December 23rd-24th Treeleaf Weekly Zazenkai - Bringing the Monastery Home

[Jundo]

Dear All,

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

10am Japan Saturday morning, NY 8pm, LA 5pm Friday night, London 1am and Paris 2am Saturday morning, or any time thereafter here:

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)

ATTENTION: Everyone, when rising for Kinhin or Ceremonies after Zazen, get up slowly, don't rush, hold something stable, you won't be "late," so TAKE YOUR TIME! Make sure you are careful getting up!

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) ...

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

[Bion]

Yay!! Another festive zazenkai! See you all later! *

Sat

[Jundo]

Here's a sample of some of the quotes I have found on "monk at home" life, from various Sutras, Zen folks like Dogen ...

Master Keizan in the Dentoroku, quoting an old Koan ...

Koan Case: The Fourth Ancestor, Venerable Upagupta, managed affairs for Venerable Śānavāsin for three years before finally shaving his head and becoming a bhiksu. The Venerable [Śānavāsin] asked him, “Does your body go forth from household life, or does your mind go forth from household life?” The Master [Upagupta] said, “Truly, it is the body that goes forth from household life.” The Venerable [Śānavāsin] said, “How could the sublime dharma of the buddhas be contingent on body or mind?” The Master thereupon greatly awakened.

Keizan Comments:

... “For the buddhas, truly, it is not a matter of bodily going forth from household life, nor is it a matter of mentally going forth from household life.” ... Thus, sages and ordinary people together gain liberation, and body and mind alike come to be sloughed off. It is just like empty space, which has no interior or exterior, and it resembles ocean water in that it has no inside or outside

Dogen's Raihai Tokuzui ...

All should pay homage to and hold in esteem one who has acquired the dharma. Do not make an issue of whether it is a man or a woman. This is the most wondrous law of the buddha dharma. Furthermore, what is called a “layman” in Song Dynasty [China] is a young gentleman who has not yet left home. Some live in small huts with their wives; others live alone and remain chaste. Even though we must say that they are still in the dense forest of defilements, when one of them attains enlightenment, itinerant monks will gather to do obeisance and seek instruction, just as they would from a master who has left home. And so it should be whether it be a woman or an animal.

When someone has not yet seen the truth of the buddha dharma even in a dream, though such a person might be an old monk 100 years of age, he cannot reach the level of a lay man or lay woman who has acquired the dharma. He ought not to be reverenced but should be treated only according to the rules of etiquette governing the relationship between a guest and a host. But when someone practices the buddha dharma and expounds the buddha dharma, though such a person be a girl seven years of age, that person is a guide and teacher for the four groups [male and female ordained and lay] and a compassionate father for all sentient beings.

Dogen in Bendowa ...

Question: Those who leave home are free all at once from numberless obligations so for them there is no obstruction to zazen and following the Way. How can a busy layperson sincerely practise and realize the unfabricated Buddha Way?

Answer: Through their limitless compassion the Buddhas and Ancestors have flung wide the vast gates of compassion for all beings to enter realization whether humans or shining beings. We can see many examples in past and present: The emperors Daizhong and Shunzong, although busy with affairs of state practiced zazen and entered the vast Way of the Buddhas and Ancestors. Prime ministers Li and Fang were close advisers to emperors and the limbs of the nation, and they also followed the Way through zazen and entered realization of the Vast Way of the Buddhas and Ancestors. It simply depends on commitment and has nothing to do with having left home or not. Those who can clearly discern excellent from inferior will naturally have confidence in the Buddha Dharma. Those who think that worldly tasks can hinder the Buddha Dharma only think there is no Buddha Dharma in worldly things; they do not know that are no "worldly things" "in the Buddha". In the great Song dynasty a minister of state named Fengji was experienced in the Way of the Ancestors and wrote a verse to express himself:

The Fǎjù jīng Sutra ...

As for leaving home there are two kinds: first, mentally leaving home; second, leaving home by appearance.

As for leaving home by appearance (xiàng相), one leaves the home of one’s father and mother who gave birth to one, the home of one’s blood relatives. One maintains the precepts (prohibitions), shaves off one’s hair, dyes one’s clothes [black], [upholds] the Four Noble Truths and the dignified deportment [proper for a monk]. There is still cultivation, there is gain and attachment, and there are defiled actions; this is referred to as monk by appearance (xiàngsēng 相僧).

As for mentally (xīn 心) leaving home, one leaves the home of the Five Skandhas, Six Thieves, and Eighteen Realms [of the senses and attachment]. As for its form, it may be a monk (dào 道) or a layman (sú 俗). As for practice, there is no cultivation, no virtue, no profit, no benefit. Both objects [of perception] and wisdom disappear—utterly disappear (disappear once and for all). Transcending the distinction between principle and phenomena, everything is in a state of purity. This is referred to as monk by essence (tǐsēng 體僧 ) and is the leaving home in an unconditioned way (wúwéi chūjiā 無為出家).

The Flower Garland Sutra ...

... may all sentient beings be free from clinging to home and family, and though they live at home have no attachment in their minds; may all sentient beings be skillful teachers and guides, expounding enlightened wisdom without leaving lay life; may all sentient beings, while physically living at home, mentally always live in accord with Buddha-knowledge; may all sentient beings, while in the state of lay home life, dwell in the state of buddhahood and cause infinite sentient beings to develop joyful minds.’ This is great enlightening beings’ dedication of roots of goodness when giving houses, to cause sentient beings to accomplish the various practical vows and spiritual powers and knowledge of enlightening beings.

That is just a sample of such passages.

Gassho, J

stlah

[Jundo]

And here is the Tibetan Lama story ...

A recent issue of Buddhadharma has a round-table on Renunciation, partly available online.

(sorry, link is out of date)

There is one story told in the discussion that really says it for me. It tells of a Tibetan Rinpoche who was staying at the home of one of his wealthy students in California. The student was saying, "I really enjoy having beautiful things around, I like having a house in this beautiful valley ... but I'm not attached to any of it. I enjoy it, but if it weren't here, I wouldn't mind." At that point, the Rinpoche picked up a coffee pot and started to tilt it over a $35,000 Persian carpet. There was no description of how the story ended, but I think the point is clear.

Gassho, J

stlah

[Koushi]

Thank you, Jundo, Bion, and all, for another wonderful zazenkai.

Gassho,
Santa Koushi
STLaH

[Bion]

Thank you, Jundo, Bion, and all, for another wonderful zazenkai.

Gassho,
Santa Koushi
STLaH

My sound was awful today! Sacrificed that for the tree lights and warmth ..
Thanks for the fantastic Santa suit and kesa!

Sat today lah

[Kotei]

Thank you everyone!
Peace.

Gassho,
Kotei sat/lah today.

[Kantai]

Thank you all for a warming zazenkai!

Gassho
Kantai

Sat/Lah

[Tai Do]

Thank you very much, Jundo, Bion, and everyone for this beautiful Christmas-"At home" Monastery Zazenkai.
Truely, for some of us, simplifying the practice to accommodate with our household lay life is the real challenge, the hard path.
Gassho,
Mateus
Satlah

[JohnS]

Very inspiring for me, thank you for sharing these.

Gassho

John

SATlah

[Tai Shi]

Thank you for the recording. I sat much today, the morning sit at 8:00 CDT, US. And then much of the recording though I must admit not all. The Santa suits most impressive, and the birth of Sir Issac Newton.
Gassho
sat/lah

[Tairin]

Thank you everyone. The holidays disrupted my usual sitting schedule so I sat with all of you this morning.

Thank you for the talk Jundo. All of life is our temple.


Tairin
Sat today and lah