November 3rd-4th, 2018 - OUR MONTHLY 4-hour Treeleaf ZAZENKAI!

[Jundo]

ATTENTION: NOTE THAT DAYLIGHT SAVINGS HAS CHANGED IN EUROPE (START TIME HAS CHANGED), BUT NOT YET AMERICA (NEW START TIMES FROM NEXT WEEK). Please confirm times below.

Today's Talk will honor portions of Master Dogen's "Instructions for the Cook," a celebration of 'Samu' Work Practice and all our duties in life (text below in this thread)

We welcome a new honored member to our Altar: The Bodhisattva Manjushri upon his Lion (DETAILS on the significance below)

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 11pm to 3am and Paris midnight to 4am (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 YOUTUBE HANGOUT IS HERE:
CLICK ON THE TAB ON LOWER RIGHT FOR 'FULL SCREEN

Dharma Talk Audio / Podcast Episode:
https://treeleaf.podbean.com/e/novem...leaf-zazenkai/

FOR THOSE WHO WISH TO JOIN TO SIT LIVE WITH A CAMERA, A LINK TO JOIN WILL BE POSTED BELOW IN THIS THREAD ABOUT 15 MINUTES BEFORE START TIME. JUST CLICK AND JOIN. 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 & HOKEY-POKEY

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)

Not everyone realizes that they can join in the Chanting of the Heart Sutra, Identity of Relative & Absolute, Metta Verses, Verse of Atonement and Four Vows (although we ask that you keep your microphone down). Please follow along with the Chant Book, and let your voice ring!

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

SatTodayLAH

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

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

[Jundo]

Today's Talk is the second part (we began last month) of reflections on portions of the 'Tenzo Kyokun' (典座教訓) or "Instructions for the Cook," Master Dogen's celebration of work (作務) and all our responsibilities in life, as we continue our Jukai and Ango Season for this year.

(I will be using primarily the translations by Anzan Hoshin Roshi and Yasuda Joshu Dainen Roshi
https://wwzc.org/dharma-text/tenzo-k...ructions-tenzo
or Prof. Griffith Foulk
https://terebess.hu/zen/dogen/Tenzo1.html)

---

In May of 1223, I was staying aboard the ship at Qingyuan. Once I was speaking with the captain when a monk about sixty years of age came aboard to buy mushrooms from the ships Japanese merchants. I asked him to have tea with me and asked where he was from. He was the tenzo from Ayuwang shan. ... [Late] I said, "As we have had the unexpected opportunity to meet and talk like this today, I would like you to stay a while longer and allow me to offer Zen Master tenzo a meal."

"Oh, I'm sorry, but I just can't. If I am not there to prepare tomorrow's meal it won't go well."

"But surely someone else in the monastery knows how to cook? If you're not there it can't make that much difference to everyone."

The cook said, "I took up this position in my later years; it is this old man's pursuit of the way. How could I hand it over to others? Besides, when I came I did not ask to stay away overnight."

I again asked the cook: "You are venerable in years; why don't you sit in meditation to pursue the way or contemplate the words of the ancients? It is troublesome being cook; all you do is labor. What good is that?" The cook laughed and said, "My good man from a foreign country, you do not yet understand pursuit of the way and do not yet know about written words."

---

In July of the same year I was staying at Tiantongshan [monastery] when the tenzo of Ayuwang shan came to see me and said, "After the summer Training Period is over I'm going to retire as tenzo and go back to my native region. I heard from a fellow monk that you were here and so I came to see how you were making out."

I was overjoyed. I served him tea as we sat down to talk. When I brought up our discussion on the ship about words and practice, the tenzo said, "If you want to understand words you must look into what words are. If you want to practice, you must understand what practice is."

I asked, "What are words?"

The tenzo said, "One, two, three, four, five."

I asked again, "What is practice?"

"Everywhere, nothing is hidden."

... Later I found a verse that [ancient Master] Xuedou wrote for a disciple:

One, seven, three, five.
What you search for cannot be grasped.
As the night deepens,
the moon brightens over the ocean.
The black dragon's jewel
is found in every wave.
Looking for the moon,
it is here in this wave
and the next.

... Before I knew one, two three, four, five; now I know six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Monks, you and those to follow must understand practice and words through this and from that. Exert yourself in this way and you will practice the single true taste of Zen beyond words, undivided into the poisonous five flavours [excess desire, anger, ignorance, pride, jealousy]. Then you will be able to prepare food for the monastic community properly.

