<![CDATA[Treeleaf Zendo - Teacher Talks & Tips]]> https://forum.treeleaf.org/ Special lessons, preachings, and beseechings by Jundo and our Priests en Tue, 21 Jul 2026 23:26:05 GMT vBulletin 60 https://forum.treeleaf.org/images/og/treeleaf-circle-og-logo.png <![CDATA[Treeleaf Zendo - Teacher Talks & Tips]]> https://forum.treeleaf.org/ <![CDATA[What I Wish I'd been Told ...]]> https://forum.treeleaf.org/forum/teacher-talks-tips/teacher-talks-tips-aa/572912-what-i-wish-i-d-been-told Tue, 14 Jul 2026 16:33:47 GMT Someone posted elsewhere a question along the lines, "What do you wish you had been told about Zazen when you started?"


I responded, "To wish for just this. Cease the wishing for this and that. ...


... To radically cease to think of Zazen as a tool or means, rather than as a completion and arrival."


Disregard advice that makes it like a motor in which one wants better gas mileage and horse power, for that vehicle simply takes one farther away.
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Fortunately, my early encounter was with a good Soto Zen teacher, and this is precisely what I was told.




Gassho, J
stlah]]> Jundo https://forum.treeleaf.org/forum/teacher-talks-tips/teacher-talks-tips-aa/572912-what-i-wish-i-d-been-told Jundo: One Reason Our Sangha Will Always Be Small https://forum.treeleaf.org/forum/teacher-talks-tips/teacher-talks-tips-aa/572850-jundo-one-reason-our-sangha-will-always-be-small Mon, 13 Jul 2026 04:04:08 GMT Dear All, A little story from my last night showed me clearly one reason our Treeleaf Sangha always will have limited appeal in the wider Buddhist... image.png


Dear All,

A little story from my last night showed me clearly one reason our Treeleaf Sangha always will have limited appeal in the wider Buddhist and Spirituality world ...

So, I recently made a new friend here in Tsukuba "Science City" Japan, a town heavy in science and medical researchers from around the world. He is a neurological researcher from Eastern Europe, a good chap, and I invited him out for an evening to introduce him to other local friends.

A few weeks ago, he asked me for my business card, and I gave him two: One card for my little office as a a translator of Japanese and retired lawyer, and one as Zen teacher Jundo. When meeting people for the first time, I am always a little concerned about the second card, and most especially in this case of introducing myself to a man of science, peer-reviewed papers and reason. Will he think it strange and too exotic, unscientific, perhaps a sign of some cult and pyramid scheme to sell crystals, seances and alternative cures?

In any case, over dinner with my brain researching new friend, the topic eventually came up as to whether he thought consciousness solely the product of the brain or (as I do, although I did not say then) the brain plus something more.

Not only did he say, "something more," but he then began to relay, for the next hour, tales of his personal and frequent experiences of speaking with the dead, energy beams flowing through his body from other realms, witnessed extraterrestrial UFOs, distance healing, travel through multi-dimensional tunnels to other planes, meeting higher "beings" in those planes, encountering the "keeper" of the "book of fates" where our lives are written, mind reading, foreseeing future death days (fortunately, he did not see mine ... or was just being polite not to tell me! ), his several out of body experiences, spirit possessions and exorcisms ... and more. He discovered that the universe, and those higher beings, are seeking to teach us lessons in this life. In fact, it is not the first time that I have had this kind of thing happen when chatting with apparently "grounded," otherwise hard nosed scientists here in Tsukuba.

I was quickly forced to realize that, not only was I not strange and too exotic as the Zen teacher at that table ... I was, by far, the most boring and uninteresting fellow at the table!

But I was also left with some other realizations.

First, the brain researcher helped me feel deeply that I preach a "left brain" Zen wherein, while I consider myself a mystic who believes that the point of Zen is to see through the purely material surface appearances of this world to something wondrous and easy to miss and deathless and timeless, I nonetheless remain the skeptical lawyer with a love for science, evidence, demanding of some basis in what is reasonable and not outlandish. I call myself a "pragma-mystic" who knows that something "is afoot" in this universe beyond what meets the eye, who finds all time and space in every grain of sand, and knows everything as a great dance ... but has little trust in crystals, unearthly UFO, out-of-body experiences (the doctor said his were something more than just some trick of the spatial-temporal brain centers), distance healing and most of the rest, for there may be some truth there but also a lot that deserves skepticism. Sorry, In fact, I feel that much of that gets in the way of the real power and mystical wonder of what Zen has to teach!

