October 7th-8th, 2016 - OUR MONTHLY 4-hour ZAZENKAI!

Today's Talk will shine on Cases from the Book of Serenity & Master Dogen's Kyōjukaimon (text below)

We welcome Shugen and Shingen as our Shuso 'Head Seats' to guide Ango and Jukai this month, and thank Daizan and Sekishi for their hard work during the past weeks. Shokai and Kyonin continue to keep a light hand on the tiller for our Precept Reflections.

Please 'sit-a-long' with our MONTHLY 4-hour ZAZENKAI, netcast LIVE 8am to noon Japan time Saturday morning (that is New York 7pm to 11pm, Los Angeles 4pm to 8pm (Friday night), London midnight to 4am and Paris 1am to 5am (early Saturday morning)) ... and visible at the following link during those times ...

... to be visible on the below screen during those times and any time thereafter ...

LIVE ZAZENKAI NETCAST at GOOGLE+ IS HERE:
CLICK ON THE TAB ON LOWER RIGHT FOR 'FULL SCREEN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUsk5pFVM88

Dharma talk audio / podcast episode:
http://treeleaf.podbean.com/e/octobe...or-ango-jukai/

FOR THOSE NOT ALREADY MEMBERS OF THE CIRCLE WHO WISH TO JOIN TO SIT LIVE WITH A CAMERA, INSTRUCTIONS are posted AT THIS LINK. WE ARE NOW LIMITED TO 10 INDIVIDUALS WITH CAMERAS, BUT ANY NUMBER CAN WATCH LIVE 'ONE WAY' AND SIT-A-LONG VIA THE ABOVE SCREEN. IF JOINING WITH CAMERA, PLEASE MAKE SURE YOUR MICROPHONE IS MUTED:

The Sitting Schedule is as follows:

00:00 - 00:50 CEREMONY (HEART SUTRA IN JAPANESE / SANDOKAI IN ENGLISH) & ZAZEN
00:50 - 01:00 KINHIN
01:00 - 01:30 ZAZEN
01:30 - 01:50 KINHIN

01:50 - 02:30 DHARMA TALK & ZAZEN
02:30 - 02:40 KINHIN

02:40 - 03:15 ZAZEN
03:15 - 03:30 KINHIN
03:30 - 04:00 METTA CHANT & ZAZEN, VERSE OF ATONEMENT, FOUR VOWS, & CLOSING


Our Zazenkai consists of our chanting the 'Heart Sutra' in Japanese and the 'Identity of Relative and Absolute (Sandokai)' in English (please download our Chant Book at the link below), some full floor prostrations (please follow along with me ... or a simple Gassho can be substituted if you wish), a little talk by me ... and we close with the 'Metta Chant', followed at the end with the 'Verse of Atonement' and 'The Four Vows'. Oh, and lots and lots of Zazen and walkin' Kinhin in between!

Please download and print out the Chants we will recite at the following link (PDF):

Chant Book (PDF)

or

Chant Book (SHORT VERSION HTML)

I STRONGLY SUGGEST THAT YOU POSITION YOUR ZAFU ON THE FLOOR IN A PLACE WHERE YOU ARE NOT STARING DIRECTLY AT THE COMPUTER SCREEN, BUT CAN GLANCE OVER AND SEE THE SCREEN WHEN NECESSARY. YOUR ZAFU SHOULD ALSO BE IN A POSITION WHERE YOU CAN SEE THE COMPUTER SCREEN WHILE STANDING IN FRONT OF THE ZAFU FOR THE CEREMONIES, AND HAVE ROOM FOR BOWING AND KINHIN.

ALSO, REMEMBER TO SET YOUR COMPUTER (& SCREEN SAVER) SO THAT IT DOES NOT SHUT OFF DURING THE 4 HOURS.

I hope you will join us ... an open Zafu is waiting. When we drop all thought of 'here' 'there' 'now' 'then' ... we are sitting all together!


Gassho, Jundo

Cases from the Book of Serenity & Master Dogen's Kyōjukaimon (Verses on Teaching and Conferring the Precepts)


CASE 67: THE FLOWER GARLAND SUTRA’S WISDOM

PREFACE TO THE ASSEMBLY
A speck of dust contains the ten thousand shapes.
A single thought is endowed with the three thousand realms.
How much more so a great man crowned by heaven and standing upon earth?
...

MAIN CASE
Attention!
In the Flower Garland Sutra, the Buddha says: "As I now see all sentient beings everywhere,
they're endowed with the Tathagata's wisdom and virtue.
But because of deluded thoughts and attachments, they do not realize it."