---

Even if you become the Abbot of a monastery, you should have this same understanding. The Zen Monastic Standards states, "Prepare each meal with each detail kept clear so that there will be enough. Make sure that the four offerings of food, clothing, bedding, and medicine are adequate just as the Generous One offered to his disciples the merit of twenty years of his lifetime. We ourselves live today within the light of that gift because the energy of even a white hair between his brows is inexhaustible."

---

In preparing food, it is essential to be sincere and to respect each ingredient regardless of how coarse or fine it is. There is the example of the old woman who gained great merit through offering water in which she had rinsed rice to the Thus Come One [Buddha]. And of King Asoka creating roots of wholesomeness through offering half a mango to a monastery as he lay dying. ... Even the grandest offering to the Buddha, if insincere, is worth less than the smallest sincere offering in bringing about a connection with awakening. This is how human beings should conduct themselves.

---

A rich buttery soup is not better as such than a broth of [crude] wild herbs. In handling and preparing wild herbs, do so as you would the ingredients for a rich feast, wholeheartedly, sincerely, clearly. When you serve the monastic assembly, they and you should taste only the flavour of the Ocean of Reality, the Ocean of unobscured Awake Awareness, not whether or not the soup is creamy or made only of wild herbs. In nourishing the seeds of living in the Way rich food and wild grass are not separate. There is the old saying, "The mouth of a monk is like a furnace." Bear this in mind.

---

Do not discriminate between the faults or virtues of the monks or whether they are senior or junior. You do not even know where you stand, so how can you put others into categories. Judging others from within the boundaries of your own opinions, how could you be anything other than wrong? Although there are differences between seniors and juniors, all are equally members of the assembly. Those who had many faults yesterday may be correct and clear today. Who can judge "sacred" from "common."

---

When we train in any of the offices of the monastery we should do so with a joyful heart, a motherly heart, a vast heart.

A "joyful heart" rejoices and recognizes meaning. You should consider that were you to be born in the realm of the shining beings you would be absorbed in indulgence with the qualities of that realm so that you would not rouse the recognition of uncovering the Way and so have no opportunity to practice. And so how could you use cooking as an offering to the Three Jewels ... This life we live is a life of rejoicing, this body a body of joy which can be used to present offerings to the Three Jewels. It arises through the merits of eons and using it thus its merit extends endlessly. I hope that you will work and cook in this way, using this body which is the fruition of thousands of lifetimes and births to create limitless benefit for numberless beings. To understand this opportunity is a joyous heart because even if you had been born a ruler of the world the merit of your actions would merely disperse like foam, like sparks.

A "motherly heart" is a heart which maintains the Three Jewels as a parent cares for a child. A parent raises a child with deep love, regardless of poverty or difficulties. Their hearts cannot be understood by another; only a parent can understand it. A parent protects their child from heat or cold before worrying about whether they themselves are hot or cold. This kind of care can only be understood by those who have given rise to it and realized only by those who practice it. This, brought to its fullest, is how you must care for water and rice, as though they were your own children. ...

"Vast heart" is like a great expanse of ocean or a towering mountain. It views everything from the most inclusive and broadest perspective. This vast heart does not regard a gram as too light or five kilos as too heavy. It does not follow the sounds of spring or try to nest in a spring garden; it does not darken with the colours of autumn. See the changes of the seasons as all one movement, understand light and heavy in relation to each other within a view which includes both. When you write or study the character "vast," this is how you should understand its meaning. ... [The] great masters [who were Tenzo] through the ages have studied the meaning of "vast" or "great" not only though the word for it but through all of the events and activities of their lives. Thus they lived as a great shout of freedom through presenting the Great Matter, penetrating the Great Question, training great disciples and in this way bringing it all forth to us.

... Recorded in the spring of the third year of the Katei era [1237] as instruction for accomplished practitioners of the way in the future.

[Jundo]

We welcome a statue of the Bodhisattva Manjushri upon his Lion to our Altar. Something like this one ...

It is not an old statue, but it is an old tradition for a statue of Manjushri, the Bodhisattva of Wisdom, to grace the center of the Zendo/Sodo where Zazen is conducted.

Ours does not have a sword (he carries a sceptor), but the sword would be the "Sword of Wisdom" which "uncuts" all into one (or one beyond one), unlike the typical worldly sword of violence which cuts and divides into two or more.

