A PRE-RECORDED 'RE-SIT' TODAY, as I am attending a retreat in another part of Japan with Azuma Ikuo Roshi, my old teacher who is visiting from Kyushu ...
Please join our weekly "(almost) 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 5 minutes or so of Kinhin, closing with the chants of the "Verse of Atonement" and "Four Vows".
Please join in, one and all.
.
We will have a few talks over the coming week or two, in preparation for our 'Treeleaf Two-Day Online Retreat', scheduled for LIVE NETCAST over the weekend of
DECEMBER 5 and 6, 2009!
(and available in recorded form after that, for participation any time 'On Demand').
The Retreat is in celebration of our all-onlineJUKAI(Undertaking the Precepts Ceremony, to be in early January) as well as ROHATSU (the celebreation of Shakyamuni's Moment of Realizationunder the Bodhi Tree some 2,500 years ago, traditionally celebrated in Japan during the week leading up to December 8th)
If you would like more information on the Retreat and Jukai (you can sit the retreat even if you are not participating in Jukai), please watch for information here and in our forum ...
Talks here in the coming days will cover such hot topics as "How to Chant" "How to Oryoki" "How to Bow" "How to Go To The Bathroom during a Retreat" (Really) and many others.
In the coming days, some additional materials (including the 'Chant Book' and various "Retreat Pointers") will be available for download. Watch for them here, on this "Sit-a-Long" blog.
We continue our look at equanimity ... equanimity hand-in-hand with sincere endeavor. The two would seem to be at odds.
But the two tastes can be one taste ... one beyond one taste.
A beautiful way to live all of life ... equanimity with sincere endeavor.
_____________________________
What is regarded as the
preparation of superb delicacies is not necessarily superior, nor is the
preparation of a soup of the crudest greens necessarily inferior. When you
select and serve up crude greens, if you do so with a true mind, a sincere
mind, and a pure mind, then they will be comparable to superb delicacies. Why
is that so? Because when one enters into the pure and vast oceanic assembly of
the buddha dharma, superb delicacies are never seen and the flavor of crude
greens does not exist: there is only the one taste of the great sea, and that
is all (Uchiyama: The many rivers which flow into the ocean become the one taste of the ocean; when they flow into the pure ocean of the dharma there are no such distinctions as delicacies or plain food, there is just one taste, and it is the buddhadharma, the world as it is). Moreover, when it comes to the matters of nurturing the sprouts of the
way and nourishing the sacred embryo, superb delicacies and crude greens are as
one; there is no duality. There is an old saying that a monk's mouth is like a
stove (meaning that a stove consumes all
kinds of wood equally, regardless of its quality). You must not fail to understand this. You should think that even crude
greens can nourish the sacred embryo and nurture the sprouts of the way (Uchiyama: Likewise, understand that a simple green has the power to become the practice of the Buddha, quite adequately nurturing the desire to live out the way). Do not
regard them as base; do not take them lightly. A teacher of humans and devas is
able to regard crude greens as things that convert and benefit [beings].
From:Tenzo Kyokun - Instructions for the Cook by Eihei Dogen - Translated by Griffith Foulk
(remember: recording ends soon after the beginning bells;
a sitting time of 20 to 35 minutes is recommended)
The section we discussed yesterday mentions "Karma" and rebirth... so this is a good time for me to express a personal view on that.
My view is just my view, but is one that is sometimes criticized by Buddhists of a more literal or traditional bent ... who often tell me that my beliefs and comments will land me next life reborn as a wild fox, or perhaps in a Buddhist Hell.
According to Professor Foulk, the first
reference here is to "the
famous story of a poor old woman who made an offering to Buddha of the water
that she had used to rinse rice and, as a result, was reborn as a deva or human
for fifteen kalpas [long ages], gained a male body [typically necessary for Budhahood in traditional Buddhism], and eventually became a buddha herself" ... the second is about "King Ashoka [who], legend has
it, tried to contribute a huge amount of gold to a monastery, but was prevented
by his son and ministers. ... Finally he took half a crabapple that
he had in his own hands and ... gave the fruit to the
monks. They received it courteously, ground it into flour, and baked it into a
cake, which was shared by all. This was Ashoka's final establishment of his
good karmic roots."
(I mean, one may not need to take literally every belief of ancient Buddhism ... such as that belief about women, still felt in some corners of Buddhsm)
_____________________________
As for the [proper]
attitude in preparing food offerings and handling ingredients, do not debate
the fineness of things and do not debate their coarseness, but take as
essential the profound arousal of a true mind and a respectful mind.
