New meditation shed

[Hokai]

Lovely.

And the whole universe is our Great Shed!

Gassho, Jundo
stlah

I did get the idea of a permanent shed hermitage from reading Shonins blog, I’m making a little sign with Shitou’s “Though the hut is small, it includes the entire world.” on it in calligraphy.
My wife got me a little Japanese bell and now

Listen, listen,
this wonderful sound brings me back to
my true home.

Gassho
Hōkai
satlah
IMG_2832.jpg

[Seiko]

Now that I have more time, I’ve turned our old summerhouse into a permanent meditation shed .

Hello Hōkai!
We are shed buddies!

Obviously, you're gonna have that pinch of salt ready when you read my gibberish. I'm a novice priest with a lot to learn.

I am sorry that I don't have any other ceremony suggestions to add. Apart from wondering about the ordination of spiders. I guess every time we brush the cobwebs away they are leaving home once more.

I have just paid the bill for having power installed in my shed. I just opted for electricity, not omnipotence! Now I have to save up for the materials to insulate it. Not sure what a blind man's DIY insulation will look like, but I'll have a go. I'm in no rush.

I imagine my place as big as Eiheiji, full of beautiful artifacts, but really I know it'll look more like a goat shelter. Haha! Just having that dedicated space will be lovely.

Does shed time have it's own timezone?

Maybe YOU have advice for ME?... on the insulation process? I am always happy to learn.

Gasshō, Seiko, stlah

[Kokuu]

What a great space. Nice job!

It's a place where you go to practice Zen, so sounds like a Zendo to me!

Gassho
Kokuu
-sattoday/lah-

[Hokai]

Hello Hōkai!
We are shed buddies!

Obviously, you're gonna have that pinch of salt ready when you read my gibberish. I'm a novice priest with a lot to learn.

I am sorry that I don't have any other ceremony suggestions to add. Apart from wondering about the ordination of spiders. I guess every time we brush the cobwebs away they are leaving home once more.

I have just paid the bill for having power installed in my shed. I just opted for electricity, not omnipotence! Now I have to save up for the materials to insulate it. Not sure what a blind man's DIY insulation will look like, but I'll have a go. I'm in no rush.

I imagine my place as big as Eiheiji, full of beautiful artifacts, but really I know it'll look more like a goat shelter. Haha! Just having that dedicated space will be lovely.

Does shed time have it's own timezone?

Maybe YOU have advice for ME?... on the insulation process? I am always happy to learn.

Gasshō, Seiko, stlah

Hi Seiko,

Nice to meet another shed dweller….might have something going here, an online hermitary!

My shed was our summerhouse so it’s a double skin tongue and groove wooden structure. It’s not insulated but is surprisingly warm, it’s has four large windows so traps a lot of heat. I electrified it from the house and have a small gas heater for when it’s very cold…..which is a lot as I live in Argyll!

Insulation wise, I’m not sure what to suggest other than I’ve heard that insulation panels are easy to install, B and Q have them

https://www.diy.com/ideas--advice/outdoor--garden/garden-buildings--fencing/how-to-insulate-your-shed

I like the idea of having to leave the house and walk the short distance to the shed -feels like a space set aside, sacred space.

Timewise, The MedShed operates on Argyll Standard Croft time which is time beyond time !!

Let me know how you get on with your shed, if I was closer I’d come and help…

Gassho
Hōkai
satlah
IMG_2838.jpg

[Chikyou]

Wonderful!!!! Having a dedicated practice space (mine is a half of my bedroom separated off by a wooden and paper screen) has really helped my practice in a way I can’t fully articulate. I love your dedicated space!!!

Gassho,
SatLah
Chikyō

[Hokai]

Wonderful!!!! Having a dedicated practice space (mine is a half of my bedroom separated off by a wooden and paper screen) has really helped my practice in a way I can’t fully articulate. I love your dedicated space!!!

Gassho,
SatLah
Chikyō

Yes it certainly makes a difference my house is chaos at the best of times…, I’ve got two teenagers, my wife and I work from home!…various large dogs charging about….


The shed is a little oasis….
Gassho
Hōkai
satlah

[Jundo]

I see that the poem by our Soto Ancestor Shitou (Sekito) has not been posted yet ...

