Yesterday, I got angry.
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January 2008 Archives
Thursday January 31, 2008
SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Angry!
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NOTE: IF YOU ARE HAVING TROUBLE TO SEE THE SCREEN OR START BUTTON,
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NOTE: IF YOU ARE HAVING TROUBLE TO SEE THE SCREEN OR START BUTTON,
PLEASE UPDATE FLASH. SEE HERE
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SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Zazen for Beginners (We're All Beginners) IX
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Although we usually practice Zazen sitting cross-legged, 'facing a wall' ...
... we can practice 'Zazen' anywhere, even standing in the postal line ...
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Tuesday January 29, 2008
SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Zazen for Beginners (We're All Beginners) VIII
.In Soto style, we 'face the wall' ... we sit with our backbone at the center of the Zafu, perhaps slightly forward ... back straight, as if a tiny thread were running to the ceiling through the crown of the head ... give that thread a small tug, ever so slightly, to stretch the neck and pull the chin in ... your eyes should be 1/3 or 2/3 open (my teacher says naturally and fully open though ... the point is to remain present in this world and not drift into some dreamy state) ... gazing at a downward angle to the wall (or floor if that is all you have) ...
Aim for that, in a balanced Full or Half Lotus, or Burmese ... change things as necessary, but try for the 'ideal' ... There is no 'right' way or 'wrong' way at the heart of Zazen, nothing to aim for. Thus, please aim for the 'right way'.
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TRY AS I MIGHT, THE 'CONVEX' SHAPE OF THE CAMERA
LENS DISTORTS MY SITTING POSTURE A BIT
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Monday January 28, 2008
SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO & JOHN
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We are running a little late today ...
John Simon sits with us. He is the designer, and technical genius, behind the whole Treeleaf Website ...
John Simon sits with us. He is the designer, and technical genius, behind the whole Treeleaf Website ...
He created our 'famous' online and Mp3 ready 'Zazen Timers'.
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Sunday January 27, 2008
SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Zazen for Beginners (We're All Beginners) VII
I am about to break a cardinal rule of 'Soto Zen' (not the first time): However, I hereby officially state that I do not think that the 'Lotus' Postures (although ideal if you can) are necessarily the best postures for most beginners ... I suggest the Burmese ...
... and, as a distant fourth, the 'Seiza Bench' (I think many people sit this way because they have not given the other postures a sufficient chance)
... And I view chair sitting as to be done only if truly necessary. We have had some nice chats on our Forum about sitting posture, such as HERE.
We will talk more about this tomorrow, and what to do with the rest of the body from head to toe.
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Please see a video by my teacher, Nishijima Gudo Roshi, on how to sit in the Full Lotus posture, look HERE
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Friday January 25, 2008
SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Zazen for Beginners (We're All Beginners) VI
.Our mind in Zazen may be compared to the sky ... We are open, clear, spacious, boundless, like the clear blue sky ... Our attention is focused on everything and nothing, just as the sky covers all the world without...
Thursday January 24, 2008
SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Zazen for Beginners (We're All Beginners) V
The mind is a noisy toy..(If you would like to sit with another talk on a similar theme, please click here).Press on arrow for 'play'....
Wednesday January 23, 2008
SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Zazen for Beginners (We're All Beginners) IV
Learning to taste the universe .....Press on arrow for 'play'....
Tuesday January 22, 2008
SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Zazen for Beginners (We're All Beginners) III
In "Just Sitting", we learn to take life like the weather ...... whatever comes, comes.(And that includes whatever comes in our sitting. Instead of the balanced, stable, openly aware sitting I usually consider a "good" sitting, today I was...
Monday January 21, 2008
SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Zazen for Beginners (We're All Beginners) II
Life is a million things to do. These days, all of us are juggling so much ...Is Buddhism a teaching of passivity? Must it mean withdrawal from the world?Not at all!"Just Sitting" Shikantaza is stillness ... whether sitting or when...
Sunday January 20, 2008
SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Zazen for Beginners (We're All Beginners) I
We begin 'Zazen for Beginners (We're All Beginners)' ...We'll talk the basics of 'Just Sitting' Shikantaza Zazen ... ... There's a bit more to it than 'just sitting' !!Today, we'll see how Zen practice is for us dogs, chasing our...
Sunday January 20, 2008
SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO & LEON
.Just a quiet, father-son sitting today. At least for a few minutes, before Leon went off to play. He lost a tooth this week, his first. .Press on arrow for 'play'....
Friday January 18, 2008
SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Genjo Koan XX
... "dropping body-mind" ...... "forgetting the self" ... ... sounds really tricky to "do". Maybe.it is!But so's bicycle riding, swimming or tightrope walking if you try to explain these in words to someone who never has!(By the way, 'just sitting'...
Thursday January 17, 2008
SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Genjo Koan XIX
.. you, me & tea__________________________ To study the buddha way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be actualized by myriad things. When actualized by myriad things,...