Have you not seen that
a single bowl of starchy water, offered to Him of the Ten Names, naturally
resulted in wondrous merit that carried an old woman through future births; and
that half a crabapple fruit, given to a single monastery, enabled King Ashoka
finally to establish his vast good karmic roots, gain a prediction, and bring
about a great result? Although they create a karmic connection with the Buddha,
[donations that are] large and vacuous are not the same as [ones that are]
small and sincere. This is the practice of a [true] person.
From:Tenzo Kyokun - Instructions for the Cook by Eihei Dogen - Translated by Griffith Foulk
(remember: recording ends soon after the beginning bells;
a sitting time of 20 to 35 minutes is recommended)
In this section, Master Dogen continues to counsel that we should take the ingredients that life hands us and treat them with each of equanimity, gratitude and respect ... even if poor ingredients, small or not what we would necessarily want.
Master Dogen also emphasizes that a small donation or gift, though
meagre yet given with sincerity and generosity, may mean more than a casual giving of
great treasure.
He references a couple of old Buddhist stories to make his point: The first (from the Treatise on the Great
Perfection of Wisdom)is a story of a poor old woman who made a simple offering to Buddha of the
water that she had used to rinse rice and, as a result, was reborn to eventually became a buddha
herself. The second concerns the great King Ashoka who, unable one day to give gold or money, donated with sincerity a mere half a crabapple to a monastery, which the monks received courteously, ground into flour, and baked into a
cake which was shared by all (from the Ashoka sûtra).
The passage also refers to the Buddha as "Him of Ten Names", because many names are used to describe the Buddha. One sometimes heard is "awake and generous one", which seems fitting here.
_____________________________
As for the [proper]
attitude in preparing food offerings and handling ingredients, do not debate
the fineness of things and do not debate their coarseness, but take as
essential the profound arousal of a true mind and a respectful mind.
Have you not seen that
a single bowl of starchy water, offered to Him of the Ten Names, naturally
resulted in wondrous merit that carried an old woman through future births; and
that half a crabapple fruit, given to a single monastery, enabled King Ashoka
finally to establish his vast good karmic roots, gain a prediction, and bring
about a great result? Although they create a karmic connection with the Buddha,
[donations that are] large and vacuous are not the same as [ones that are]
small and sincere. This is the practice of a [true] person.
From:Tenzo Kyokun - Instructions for the Cook by Eihei Dogen - Translated by Griffith Foulk
(remember: recording ends soon after the beginning bells;
a sitting time of 20 to 35 minutes is recommended)
the 10 simultaneous pictures_______________________ (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....
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 5 minutes or so...
( Dogen's Instructions for the Cook - XXIV)We could almost write a modern corporate management advice book with this stuff ...Maybe we can say that, even if the head of the whole organization, the president of the company ......
( Dogen's Instructions for the Cook - XXIII)Maybe we could say this like this ...In cooking your life out of life's cookbook ... you had better see clearly what's what. If you do so, you may be able to...
Raining, all day today, cold .... brrrrrrr ... (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. ...
The Tenth of the Bodhisattva's Ten Virtues is .... Knowledge (Jñāna) ...In Saving All Sentient Beings ... Knowledge Goes a Long Way ... (remember: recording ends soon after the beginning bells;a sitting time of 20 to 35 minutes is...
This is an Enso from the great Zen teacher Nantembo who lived a century ago, his temple in Nishinomiya is very close to where I live. It says: Everything fundamentally is perfect roundness in this world. As soon as...
This month's sitting and ceremony is dedicated to a friend whose son is leaving for service in Afghanistan ... and to all such families ...Please join our NOVEMBER MONTHLY 4-hour 'Live from Treeleaf' ZAZENKAI, recorded in "real time" and...
( Dogen's Instructions for the Cook - XXII)Master Dogen continues his story of the Yuwang Monastery cook. (I have added capitalized notes inspired by Uchiyama Roshi's comments) ... Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions...
(there is no video today ... )Well, I just had the pleasure of visiting a Meditation Hall with 1,300 members, from all Buddhist traditions ... some of whom are pirates, golden fairies, meditating dogs, flying dragons and .... the imagination...
( Dogen's Instructions for the Cook - XXI)In the following section, Master Dogen recounts his encounters in China with two old Tenzo ... The stories speak for themselves today ... so I'll let them ...(I'll have a little to...
( Dogen's Instructions for the Cook - XX)This is a chance to talk about Buddhist practice and personal (or "self") responsibility. The world and our self are not two, meaning that we can do a lot to repair this...
simplicity, please ... (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....
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.
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