CASE 66: KYUHO’S HEAD AND TAIL

... Attention!
A monk asked old Master Kyuho, "What is the head?"
Kyuho said, "Opening the eyes and not being aware of the dawn."
The monk asked, "What is the tail?"
Kyuho replied, "Not sitting on an eternal seat."
...

Quote:

---

Precept Practice and Theory in Sōtō Zen
David E. Riggs

In mainstream Chinese Buddhism ... the precepts are an all-important part, but only a part, of Buddhist practice. They are the crucial initial step upon which the later practices of meditation and wisdom depend. The other viewpoint holds that taking the precepts in some sense completes practice, which is what came to be the Sōtō position under the name of the unity of Zen and the precepts ( zenkai itchi 禪戒一致 ). This view is very similar to the Tendai notion that precepts are expressions of innate Buddha nature. ...

... the trend was strongly toward the unity of Zen and precepts, following the research of Banjin Dōtan 萬仞道坦 (1698-1775) into the the Bonmōkyōryakushō 梵網經略抄 (1309)written in the first generation after Dōgen (S-Chūkai-2). This all-important text explains Dōgen's Busso shōden kyōjukaimon in terms that make it clear that Dōgen's regarded the precepts as not being bound by textual details and moral prescriptions but entailed awakening itself (Bodiford 1993, 171-173). Banjin claimed on the basis of his reading of this commentary that Dōgen's view was that taking the precepts entailed Buddhahood and that both Zen and the precepts were the eye of the true dharma. The question of following the precepts is of little importance; it is the taking of the precepts, the ceremony, which confers the transcendent benefit. ...

... This transcendental view of the precepts as the text of an initiation or consecration ceremony is the view that came to prevail in Japanese Sōtō. ... [The Jukai Ceremony at Eiheiji in Japan] clearly follows the line of thought which flows from Banjin's teaching. The ceremony itself is a complete religious event, one which can be repeated, and yet one from which there can be no retreat, no defeat. Although the manual which was distrubed to everyone at the beginning clearly says that to receive the precepts is to become a disciple of the Buddha, the ordinands have themselves become Buddha. They go forth in a new life, unburdened by either their past transgression or the concern of trying to live up to a new standard.
http://repo.lib.ryukoku.ac.jp/jspui/...0005242161.pdf

---

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kyōjukaimon
Verses on Teaching and Conferring the Precepts by Eihei Dōgen, partial
translated by Tenshin Reb Anderson, revised by Kōkyō Henkel
http://terebess.hu/zen/szoto/SotoZenTexts.pdf


1. Not killing life {fu sesshō kai 不殺生戒}
生命不殺。佛種増長。可續佛慧命。莫殺生命也
Life is not killed, and the Buddha Seed grows, succeeding to the life of Buddha’s
wisdom; do not kill life.

2. Not taking what is not given {fu chū tō kai 不偸盗戒}
心境如如。解脱門開也
In the suchness of mind and objects, the gate of liberation opens.

3. Not indulging in sexual greed {fu in yoku kai 不婬欲戒}
三輪清淨無所希望。諸佛同道者也
Because the three wheels (of subject, object, and action) are pure, nothing is
desired; all Buddhas go the same Way.

4. Not speaking falsely {fu mō go kai 不妄語戒}
法輪本轉無剩無缺。甘露一潤得眞得實也
The Dharma Wheel turns from the beginning, with no excess, no lack; one
moistening of sweet dew is attaining truth, attaining honesty.

5. Not dealing in intoxicants {fu ko shu kai 不酤酒戒}
未將來莫教侵。正是大明也
Where nothing can be brought in, do not defile; truly this is the great brightness.

6. Not speaking of others’ faults {fu setsu ka kai 不説過戒}
於佛法中同道同法同證同行也。莫教説過。莫令亂道
Within Buddha-Dharma, all are in the same Way, the same Dharma, the same
realization, the same practice; do not speak of faults, do not speak haphazardly.

7. Not praising self and belitting others {fu ji san ki ta kai 不自讃毀他戒}
乃佛乃祖證盡空證大地。或現大身空無内外。或現法身地無寸土
Buddhas and Ancestors realize complete emptiness and the great earth;
manifesting the great body, in emptiness there is no inside or outside; manifesting
the Dharma body, on earth there is not an inch of land.

8. Not being possessive of Dharma or wealth {fu ken hō zai kai 不慳法財戒}
一句一偈萬象百草也。一法一證諸佛諸祖也。從來未曾慳也
One phrase, one verse is myriad images and the hundred grasses; one Dharma,
one realization is all Buddhas and all Ancestors; from the beginning, there has
been no stinginess.