Wednesday January 16, 2008
SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Genjo Koan XVIII
.To "forget the self' is to be as an unborn child.A moment of Zazen is as if returned to a womb never departed, as a life without thought of its separate self. The unborn one, when very newly conceived, cannot...
Tuesday January 15, 2008
SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Genjo Koan XVII
.For Zen Master Hamlet, this need not be the question ... .__________________________ To study the buddha way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be actualized by...
Monday January 14, 2008
SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Genjo Koan XVI
.As Dogen would say if he was from New Jersey ....__________________________ To study the buddha way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be actualized by myriad...
Sunday January 13, 2008
SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Genjo Koan XV
.In realizing our fundamental nature, it is first necessary to appreciate the fiction which is our sense of self. We are each a set of factors and conditions that have fallen together temporarily as an 'individual'.You are a folded paper...
Saturday January 12, 2008
SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Genjo Koan XIV
find yourself by forgetting your self My Dharma Brother, Michael Leutchford, has a sweet modernized version of this ... The truth that the Buddha taught is finding who “I” am. To find who “I” really am is to forget about...
Friday January 11, 2008
SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Genjo Koan XIII (REDUX)
.KENNETH WROTE ABOUT SOMETHING NEEDING TO BE CLARIFIED ... SO MUCH SO THAT I WANT TO REDUX THIS TALK ... PLEASE 'DROP YOUR BODY & MIND' AND GIVE A LISTEN ...The Universe as Rock-&-Roll The Universe is the 'rock' ......
Thursday January 10, 2008
SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Packing Packing
Hi,I am running very late, with much packing to do for our move back to Japan. It will be just a silent sitting today with not so much talking..Press on arrow for 'play' ....
Tuesday January 8, 2008
SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Opinions without Opinions
Buddhists, like anyone, must have some opinions ... our favorite movie, whether god exists, our views on social issues, etc.But there are some differences in how Buddhists hold opinions ...First, while holding opinions, we simultaneously know a view of reality...
Monday January 7, 2008
SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: How Would Buddha Vote?
Was Buddha a Republican or Democrat?Let's 'just sit', dropping thoughts of left right center ....Press on arrow for 'play' ....
Sunday January 6, 2008
SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: The Diving Bell & The Butterfly
I would like to point everyone to a stunning film and the book behind it (see/read both!) ...THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY [LINK]"Anyone who has read Jean-Dominique Bauby's slim, extraordinary 1997 memoir "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" is...
Saturday January 5, 2008
SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Genjo Koan XII
No need to label a "Buddha". Just live as Buddha and there is Buddha.(anyway, we are already "Buddha" even when we don't recognize that fact or live that way ... )__________________________ To carry the self forward and illuminate myriad things...
Friday January 4, 2008
SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Tired!
Ol' Jundo's tired!I am sitting at a retreat this weekend that continues very early in the morning, so please excuse just a silent sitting today. I barely can keep my eyes open!.Press on arrow for 'play' ....
Thursday January 3, 2008
SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Genjo Koan XI
Realization keeps on realizing. Light shines wherever pointed.Ignorance feeds ignorance. Darkness spirals into darkness.__________________________ To carry the self forward and illuminate myriad things is delusion. That myriad things come forth and illuminate the self is awakening. Those who have great...
Wednesday January 2, 2008
SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Genjo Koan X
For Master Dogen, actualizing true 'enlightenment' cannot be separate from delusion, much as 'breathing' is not separate from air to breathe.__________________________ To carry the self forward and illuminate myriad things is delusion. That myriad things come forth and illuminate the...
Tuesday January 1, 2008
SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Genjo Koan IX
In this section of Genjo Koan, Master Dogen offers a most subtle 'how to' and 'how not to' practice Buddhism.The first sentences outline the gap between seeking to understand and master the world by forcing our separate 'self' upon it,...
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About Treeleaf Zen
Jundo Cohen is a Soto Zen Priest and founder and teacher of the Treeleaf Zendo--a Zen sangha (community) located in Tsukuba, Japan. Jundo was ordained in 2002 and subsequently received Dharma Transmission from Master Gudo Wafu Nishijima. He is a member of the Soto Zen Buddhist Association and American Zen Teachers Association . His blog, Treeleaf Zen, was designed specifically for Zen practitioners who cannot easily commute to a Zen Center due to health concerns, living in remote areas, or childcare and family needs.
On Treeleaf Zen, Jundo provides Zazen sittings, guided meditation, retreats, discussion, interaction with a teacher, and all other activities of a Zen Buddhist sangha, all fully online. Members now sit in over 20 countries. The focus is Shikantaza "Just Sitting" Zazen, as instructed by the 13th Century Japanese Master, Eihei Dogen.
More on Jundo...
On Treeleaf Zen, Jundo provides Zazen sittings, guided meditation, retreats, discussion, interaction with a teacher, and all other activities of a Zen Buddhist sangha, all fully online. Members now sit in over 20 countries. The focus is Shikantaza "Just Sitting" Zazen, as instructed by the 13th Century Japanese Master, Eihei Dogen.
More on Jundo...
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