Gassho, J
stlah

~~~
Song of the Grass-Roof Hermitage

Shih-t’ou (700-790)


I’ve built a grass hut where there’s nothing of value.
After eating, I relax and enjoy a nap.
When it was completed, fresh weeds appeared.
Now it’s been lived in – covered by weeds.

The person in the hut lives here calmly,
Not stuck to inside, outside, or in between.
Places worldly people live, he doesn’t live.
Realms worldly people love, he doesn’t love.

Though the hut is small, it includes the entire world.
In ten square feet, an old man
Illumines forms and their nature.
A Great Vehicle bodhisattva trusts without doubt.
The middling or lowly can’t help wondering;
Will this hut perish or not?

Perishable or not, the original master is present,
Not dwelling south or north, east or west.
Firmly based on steadiness, it can’t be surpassed.
A shining window below the green pines —
Jade palaces or vermilion towers can’t compare with it.

Just sitting with head covered, all things are at rest.
Thus, this mountain monk doesn’t understand at all.
Living here he no longer works to get free.
Who would proudly arrange seats, trying to entice guests?

Turn around the light to shine within, then just return.
The vast inconceivable source
Can’t be faced or turned away from.
Meet the ancestral teachers,
Be familiar with their instruction,
Bind grasses to build a hut, and don’t give up.

Let go of hundreds of years and relax completely.
Open your hands and walk, innocent.
Thousands of words, myriad interpretations,
Are only to free you from obstructions.
If you want to know the undying person in the hut,
Don’t separate from this skin bag here and now.

Shih-t’ou (700-790)

[Hokai]

Roshi,
I was reading that last night, again, and it’s quite amazing how the poem makes much more sense when one has a shed to call home ! I am going to make a little wooden sign for the shed : ‘Though the shed is small, it includes the entire world’

And inside I have this on the wall:


LIVING IN THE MOUNTAINS

My hut is no bigger than a ladle,
But within, I do as I please.

Colored clouds
rise from doors and casements;
The moon and stars
are suspended on the porch.

Thoughts end:
my mind becomes tranquil;
Dust dissolves:
the world is just thus.

The southern wind reaches my sitting mat,
Rustling through six empty windows.

Hanshan Te’Ching


(My garden duck supervises all shed related activities.)

Gassho
Hōkai
satlah
IMG_2883.jpg

[Shoshin]

Wow, it's beautiful

Gassho,
Satlah

[Bion]

Roshi,
I was reading that last night, again, and it’s quite amazing how the poem makes much more sense when one has a shed to call home ! I am going to make a little wooden sign for the shed : ‘Though the shed is small, it includes the entire world’

And inside I have this on the wall:


LIVING IN THE MOUNTAINS

My hut is no bigger than a ladle,
But within, I do as I please.

Colored clouds
rise from doors and casements;
The moon and stars
are suspended on the porch.

Thoughts end:
my mind becomes tranquil;
Dust dissolves:
the world is just thus.

The southern wind reaches my sitting mat,
Rustling through six empty windows.

Hanshan Te’Ching


(My garden duck supervises all shed related activities.)

Gassho
Hōkai
satlah
IMG_2883.jpg

Can I just say I love that photo? If you ever write a book of poems, that's the cover.

Gassho
sat lah

[Jundo]

Master Dogen also had poems about his retreat hut ...

Transmitting to the east the way the ancestors brought from the west,
My daily activities illuminated by the moon and shadowed by the clouds,
Because I revere the ancient way of the patriarchs,
The secular dust of worldly customs does not reach
Where I remain secluded in my grass-thatched hut,
On a snowy evening deep in the mountain recesses.
...
Each moment waking, sleeping,
In my grass-thatched hut,
I offer this prayer:
Let Sakyamuni Buddha's compassion
Envelop the world.
...
Each moment waking, sleeping,
In my grass-thatched hut,
I offer this prayer—
Let us strive to save
Others before ourselves.


Gassho, J
stlah

[Hokai]

Can I just say I love that photo? If you ever write a book of poems, that's the cover.

Gassho
sat lah

Thank you Bion, that’s a kind and encouraging comment!
I am actually thinking of making an e book as I move through the year, kind of a diary from the shed, with black and white pictures, thoughts and quotes. I think it would help keep me focussed and just might inspire others to make a little place to be.

gassho
Hōkai
satlah
IMG_2887.jpg

[Furyu]

Looks lovely! Amazing.

Fūryū
Sat-lah

[Seiga]

I do not own a hut. I usually sit in a small room, which is actually our balcony. But you can close it off with window panes. There is a carpet, a rice straw mat - a tatami - a small cupboard with a Buddha statue, incense and a candle. Nothing else. I can cover the large window front with curtains and make the small room even smaller. More intense. Muffle the noise of the world and be more aware of the noise inside me. I don't have a heater in there. So in winter you can see your breath. But the cold is what it is - the temperature of the winter that visits me on this balcony. Just as everything that happens to us is what "visits" us at that moment, in the now.

Some days of the year, however, I spend in a large "hut" as a place of practice. A forest on the Polish Baltic Sea. Hardly any people. But lots of natural life. A somewhat large hut perhaps. And it doesn't belong to me. But it's just as beautiful a place to practice as our balcony. Or my children's kindergarten, or my office.

gassho
seiga
satlah