9. Not being angry {fu shin'i kai 不瞋恚戒}
非退非進。非實非虚。有光明雲海。有莊嚴雲海
Without stepping back, without advancing, without true or false, there is an ocean
of bright clouds, there is an ocean of dignified clouds.

10. Not disparaging the Three Treasures {fu hō san bō kai 不謗三宝戒}
現身演法。世間津梁。徳歸薩婆若海。不可稱量。頂戴奉勤也
The body is manifested, the Dharma is enacted, and there is a bridge in the world
for crossing over. The virtue returns to the ocean of all-knowing wisdom. It is
unfathomable and should be received with devotion and respect.

Thank you Jundo,

I will be there live. =)

Gassho
Shingen

s@today

I'll be here/there. :)

Gassho
Daizan

sat today

Thank you Jundo!

I'll be there live with my bell ready :D

Gassho,

Kyonin
#SatToday

Thank you Jundo. Will sit this one recorded over the weekend.

Gassho
Washin
ST

Will not be live. Work evenings tonight getting home at the very end. But I will sit, walk, work and just that..with you all.

Gassho, Kyotai
ST

I will be live one-way. :)

Gassho
Byōkan
sat today

Hi all, I'm currently working in Guatemala and will be working when it starts, but will join live one-way as soon as I arrive to the hotel.
I miss zazenkais so much.


Gassho
Daiyo
Sat Today

I will likely miss the opening ceremony tonight, but will join as soon as I can during kinhin.

Gassho,
Sekishi
#sattoday

Given the time difference with France, its Zazenkai On Demand for me. Hoping to catch up in sections over the weekend and maybe push sitting on from 20 to 30 minutes. Look forward to seeing you when I sit.

Made it home from work in time, look forward to sitting with you all!

Grasshoppers, Dudley
#sat

Hello everyone,

Here is the event link if needed: https://hangouts.google.com/hangouts...pdnfki4xfw27ye

Gassho
Shingen

s@today

Gassho and thank you.

Daizan
sat today.

Made it about an hour in. Yay didn't miss the Hokey Pokey! (Or Jundo's wonderful talk of course) Thank you everyone!

Gassho,
Jakuden
SatToday

Thank you all. It was a wonderful talk and zazenkai, and even some Hokey-Pokey. Have a great weekend!

Gassho,
Onkai
SatToday

Thank you everyone!

Have a wonderful weekend :)

Gassho,

Kyonin
#SatToday

Thank you Jundo, wonderful talk and thank you everyone, always a pleasure. =)

Gassho
Shingen

s@today

Thanks to all.


Gassho
Myosha
sat today

Thank you all. Sorry to stumble in late, mic on, brain askew.

So grateful to you all for coming together for this practice.

Gassho,
Sekishi

#sattoday


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Thank you all. This weekend is filled with working in the nature. Will have to sit this one on Monday.
Gassho,
Kotei sattoday.

Today i Sat with all of You and the last zazenkai recording.
Grateful for sharing my practice with all of You here in Treeleaf.
I wish a great weekend to everyone.
Gassho, David
Sattoday

Thank you everyone.

Gassho
Washin
just sat

gassho1

Sat with Zazenkai.

Thank you Jundo for the talk, Shingen and Sekishi for the questions.

Gassho

Marcos

#SatToday

Thank you all!

Gassho,

Risho
-sattoday

Sitting this now.
Gassho
Matt

Sat this one in bits and pieces over a very busy weekend.
Thank you everyone !
Gassho,
Marina
Sat Today

I had to sit this one in two parts and laid down through most of it.

Thank you, all.

Gassho
Kokuu
#sattoday

Sat with the recorded Zazenkai.

Enjoyed everything!

Gassho
Mike
Sat2day

Sat with you all today.
Wonderful talk! Thank you to Jundo & Shingen and Sekishi and Kyonin for your efforts and practice.
My favorite part was when the Dharma delivering the Dharma simultaneously received the Dharma (and had to sign for it too).

On a more serious note I was moved by Dōgen's "bridge" analogy.

Gassho,
K2
#SatToday

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Tapatalk

Wonderful. Thank you dear Sangha!

Gassho
Byōkan
sat today

Sorry everyone, I was late getting the podcast episode up this month. But it IS there now.

Gassho,
Sekishi

#sattoday

Just sat this one. Wonderful talk, definitely helpful. Thank you everyone for making this possible. gassho2

Gassho,
Andoitz.

SatToday.