But that also means that we will never attract to Treeleaf the people (the vast majority?) who want energy healing, talking with the dead, wild realms (taken literally, rather than psychologically or symbolically), and all those other colorful things and experiences in their religion. Again, sorry.

On the other hand, listening closely to the doctor, I realized not only his deep sincerity about these adventures, but that the final lessons that such phenomena left to him were basically identical with the wisdom and compassion of our flavor of boring Zen practice! It was only the packaging that was different. For just one example, the "keeper" of the "book of fates" has left him with the message that each of us both should accept what is written in the book, but also know that much of it can be changed! Even if a bit less colorful in presentation, that is Zen wisdom too!!

Maybe it is only the vehicle and packaging of the message that is different. Maybe different people need to learn these lessons in their own ways. Maybe the Catholics and ancient Aztecs, Daoists and Wickans, Tibetans and Norsemen ... and yes, mystical lawyers and scientists who sense the "beauty of the math and music of the spheres" ... just express something basic, but each in their own language and myths and images. It is the insights that matter, not the artwork and trippiness of the trip.

So, finally, I realized that I am happy to be the boring "left brain mystic" that I am, because there are people out there ... even if not the majority ... who need to hear the wisdom packaged that way and delivered as it is here, maybe because they are left brain "pragma-mystics" like me too and a bit skeptical. One can transcend the cosmos AND be down to earth at the same timeless time. I will leave the Aztec gods to the Aztecs, the other realms to other realms. For many folks, the song and dance and distracting scenery can get in the way, when it is the wisdom and compassion that really matters.

This world is not as meets the eye, but the point is to see clearly with a Buddha's Eye, not clouded or colored or confused eyes.

I know that the universe is teaching us something profound, but it can be heard and mastered in many ways.

Gassho, Jundo
stlah]]> Jundo https://forum.treeleaf.org/forum/teacher-talks-tips/teacher-talks-tips-aa/572850-jundo-one-reason-our-sangha-will-always-be-small <![CDATA[Jundo Published By &quot;Closer to Truth&quot;]]> https://forum.treeleaf.org/forum/teacher-talks-tips/teacher-talks-tips-aa/572273-jundo-published-by-closer-to-truth Sun, 28 Jun 2026 00:14:06 GMT
Well, I am tickled, for this is truly a dream for nerds like me!

Some of my fellow nerds may have heard of Robert Lawrence Kuhn, the host of "Closer to Truth," an incredibly popular, long running series on American public tv on "Big Questions" ... all over the youtube too ...

https://closertotruth.com/

All the modern big shots of science and philosophy have appeared as guests over the last 27 years ... plus a few fools and crackpots like me ...

https://closertotruth.com/contributors/

Dr. Kuhn received a copy of my upcoming book through a mutual friend, seems to have liked it, and was kind enough to offer to post some summary of my ideas on their web page. I am hoping that he might even do some interview on the book at some point! For now, he asked me to write something connecting my suggestions to his present central interest: Consciousness.

HERE IT IS!!!

https://loc.closertotruth.com/theory...-consciousness

SOMEHOW, undeservedly, he has listed me in the same category of consciousness theories together with proposals by philosopher Thomas Nagel, Harvard cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker, neuroscientist David Eagleman, Skeptic magazine publisher Michael Shermer and physicist Paul Davies ... all some of my personal heroes!

Now, my notion is not strictly on the topic of "Zen Buddhism," although not in conflict in any way (and, in my next next book, after this one, I will tie the idea in with notions of Karmic causation and our each having our own Karmic stream.) My upcoming book this year is the following, which I am content to say is being published under the imprint of the Essentia Foundation, led by philosopher (and noted advocate of idealism and non-dualist notions), Bernardo Kastrup ...
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Here is the basic notion I propose, which he asked me to tie into "consciousness" in this case:
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Frankly, it is "improbable, implausible, nearly impossible" that this book somehow ended up getting Dr. Kuhn's interest!

