Please join our
weekly "Live from Treeleaf" Zazenkai meditation ...
We start with 3 floor prostrations (or deep
Gassho), then chant the Heart Sutra in ENGLISH (see below), then sit about 40 minutes of
Zazen, then 10 minutes of
Kinhin, closing with the chants of the "
Verse of Atonement" and "
Four Vows".
Please join in, one and all.
Today's recitation of the Heart Sutra and Zazen is dedicated to my old friend A.M. who left us this week ... but will never leave us.
Due to a netcast issue, today's recording is of a prior sitting.
Gassho, Jundo
(video below "continue reading this post")
Over the next few weeks, we'll be looking at several of the famous "Greats" among the Bodhisattvas.The "Greats" include Kannon, Maitreya, Manjusri, Jizo, Samantabhadra and many others. We'll look at a few Buddhas too ...Especially in Mahayana Buddhism, a "Bodhisattva" is an enlightened being, or one bound for enlightenment, who ... motivated by great compassion, and even postponing her own attainment of ultimate Buddhahood ... vows to use her wisdom to aid other human beings to attain liberation.
But, ya know, that may be YOU on both the receiving and giving end of that.
(remember: recording ends soon after the beginning bells;
Continuing our series on Sitting in the City ...
... on a commuter train today, lots of tired folks heading home from work ...
... lost the netcast signal though after a couple of stations (oh well)
But a crowded train or bus is a great place to sit (or stand) Zazen ...
... if you remember that good Buddhists give up their seat to little old ladies and the like, even if during Zazen.
This
particular train circles Tokyo in a big loop, round and round ... back to where it starts ...
No opening or closing bells for today ... nothing to say ... no particular time either, just a bit of Zazen between getting on and getting off ...
Even if a working person, there are countless places and opportunities suitable for a moment of Zazen ... even if hanging from a strap or on the move.
(remember: recording ends soon after the beginning bells;
Sitting again in the busy streets of downtown Tokyo ... the noise and hussle, traffic and distractions ...
... But are there "distractions" if all resistance to the distractions is dropped from mind?
Then everything is just there, as it is ... no problem!
The cars and crowds are then just passing by, no more intrusive than the smoke from a stick of incense or the flickering light of an altar candle.
Many Buddhist Masters, Master Dogen among them, advise us to sit in a "quiet room". That is how I usually sit too.
Yet, is not the true "
quiet room" to be found when the mind is roomy and quiet?
Thus, it is good from time to time to take our sitting "on the road", to busy and noisy places ...
... like the streets of the Big City.
(remember: recording ends soon after the beginning bells;
In Tokyo today ... looking at the skyline ..amazingly complicated city ... tangled streets ...
... millions of people, millions of lives ... yet, from a Buddhist perspective, all One beyond One.
Just a silent sitting today, not even a bell.
(remember: recording ends soon after the beginning bells;
Hi,To commemorate the visit of our Sangha Member Hans (from Germany) to Treeleaf Japan ...... today is a special 2-hour Hans-Zenkai Zazenkai (Zazen sitting) ...recorded in "real time" and available at the following link:ZAZENKAI We start with 3 floor...
(BENDOWA XXXI)Old Dogen sounds pretty critical here about some other Buddhist practices, such as chanting Nembutsu (chants of praise to a Buddha) and reading Sutras.But what is he really saying? He is certainly not against all study of Buddhist...
Our topic today is 'Samu' ... Work Practice ...... which is just Zazen working ...While Zazen is at the heart of our Way, other aspects of traditional Zen Practice also should be introduced and encouraged. I have been meaning to...
(BENDOWA XXX)The topic for today is whether it is okay to take a break from Zen Practice sometimes ...... but before I get to that, I want to return briefly to something I was called on by a comment...
I AM PRESENTING THIS TALK A SECOND TIME, AS WE HAD A FEW RECORDING ISSUES A FEW DAYS AGO ...(BENDOWA XXIX)Uchiyama Roshi comments on this section:The meaning of the third question is: Okay. Zazen is good. I understand that...
Please join our weekly "Live from Treeleaf" Zazenkai meditation ...We start with 3 floor prostrations (or deep Gassho), then chant the Heart Sutra in ENGLISH (see below), then sit about 40 minutes of Zazen, then 10 minutes of Kinhin,...
(BENDOWA XXVIII)In other words ...Someone asks ... "Hey Dogen, your wild talk of "Zazen as the way of the Buddhas and Ancestors" is tough for ordinary folks to grasp. There are many schools of Buddhism which propose that we...
This Way of 'Just Sitting' is also our Way of 'Just Living' ... (remember: recording ends soon after the beginning bells;a sitting time of 20 to 35 minutes is recommended) To subscribe to "Treeleaf Zen" click here. ...
Man, I just woke up from a pretty bad dream. I don't remember all the details ... something about getting fired and losing a job I had years ago. (I guess a lot of folks are having ... or living...
Please join our MAY MONTHLY 4-hour 'Live from Treeleaf' ZAZENKAI, recorded in "real time" and available at the following link:ZAZENKAI Remember, when we drop all thought of 'here' 'there' 'now' and 'then' ... we are sitting all together!Please have...
(BENDOWA XXVII)I want to continue and clarify a couple of things mentioned in the last talk ... I asked:But, in fact, did all the Buddhas and Ancestors practice exactly the form of Zazen we practice?No ... and Yes ......
(BENDOWA XXVI)In the remaining pages of Bendowa, Master Dogen answers a series of 18 questions about the whys and hows of Zazen ...First, he starts off by saying that Zazen is the gateway to truth, to what the Buddha realized....
The way to settle the ripples in a vessel of agitated water is not by doing something ... not by patting down the ripples with our hand, not by blowing on them or trying to will them down ......
In transit, coming back from a retreat, so no netcast today ...Instead, a few jotted words on "Enlightenment", and its various interpretations ... doodlings on a train ...Let me use a "movie theater" parable for the point I wish to...
... although pre-recorded today as I am at a Zen Retreat for the next few days, at a Zen temple deep in the mountains here in Japan (Let me also mention that our MONTHLY 4-HOUR 'LIVE' ZAZENKAI WILL BE...
I am off to a Zen Retreat for the next few days, at a Zen temple deep in the mountains, invited by a friend who is the priest there ... which means:OUR MONTHLY 4-HOUR 'LIVE' ZAZENKAI WILL BE HELD...
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