Our Altar also has a statue of a seated Buddha because it also serves for our ceremonies (in a big monastery, that would be in a separate building!). So, our Altar is "all purpose," and Buddha and Manjushri very comfortably will just share space. We also have Kannon and Jizo (both representing Compassion), Bodhidharma (our founding Ancestor) and such around the room too. Room for all!

If you would like to know a bit more about Manjushri Bodhisattva (Monju Bosatsu in Japanese), he is part of our "Whatsa Bodhisattva" series (Episode 15) ...

https://www.treeleaf.org/forums/show...l=1#post248702

By the way, I say "he" but any of these Bodhisattvas can also be "she."

WELCOME!

Gassho, J

STLah

[Mp]

Thank you Jundo ... beyond space and time, I will be there live two way with instruments ready. =)

Gassho
Shingen

Sat/LAH

[Doshin]

Good. I need a cooking lesson.

Gassho
Doshin
St

[Nanrin]

I will be joining in one-way; I might be a little late. Looking forward to the talk continuing from last month's talk.

Maitri

StLah

[Beakon]

I am attending a friends 35th birthday, so I will not be attending for the 4-Hour Zazenkai tonight. Good luck in your training tonight, everyone. I need to be patient for hearing this teaching, because it's about cooking and samu. Two of my favourite things!

[Onkai]

Thank you, Jundo. I will join two-way, tech allowing.

Gassho,
Onkai
Sat

[Shinshi]

Thank you Jundo. I will be time-shifting once again.

Gassho, Shinshi

SaT-LaH

[Mp]

Hey folks,

Here is the event link for today's zazenkai: https://hangouts.google.com/hangouts...GB&pli=1Gassho
Shingen

Sat/LAH

[Jakuden]

Sat with you all but had to leave early, have a great weekend everyone! Loved the talk and the Elmo Hokey Pokey, reminded me of when my kids were little ❤️
Gassho
Jakuden
SatToday/LAH



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Shinzan]

Lovely to sit with everyone. Take care.

_/\_ Shinzan
stlah

[Onkai]

Thank you, Jundo, Shingen and everyone. The lesson from the cook is relevant to everything. Have a great weekend!

Gassho,
Onkai
Sat

[Joyo]

Many thanks everyone. It was wonderful to join in with you all.

Gassho,
Joyo
sat today/lah

[Mp]

Thank you Jundo and everyone, lovely to practice alongside you. =)

Gassho
Shingen

Sat/LAH

[Jundo]

Hey Guys,

Samantabhadra Bodhisattva on his Elephant, as I mentioned at the start ... often seen as a pair with Manjushri on her Lion ...

... and our dancing Hokey-Pokey Elmo, one of a kind ...

Nice sitting together. with everyone.

Gassho, J

STLah

[Tairin]

Welcome Manjushri!

Thank you everyone!!


Tairin
Sat today and lah

[Shokai]

Thank you all for sitting. Where can I get one of those Elmos

gassho, Shokai
stlah

[Doshin]

Thank you.

Gassho
Doshin
Stlah

[Seishin]

_/\_ Thank you. Completed this morning _/\_

[Washin]

Thank you all

Gassho
Washin
stlah

[Shinshi]

Thank you everyone.

Gassho, Shinshi

SaT-LaH

[Kotei]

Thank you everyone,
had to split it in non-two.

Gassho,
Kotei sat/lah today.

'Maybe it's all too simple
For our brains to figure it out
What if the hokey pokey
Is all it really is about'
Jimmy Buffett

Lyrics: https://www.lyrics.com/lyric/5416067...ly+Is+About%3F

[Jundo]

Jimmy Buffett what if the hokey-pokey is what its about?

Oh, that just says it all.

Gassho, J

STLah

[Meitou]

Thank you everyone,
had to split it in non-two.

Gassho,
Kotei sat/lah today.

'Maybe it's all too simple
For our brains to figure it out
What if the hokey pokey
Is all it really is about'
Jimmy Buffett

Lyrics: https://www.lyrics.com/lyric/5416067...ly+Is+About%3F

Oh Yes! Thank you Jundo, Dani and everyone for making zazenkai possible. Manjushri looked so beautiful in the sun. Elmo is pretty nice too
Gassho
Meitou
satwithyoualltodaylah

[Kokuu]

Lovely, thank you all!

Gassho
Kokuu

[Sekishi]

Jundo's talk is finally up as a podcast episode.

Gassho,
Sekishi
#sat #lah

[Eishuu]

Thank you all.

Gassho
Eishuu
ST/LAH