Gassho, Jundo
stlah

]]> Jundo https://forum.treeleaf.org/forum/teacher-talks-tips/teacher-talks-tips-aa/572273-jundo-published-by-closer-to-truth Hoji https://forum.treeleaf.org/forum/teacher-talks-tips/teacher-talks-tips-aa/572064-hoji Mon, 22 Jun 2026 05:15:11 GMT IMGP4877a.jpg
(A Hoji in what appears a Pure Land Temple in Japan)



Yesterday, I drove with my wife, son and daughter some 3 hours each way to my wife's hometown. It was time for the 27th "Hoji" for her late father. "Hoji" (法事), which literally means "Dharma Event," is the memorial service for a deceased family member, traditionally held every 7th day until the 49th Day, then on the.100th Day, then on the 1st, 3rd, 7th, 13th, 17th, 23rd, 27th, 33rd and 50th year after death (although maybe most families stop after the first few years. Our family is quite diligent in having them.) Issho Fujita, a Soto Zen priest, explains this way ...

Hoji ... is an important Buddhist practice to commemorate a deceased person and to pray sincerely for the repose of his or her soul. It also provides a wonderful opportunity for surviving family and friends to reconfirm human ties which the departed brought about, to realize that they owe much to the deceased, to renew their gratitude to him or her and to deeply reflect upon themselves in connection with him or her. It is believed that these hoji services will increase the merit of the deceased person so that he/she will be reborn in the pure land. ... Nowadays in Japan after a funeral is held, hoji is performed every seven days after the day of death, seven times altogether. These memorial services are called kinichihoyo. This is based on the ancient Indian idea that the soul of the deceased would stay in an intermediary realm (chuin, or chuu in Japanese) for 49 days after death, wandering between this world and the next. ... This is also a period of time for the bereaved family to mourn the loss, gradually coming to terms with it, and to regain a sense of peace. ... There are also further memorial services after the 49th day, such as the service on the 100th day, the 1st year, 3rd year, 7th, 13th, 17th, 23rd, 27th, and 33rd year. These anniversary memorial services are called nenkihoyo. They are performed in order to support the deceased who have already gone to the pure land to continue walking on the path of the Buddha. Normally the 33rd year (sometimes 37th, or 50th year) is the last (tomuraiage, "end of mourning"), marking the time when the individual deceased is thought to have become absorbed into the general ancestral spirit. It means that the spirit is gradually purified by the power of tsuizen-kuyo, eventually loses its individuality and becomes a full blown bodhisattava [or Hotoke, which means "Buddha."] LINK
You may already notice several statements there that might surprise some: What is this "soul" or "spirit" he mentions, and how are we helping them to be reborn in the Pure Land, then to be absorbed in the "ancestral spirit" to become a "Buddha" at the end? Does not Buddhism reject a "soul?" Does not Buddhism traditionally speak of rebirth in a new life? Why are Zen folks talking about the "Pure Land" (usually associated with Amida Buddha and the Pure Land Buddhists)?

The simple answer is that Japanese culture (and Chinese culture too) always had a difficult time rectifying the Buddhist teaching of "no self/no soul" with traditional "ancestor worship" beliefs in a soul and spirit that tends to never really leave the family, and is always somehow close by, even when in the other world. Nobody really wants to see their "Grandpa" reborn in some other family! The answer to this conundrum in Japan is, basically, to ignore the conundrum, not try to figure it out, and just let people believe that Grandpa's spirit in the "other world" is still in close proximity somehow and that, if we do these memorial ceremonies, Grandpa will eventually become a "Hotoke," a "Buddha," somehow. In between, Grandpa is "somewhere" which, since the other Buddhists talk about the "Pure Land," is likely there. Best not to worry about the details about what that all means! (There is also the shadow of this belief that, if a family fails to perform such memorial services, the angry deceased will come back to haunt and curse the family, a belief that some Buddhist temples have unfortunately encouraged in the past as a way to encourage these ceremonies!)

