-- BEGINNER'S MINDHi,
Especially for new folks to Treeleaf, I ask you to sit with our series of talks for "beginners" on the "Sit-a-Long" netcast
There are 22 talks in the series, discussing the themes below.
We all should maintain a fresh and open "Beginners Mind", moment to moment, no matter how long we have been Practicing. However, these talks are meant for beginners in "Just Sitting" Shikantaza Zazen, as well as more experienced folks who are newcomers to Treeleaf Sangha. Shikantaza is our central Practice at Treeleaf.
We will discuss the "goals" of "Just Sitting", which has to do a lot with dropping thoughts like "goals"! (Yes, Zen folks say strange things like that sometimes.
) I talk about where you can expect to "go" in your Practice, and what you can expect to attain. However, getting somewhere and truly attaining something special in this Practice, surprisingly, has a lot to do with sitting that drops away our human compulsions to always "go go go," get somewhere and hungrily attain something special (which, nonetheless, makes all the difference in the world in the very act of freedom from our often disappointed, constantly running, attaining, judging, chasing, grabbing mentality!) We get somewhere by finally resting in wholeness, free of the inner hungers, thus truly finding a special way to be by giving up the chase. 
Kinda counter-intuitive to our usual way of living hungry for more more more.
The result is that we get better at this Practice, and find ourselves getting better, living in more improved and healthy ways, even as we drop away the excess dissatisfaction and inner need always to make better, perpetually improve and change. One might say that we get better and work to get better, while also free of the need to be better, all at once. We learn to accept life "just as it is," free of the need to constantly fix and improve, while at the same time working diligently to fix and improve that which needs fixing and improving. Thus, we keep our healthy goals and drive to improve, while also somehow dropping all need for goals and the compulsion to improve, all at once, as if on separate inner channels that blend as one.
(Don't worry, this will start to make sense!)
Each talk ends with the ringing of the bell to begin Zazen ... and I hope that you will "sit-a-long" with us. A sitting time of 15 minutes or more each day is recommended. After listening to the first few talks, you should be ready to start sitting right away.
I hope that both new folks and old timers will give a listen, as we talk about many of the nuts and bolts of this wonderful practice. We are all, of course, ever beginning now and now and now ...
Gassho, Jundo
SET I - BASIC INTRODUCTION TO THE MIND AND BODY IN ZAZEN
- Zazen for Beginners (1) - Turning Down The Noise (LINK)
- Zazen for Beginners (2) - Put The Hammer Down (LINK)
- Zazen for Beginners (3) - Basic Postures and The Mechanics of Sitting (LINK)
SET II - BASIC INTRODUCTION TO "JUST SITTING"
- Zazen for Beginners (4) - Giving Up The Chase (LINK)
- Zazen for Beginners (5) - The Race To Right Here (LINK)
- Zazen for Beginners (6) - Acceptance-Without-Acceptance (LINK)
- Zazen for Beginners (7) - Not Grabbing The Thoughts (LINK)
- Zazen for Beginners (8) - Alternative Postures of Zazen (LINK)
SET III - TRADITIONAL MODELS of THE MIND IN ZAZEN
- Zazen for Beginners (9) - Drifting Clouds of Thoughts and Emotion (LINK)
- Zazen for Beginners (10) - Mirrormind (LINK)
SET IV - VARIOUS POINTS ABOUT ZAZEN
- Zazen for Beginners (11) - The Breath (LINK)
- Zazen for Beginners (12) - Basic Zendo Decorum At Home (LINK)
- Zazen for Beginners (13) - Anywhere, Anytime INSTA-ZAZEN!© (LINK)
- Zazen for Beginners (14) - How Long To Sit? INTRODUCING the 15－Minute Sit (LINK)
SET V - ALL THINGS 'AS THEY ARE'
- Zazen for Beginners (15) - Yield, Let Go, Allow (LINK)
- Zazen for Beginners (16) - Letting The Weather Be The Weather (LINK)
- Zazen for Beginners (17) - Sitting With Pain & Illness (LINK)
SET VI - THE PRECEPTS, COMPASSION and THE 'BODHISATTVA VOW'
- Zazen for Beginners (18) - Nothing To Fix, So Ya Better Fix It! (LINK)
- Zazen for Beginners (19) - The Precepts & Wholesome Living (LINK)
- Zazen for Beginners (20) - Compassion & The Bodhisattva Vow (LINK)
SET VII - FINAL WORDS
- Zazen for Beginners (21) - The True 'Quiet Room' (LINK)
- Zazen for Beginners (22) - End of the Beginningless Beginning (LINK)
You might also look in on this series of Talks on BUDDHA-BASICS, a simple introduction to many basic tenets and perspectives of Zen and Mahayana Buddhism. (LINK) Topics include such primary Teachings as the Four Noble Truths & Eightfold Path, Impermanence, Non-Self, Emptiness, Karma and more. You might also benefit from a series of Talks on BODHISATTVA-BASICS, introducing many of the virtues of Bodhisattvas on this Path. (LINK)
Fair Sailing!
Gassho, Jundo
SatToday
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