Dear All,
To keep our Sangha focused on Practice and serving other sentient beings, we are making "LAH" the LAW around here, just as we ask "SatToday" of our Forum members. The following is asked of ALL Treeleaf members (except very new members during their first weeks, and others prevented by health and life emergencies). It is a reminder that Treeleaf Sangha is a Practice Place centered on the daily Sitting of Shikantaza Zazen and engaging in Bodhisattva Action, any chit-chat only afterwards.
~ ~ ~
SatToday (SAT):
We continue to ask all our members to have sat Zazen sometime in the preceding day (the prior 24 hours) before posting in this Forum and joining in discussions. Please have "Sat" before any "Chat."
Doing so serves both as a reminder to oneself, and as a way to encourage others in our Sangha with the spirit of community sitting, so we ask our members to sign all posted messages with their name and the words "SatToday" (or some variation like "Sat" or "ST" ... our members are quite creative.
) Thank you. If you have not sat within the preceding 24 hours, we ask you to refrain from posting until you have sat, even if just for a few minutes. However, remember that Zazen is not a competition or anything to brag about, so no need to mention how long one was sitting or how many times per day. A sitting is a sitting. Just say that you sat. ~ ~ ~
Lend-A-Hand (LAH):
We ask our members to come to our Forum only after they have dedicated a "Lend-A-Hand" act of charity, aid and good works, whether big or small, within the prior 24 hours (please refrain from posting until you do), and that posters affix "LAH" to their posts to show that they have. However, as with "SAT," this is not meant to brag about what you have done, but only to encourage others in our Sangha to join in the spirit of community action. Thus, DO NOT SAY what you did ... but rather, just do something good, and in your heart silently dedicate it to Treeleaf's LAH efforts. By placing LAH in your post, we will know that you did something big or small, but never know what. Only you will know.
On the other hand, we would love to hear about the acts as a way to inspire others to do something similar, so we have set up a way to hear the details without anyone taking credit: At least once a month, if you have done something you can tell us about, BIG or small, please submit a description ANONYMOUSLY to our GOJO BODHISATTVA dropbox, here. The password is dogen (all lowercase):
It does not need to be a BIG doing, and even a small and ordinary LAH action can be beautiful, inspiring and heart-warming, so worth writing about. Please try to submit a little story once a month or more, even if you think what you did is nothing so special. The purpose of posting is not for you, but as a way to inspire others with notions and examples of things they can do too.
Remember, in none of the stories you report is it truly "I" acting, but just the Bodhisattva acting with Compassion, borrowing your hands:
A few LAH rules:
- We leave it to your own personal conscious what you do on a particular day: Placing 1 penny in the poor box, saving a baby from a burning building, picking up a single piece of trash on the street, finding a cure for cancer, offering a smile to a stranger, are all equally LAH, whether big or small! The details of your action will never be described when you write LAH, only you will know what it was, and we leave it to your heart. They can be very imaginative or most ordinary. This should be a Practice done each day, so "be on the lookout" for each day's special deed. However, you can repeat acts (there is no need for them to be different each day.) It is totally up to you what it is, and only you will know, so no bragging rights.
- If you have health or disability restrictions, it is fine to do what you can, e.g., a kind email to a lonely friend, a smile to a nurse from your hospital bed, even a nice thought for the world in your mind, will all be a LAH act if that is what you can manage.
- If you are someone who already volunteers, is engaged in social services or caretaking and are so busy with that, simply dedicate a part of what you already do each day to our Treeleaf LAH, or add a little tiny extra act (an extra 10 seconds of caring is fine) dedicated in your heart to LAH. There is no need to significantly add to what you do if you already are doing so much.
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IN THIS DHARMA TALK FROM OUR WEEKLY ZAZENKAI, YOU CAN HEAR MORE ABOUT HOW LAH IS TO BE APPROACHED AND ENGAGED WITH
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_Y1YiTiusg
IN THIS DHARMA TALK FROM OUR WEEKLY ZAZENKAI, YOU CAN HEAR MORE ABOUT HOW LAH IS TO BE APPROACHED AND ENGAGED WITH
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_Y1YiTiusg
SPECIAL RULES for SatToday and LAH:
1- The above requests for SatToday and LAH will not be required of:
- Folks new to our Community during the first few months they are here, until the person feels comfortable with this place and the Practice of Zazen.
- Anyone who is struggling with Zazen, or for whom life seems to be making sitting and other activities difficult, if they need our community to help them through the hard time. The doors will never be closed to anyone like that, provided that we will try to point the person back to regular sitting and engagement as quickly as possible, and expect the person to resume daily sitting etc. as soon as possible.
- Anyone who is struggling with Zazen, or for whom life seems to be making sitting and other activities difficult, if they need our community to help them through the hard time. The doors will never be closed to anyone like that, provided that we will try to point the person back to regular sitting and engagement as quickly as possible, and expect the person to resume daily sitting etc. as soon as possible.
2 - I also am going to ask people not to post "Sat Today" and "LAH" merely in the automatic footer of their messages. Please sign it new each time you make a post. It needs to be something freshly written each day to keep it in mind, and not merely something that just appears.
So, thank you all for supporting each other in daily sitting and making the world just a little better.
Gassho, Jundo
SatTodayLAH
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for positive poetry 優婆塞 台 婆
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