There is also the historical truth that all this became the custom because it was once imposed by law on all Japanese during Samurai times: The Shoguns, in order to keep out Christianity, mandated that all Japanese MUST belong to a nearby Buddhist temple, and MUST have their funerals and Hoji performed there as a way to economically fund the temples. In turn, the temple priests would keep watch on behalf of the authorities to make sure that none of their parishioners were secretly Christians or otherwise trouble-makers! Today, after so many centuries, most Japanese just accept that they must perform these ceremonies without thought of how they all started. An unfortunate side effect is that most Japanese never actually learned much about Buddhist teachings other than its connection to funerals and death and, today, this means that many temples are suffering as demand for such traditional funerals has decreased.

As you can tell, I am quite skeptical about much of this, and rather critical of "funeral/Hoji culture" in Japanese Buddhism. That is one reason that Treeleaf, like the vast majority of Western Zen Sangha, is much more centered on Zazen, not death rituals.

However, then a day like yesterday comes, and I am reminded of the beauty and power of the Hoji too ...

You see, my wife's whole family gathered, each generation, from Great Grandma (my mother-in-law), to her children, her grandchildren and a baby great-grand daughter. We would not all do so, at least as often, were it not for such events. The priest then came out and began his elaborate ceremony, wearing magnificent robes and mitre hat, with drums and bells sounding, incense in the air. (My wife's family are Nichiren Buddhists but it does not matter: All Buddhist Hoji in Japan, including Soto Zen, are basically the same. Some Nichiren sects like SGI do not have them I believe, but my wife's family are regular old Nichiren Buddhists, not SGI, so do.) The priest has a magnificent voice, deep almost like those Tibetan throat singers, so much so that my family tends to comment on it every time we visit as one of his best qualities as a priest whatever his other merits!

As the Chanting is in ancient Japanese, with plentiful Buddhist lingo thrown in, nobody in attendance among my relatives has hope of understanding 10% of what is being said. It is the Buddhist version of the Latin Mass. Nonetheless, it does not matter! The reason is that the whole thing is so impressive, so mysterious, that all there can feel that something powerful and important is happening. Everyone get's their money's worth (which, by the way, was not unreasonable at about $500.00 US, give or take, given the there are beautiful gardens and wooden buildings to maintain, and the priest needs to eat to keep that voice!)

We then headed out to the graveyard to place incense where the ashes of my father-in-law and other relatives are kept, pouring water over the graves (a tradition related to quenching the thirst of the deceased spirits. Some folks might leave Sake, and even cigarettes, for the dead, although our family does not. Our family's ancestors all quit smoking and drinking I guess?) There are about 400 years of generations of my wife's family in that graveyard, by the way. The youngsters were introduced to their heritage, and were impressed with their duty to continue the tradition for their own parents someday. We then headed to a restaurant for a big meal, telling stories of my wonderful father-in-law (he was great, a wonderful man and quite the character ... like a Japanese "James Dean" type! See photo below) and catching up.

So, my opinion on such events is torn again. No, our focus in our Sangha will stay on Zazen, not funerals. However, I must admit that the Hoji is still a beautiful and powerful thing. Yes, I wonder if the original Buddha in India would even understand what it was all about! Even so, it has been the custom for centuries upon centuries, and is one of the glues that holds Japanese families, and thus society, together. In fact, human beings need such ceremonies, such remembrances, or we may miss something important about being human if we totally do without. Since humankind first existed, we have gathered to remember and honor those who have passed.

Funerals and Hoji have their place and time. *

Gassho, Jundo

* Nonetheless, I have told my kids and the priests here that I don't want such a funeral or Hoji. Sit Zazen for me, chant a quick Heart Sutra, scatter my ashes under a tree, try to remember me fondly from time to time, hang some pictures to show their kids. That is enough ... especially the fond remembering!


My late father-in-law, his wife (now aged 90) plus his beloved Harley way back in the day.

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]]> Jundo https://forum.treeleaf.org/forum/teacher-talks-tips/teacher-talks-tips-aa/572064-hoji