure itself out.
>> ~ Delenn, Babylon 5, _A Distant Star_


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhD0hbGEDSU


A while back I really got into exploring this expression of "being starstuff". In particular the word "stuff" really strikes me - so non-specific and simple. Another word for "dharmas", or for the "red dust" of some of the old Zen stories.

But, I found that there is an older usage of the term in this context. This one by science author H. Gordon Garbedian in 1929:

> We are made of the same stuff as the stars, so when we study astronomy we are in a way only investigating our remote ancestry and our place in the universe of star stuff. Our very bodies consist of the same chemical elements found in the most distant nebulae, and our activities are guided by the same universal rules.
>> ~H. Gordon Garbedian, 1929 August 11, New York Times, Section: New York Times Magazine, _The Star Stuff That Is Man_ by H. Gordon Garbedian, Quote Page SM1.


But, it is possible that he in turn borrowed it from Albert Durrant Watson who used it in a way even more aligned with "dharmas" or "skanhas" in 1918:

> Thus we come to see that if our bodies are made of star-stuff, and there is nothing else, says the spectroscope, to make them of—the loftier qualities of our being are just as necessarily constituents of that universal substance out of which are made, "Whatever gods there be."
> We are made of universal and divine ingredients, and the study of the stars will not let us escape a wholesome and final knowledge of the fact.
>> ~Albert Durrant Watson, The Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, Volume 12, Number 3, _Astronomy: A Cultural Avocation by Albert Durrant Watson (Retiring President’s Address_, Annual Meeting, January 29, 1918


Perhaps there are older formulations. I do not know. But how lovely it can be when science, astronomy, philosophy, and religion find the common ground of truth. Right here in the world of the red dust - starstuff.

Deep bows,
Sekishi

---

[mindblowing]

Thank you all!

Gassho

Risho
-stlah

One [emoji3516] last entry. When that star ⭐️ goes super nova, I want to live on a planet where I can see it, not close enough to get burned up in my next life, In my next world [emoji289].
Gassho
sat/ lah


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jundo

The image I mentioned in the talk ... by a physicist, John Wheeler ...

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/i...QEiJo&usqp=CAU

---

Sat with this on Saturday evening.

So, the eye sees the U, and they are the same, such as I and you:emptiness:

Gassho
Kantai

SatLah

I know what two books of poetry and one novel will be done what is possible to complete my work. Finish the book in the works Book next about Portraits of Their Lives, Novel The Orange Bicycle, book three I have the beginning of an Outline. Can I finish these by age 77, Patty Brown about finished. That’s four books. Then, early papers and poetry Grinnell has the first two books I will send this third soon. I will only opt for surgery if surgeon can give me a better than 65%chance. That’s what Dr Kim gave me during imaging consultation in my neurologist floor ICU. My case is serious so I won’t become email and depend on Treeleaf Zendo, Therapy and Church.? Key can I finish books in length of time with my memory in tact? That’s two to three books in 7 years?
This is an unknown! It’s even an unknown how long I will have my memories. Long term will be in tact. Books are a possibility if I chooses nothings. I might have no choice lol [emoji38]


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Jundo I really did sit last night. As usual focus for 20 minutes. Please please save above it saves me so time and thoughts
Gassho
sat/ lah


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tai Shi

Jundo I really did sit last night. As usual focus for 20 minutes. Please please save above it saves me so time and thoughts
Gassho
sat/ lah

---

Your posts are not being censored, Taigu. Be at ease.

We are all with you, friend.

Gassho, Jundo

I love how so much can be extrapolated from as simple a gesture as not closing the eyes in shikantaza [gassholook] Wonderful talk, Jundo.

Thank you Jakuden, Jundo, and everyone who sat/will sit. Sat with you all this morning.

Gassho,

Ryan
SatToday

Thank you all for a wonderful zazenkai session which I have now caught up on. The dharma talk was eye-opening and right up my street. I concur that there is place where one day science, mysticism, philosophy and practice will meet each other in being and understanding. Those out there physicists of today will be less out there tomorrow.

Jeez I love this stuff, so thank you all for sharing.

Gassho,

Ryokudo

SAT/LAH

Thank you everyone.

Sat

Thank you for this teaching.

Gassho2, meian stlh

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I would like to see some finish hours and hours and hours of Zazenkai when with my disabilities I find it difficult to finish 45 or 50 minutes of one. How could someone find the time to thoroughly relax the reality of a Zazenkai for dozens of years and months and hours?
Gassho
sat/ lah


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tai Shi

I would like to see some finish hours and hours and hours of Zazenkai when with my disabilities I find it difficult to finish 45 or 50 minutes of one. How could someone find the time to thoroughly relax the reality of a Zazenkai for dozens of years and months and hours?
Gassho
sat/ lah


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Do what you can, Taishi. It is not a matter of length, and the real Zazenkai has no start or finish. If you get tired, rest.

Gassho, J

STLah

Quote:

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the real Zazenkai has no start or finish

---

Sat with you beyond time (away celebrating 20th anniversary)

Thank you everyone gassho1

Gassho, Yokai sat/lah

Thank you all! I hope you had a good 20th anniversary, Yokai!

Gassho
Kokuu

Sat on demand, thank you everyone for the practice.

Gassho,
John
Sat today

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