Jan 6-7th, 2022 - OUR (NEW YEAR!) MONTHLY 4-hour Treeleaf ZAZENKAI - Shinjinmei (I)

[Jundo]

CELEBRATING THIS EVER NEW YEAR!

Today's Talk will be the first in a series reflecting on:

THE SONG OF TRUST MIND (信心銘 Shinjinmei), A Key to Zazen

(text below in this thread)

Please sit our Monthly 4-Hour Treeleaf Zazenkai netcast LIVE 8am to noon Japan time Saturday morning (that is New York 6pm to 10pm, Los Angeles 3pm to 7pm (Friday night), London 11pm to 3am and Paris Midnight to 4am (early Saturday morning)), and also sitable any time thereafter:

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

Dharma Talk Audio / Podcast Episode:
https://www.treeleaf.org/forums/show...JINMEI-SERIES/

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 RITUAL

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

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

STLah


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

[Jundo]

Shinjinmei (I)

Today's Talk will dance with the 信心銘, called the Xinxinming in Chinese and the Shinjinmei in Japanese, and by a variety of names in English such as the Song of the Trusting Mind, Verses on the Faith Mind, Song of Faith in Mind, Faith Mind Inscription, and many more variations ...

... said to be written by the 3rd. Zen Ancestor in China, Jianzhi Sengcan (鑑智僧璨; Kanchi Sōsan in Japanese) ...

131G12942640-221R.jpg

... but probably not really by him, yet a marvelous Teaching nonetheless, cherished in the Soto Zen world.

The ways of encountering the world described therein are, I believe, a key to understanding the mind of Shikantaza Zazen.

We will dance with the Shinjinmei over the coming few months, during our long Zazenkai each month.

I will be using a lovely translation by Richard B. Clarke, revised by Kōkyō Henkel.

~~~

至道無難 The Great Way is not difficult
唯嫌揀擇 for those who hold no preferences.
但莫憎愛 When longing and aversion are both absent,
洞然明白 everything becomes clear and undisguised.
毫釐有差 Make the smallest distinction, however,
天地懸隔 and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart.
欲得現前 If you wish to see the truth
莫存順逆 then hold no opinion for or against.
違順相爭 The struggle of likes and dislikes
是爲心病 is the disease of the mind.
不識玄旨 When the deep meaning of things is not understood,
徒勞念靜 the mind's essential peace is disturbed to no avail.
圓同太虚 The Way is perfect like vast space,
無欠無餘 where nothing is lacking and nothing is extra.
良由取捨 Indeed, it is due to our choosing or rejecting
所以不如 that we do not see thus.
莫逐有縁 Live neither in entanglement with things,
勿住空忍 nor passively in emptiness.
一種平懷 Be serene without striving activity in the oneness of things,
泯然自盡 and such erroneous views will disappear by themselves.
止動歸止 When you try to stop activity to achieve passivity,
止更彌動 your very effort fills you with activity.
唯滯兩邊 As long as you remain in one extreme or the other,
寧知一種 you will never know oneness.
一種不通 Those who do not live in the single Way
兩處失功 fail in both activity and passivity, assertion and denial.
遣有沒有 To deny the existence of things is to get stuck in existence;
從空背空 to assert the emptiness of things is to turn away from emptiness.

[Jundo]

To Welcome 2023, the Year of the Rabbit ... we must dance THE BUNNY HOP!

(BUT BE CAREFUL: We don't want anyone starting 2023 hurting themselves! )

(Some of us, of a certain age, actually remember our parents\grandparents watching "Lawrence Welk")

[Kotei]

Thank you Jundo, Mr. emergency Ino and everyone who sat and will sit.

Gassho,
Kotei sat/lah today.

[Bion]

Thank you Jundo, Mr. emergency Ino and everyone who sat and will sit.

Gassho,
Kotei sat/lah today.

Sat Today lah

[Jundo]

Bion is now the E.I.S. ... Emergency Ino System ...

or, even better ... B.I.ON ... The Back-Up.Ino.ON-Demand!

Gassho, J

stlah

[Jundo]

Here are examples of passages from Master Dogen's Fukanzazengi which were certainly reflecting on the Xinxinming ...

