Required Ango Activities:
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Daily Sitting: Add
a minimum of 5 minutes per sitting to however long one's current sitting time, and commit to sit that time - at least daily -
without missing a single day. We ask that of everyone physically able. Or, for some who can and whose schedule will realistically allow and who feel called to do so, you are invited to consider (this is not a requirement, however, and
totally dependent on your heart and life circumstances) an additional full sitting period per day, of a length in time you determine, in addition to however many times per day one is now sitting Zazen, to be sat each day or just some days. Whatever your commitment, be realistic about what you can maintain ... and then (absent sheer impossibility)
stick with it, without missing a single day
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Zazenkai: Join in each and every
90 minute Saturday Treeleaf Zazenkai, and
4-hour monthly Treeleaf Zazenkai netcast without fail. However, as always, each will be available in recorded form (so may be joined at a time to fit your schedule). We also have other netcast sittings at various times during the week, led by our Sangha Priests and Members, and you are free to join those sittings in addition to the above, should you wish.
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Precept Study/Discussion: Study the Precepts along with the Jukaiees, even if you have already taken Jukai, or even if you don’t intend to take Jukai; studying the precepts is vital for all Buddhists and it is good to review again and again.
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Give-up Something: Commit to give up one or two items or passions one truly loves during the Practice period, for example, sweets after meals, luxurious meals, cigarettes, television, consumer purchases of luxury items.
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Rohatsu Retreat: Commit to sit our
SPECIAL NETCAST ROHATSU RETREAT (to be held online, currently scheduled for netcast the weekend of December 5th & 6th) at the culmination of the Ango. Again, it would be good to participate "live", but the Rohatsu Netcast will be available in recorded form to fit schedules. The retreat will likely be similar to last year's schedule and content:
https://www.treeleaf.org/forums/show...2019-MAIN-PAGE
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Discussions: Join frequently in online discussions in our Jukai/Ango Forum of the content and your Ango experiences, sharing the ups and downs and middles.
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Meal Gatha: Commit to mindful eating, and silently or orally recite one short meal chant before most meals (here is one I suggest). It is good to write it on a card and, if in a social sitting where reciting is not possible, to read or recall it silently.
(Hands in Gassho) This food comes from the efforts
of all sentient beings past and present,
and is medicine for nourishment of our Practice.
We offer this meal of many virtues and tastes
to the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha,
and to all life in every realm of existence.
May all sentient beings in the universe
be sufficiently nourished.
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