[Oryoki] Oryoki Training Videos - and support materials

[Shinshi]

Hi Folks,

Here are the first two Oryoki training videos. The first is just a quick welcome. The other is a how to prepare your bowls to get them ready to begin our session.

Welcome

How to prepare your Oryoki bowls

Note that these videos, and future videos, are works in progress. By the time we get through the training I am sure I will have ideas as to how to improve the provided information.

Gassho,

Shinshi

[Shinshi]

Hi Folks,

This is the sewing document which gives the dimensions for the cloths, instructions for sewing the utensil case and how to iron the lap cloth.

The Oryoki Set english in cm.pdf

I'll add more as we go.

Gassho,

Shinshi

[Jundo]

Hi Guys,

This is very wonderful!

Let me drop in that, even if one has not sewn or procured some of the "official" cloths and such, substitutions can be made, especially temporarily.

For example, a mailing envelope (especially one that opens at the top) can serve for awhile as the utensil case. A man's handkerchief can be the drying cloth, a clean pillow case can be the bowl wrapping cloth.

Also, a piece of letter sized paper, especially if a bit thicker like school construction paper, is an excellent Hattan, and a little piece of wood or the like, even a piece of thick cardboard, about the size and shape shown in the video more or less, is a good water board.

That can keep you going perfectly equipped as a beginner for practice.

Oryoki is a wonderful art, a dance of great power. I know that you will benefit from it.

Gassho, Jundo
stlah

[Shinshi]

Those are excellent points Jundo. We did cover that a bit in the first session and I working on a new video on this topic. I should be done in the next week or so.

Gassho,

Shinshi

[IanSmith]

Hello Shinshi
Many thanks for your video, it was very informative. I look forward to the next. May I ask a question regarding the
material colour. I have some dull dark blue cotton which I would like to use, is this OK.
Gassho
Ian
SatLah

[Shinshi]

Hi Ian,

Well, Jundo gets the final call but this is my take on this. It kind of depends on how "correct you want to be" and "correct" by whose standards.

I would say I would like to decrease the barriers to participation so they are as small as possible. So dark blue sounds fine.

At the other end, San Francisco Zen Center says that lay folks must have only white cloths. Colors are only for priests.

In "Practices at a Zen Monastery" Tsugen Narasaki wrote that the color of the wrapping cloths should follow the nyohoe guidelines - he wrote a "blended color".

We can see what Jundo says, but I am ok with a dark blue.

Gassho,

Shinshi

[Jundo]

At the other end, San Francisco Zen Center says that lay folks must have only white cloths. Colors are only for priests.

That is San Francisco's own invention, and is not Japanese tradition. SFZC does the same on Rakusu colors too, also not Japanese tradition. They like to make color signals for ranks and things over there. So, pay no attention to that custom.

As to the "dark blue," well, I suppose it depends how bright and shiny it is. Avoid generally bright and shiny colors in Zen items. However, my Oryoki cloths are a rather dark greyish-blue. If it is kind of a bland dark blue, I believe that is a "broken color."

Koun has this confusing definition ...

The color was what is referred to as a “broken” color. I’ve heard this defined in various (and sometimes contradicting) ways, but basically, a broken color is not a primary color, and not black or white–it is a color with its own internal, natural variation, like cloth that’s been rubbed over time. ... Broken, subdued color. “Broken” means that it’s not too perfect, that it has variations and texture. We see broken color in cloth that has been rubbed thin over time, or washed over and over. We see it in lots of weaves that, on close inspection, are actually made of threads of different colors (though it looks, at a glance, like a single color). Cloth that is perfectly red, perfectly black, etc. doesn’t have this effect. And it’s no accident that a lot of synthetic materials are less likely than natural ones to take on that broken look. “Subdued” just means not glaring, not too bright. If someone wears a hot pink shirt, you can’t help but think, at least for a second, “Wow, that’s really pink.”

A little page from Soto Zen's Komazawa University just says, "broken color (not a bright, attractive primary color)"

So, if not too "blue-blue," and a rather dark blue ... I think it is fine. Wash it with time, and it will become grayish too.

Gassho, J
stlah