~~~

The way is basically perfect and all-pervading. How could it be contingent upon practice and realization? The dharma vehicle is free and untrammeled. What need is there for concentrated effort? Indeed, the whole body is far beyond the world's dust. Who could believe in a means to brush it clean? It is never apart from one, right where one is. What is the use of going off here and there to practice? And yet, if there is the slightest discrepancy, the way is as distant as heaven from earth. If the least like or dislike arises, the mind is lost in confusion.

[Uran]

This is so interesting, this reading from the Xinxinming.

So, it is really challenging for me to connect my mind to articulate verbal communication during Zazenkai so I had to save my question for today.

The concept of having no likes or aversions, and what Kōdō Sawaki says about not feeling pleasure or distaste for the happenings around us while sitting, how do we balance all of that while maintaining joy and pleasure and sparkle in life?

Sometimes I feel this sense of flatness with the acceptance of all things as they are and I do not want to be flat; I like being a three-dimensional girl.

I also want to say (sorry for running long) that I love that the waves are the calm water. Every way of looking at this adds another layer of my understanding and that is particularly vivid and accessable.

Gassho,

Aimee
satlah

[Jundo]

This is so interesting, this reading from the Xinxinming.

So, it is really challenging for me to connect my mind to articulate verbal communication during Zazenkai so I had to save my question for today.

The concept of having no likes or aversions, and what Kōdō Sawaki says about not feeling pleasure or distaste for the happenings around us while sitting, how do we balance all of that while maintaining joy and pleasure and sparkle in life?

Sometimes I feel this sense of flatness with the acceptance of all things as they are and I do not want to be flat; I like being a three-dimensional girl.

I also want to say (sorry for running long) that I love that the waves are the calm water. Every way of looking at this adds another layer of my understanding and that is particularly vivid and accessable.

Gassho,

Aimee
satlah

As I tried to say in the talk, it is not an either/or proposition. One can know both at once, like the moon and the sun both being present in the very same sky!

Zen folks know how to savor and celebrate life! So long as it is a celebration of good and healthful things ... and so long as the partying does not run to unhealthful excess (no addictions please) ... dance and celebrate!

But at the same time, know radical wholeness and equanimity in a corner of your heart too.

Gassho, J

stlah

[Uran]

As I tried to say in the talk, it is not an either/or proposition. One can know both at once, like the moon and the sun both being present in the very same sky!

Zen folks know how to savor and celebrate life! So long as it is a celebration of good and healthful things ... and so long as the partying does not run to unhealthful excess (no addictions please) ... dance and celebrate!

But at the same time, know radical wholeness and equanimity in a corner of your heart too.

Gassho, J

stlah

Learning to be a three-dimensional human while seeing things with a three-dimensional mind, it's enough to keep you busy for a lifetime (maybe more).

Gassho,
Aimee
stlh

[Zenkon]

Excellent teaching. Thank you

Gassho

Zenkon
Sat/lah

[Anchi]

Gasshô

安知

[Kantai]

Thank you all!

Sending New Year hugs to everyone

Gassho
Kantai

SatLah

[Chikyou]

Beautiful talk, I look forward to the rest of this series! Today it finally clicked in for me that "when we sit there's nothing else to do but sit" means (at least in part) to align our desire to do something with the reality of what we are doing (sitting) such that there is no longer any desire to be doing something different. It seems obvious now, I'm not sure why it took me this long.

Gassho,
SatLah
Kelly

[Tai Shi]

或者嘘
For me parting has recessed into the dim and seldom remembered, and what of a life of contemplation with a sober mind and body attempting to find the middle way which I understand Jundo explanes in his dialogue. I reserve to think of the young women engaging in poetry and hers such a beautiful composition, I ask her to write in or thread Big and Little Poetry; any verse... Please ACCEPT MY invitation.
Gassho
sat/ lah

[Kiri]

Thank you everyone! Thank you Jundo for the teaching
Gassho, Kiri
Sat/Lah

[Tai Do]

Thank you, Jundo, Bion, and everyone, for this great New Year Monthly Zazenkai (although I'm a bit late for it).
Thank you for the talk on the Shinjimei, Jundo.
A great before Jukai week to all.
Gassho,
Mateus
Satlah

[Kokuu]

Thank you, all. That was lovely!

Xin Xin Ming is always great to hear about.

Gassho
Kokuu