Sharing Helpful and Insightful Tips (was The Tea Party)

[Dosho]

Re: Sharing Helpful and Insightful Tips (was The Tea Party)

Thanks Hogo...I stopped in a for a bit after you left, so I'll look forward to talking with you and the other folks on Sunday!

Gassho,
Dosho

[Hogo]

Re: Sharing Helpful and Insightful Tips (was The Tea Party)

Hello friends,
Sorry for the delay my mind got a bit distracted this week, but here is a quick report on last Sunday's Tea Party meeting.

As always we began with a short period of Zazen followed by a disscussion period on individuals practice. This went on into a disscussion on some of the difficulties one encounters with various aspects of practice, such as sitting regulary.

Most of the time this week was spent on general practice area topics, sitting, chanting, timers, Iphone apps.
There was also some talk of music and how it can change ones immediate feeling or attitude, and then a disscussion on health and weightloss, the tracking of calories, and different training, diet practices.
Turnout this week was fair, and we had the pleasure of welcoming a new person to the visit (always great to see new people ) as well we welcomed back and old friend.

Thanks to all, see you on Sunday.
Gassho.

[Omoi Otoshi]

Re: Sharing Helpful and Insightful Tips (was The Tea Party)

I bought my wife a web cam for her birthday! :twisted: 8)
(And some other stuff...)

I'll see if I can be there!
I rarely speak english any more, so I'm a little shy. On the other hand, it's all in my head and it's all practice! :wink:

/Pontus

[Tb]

Re: Sharing Helpful and Insightful Tips (was The Tea Party)

Hi.

A reminder of the Treeleaf teaparty ,sunday 21.00 (swedish time ) on skype.
Contains a short ceremony and some friendly talks.
If you want to join, unless you already have, pm Fugen or Shohei your skypename.

Everybody's welcome.
Same time, same place.
Thank you for your practice.

And a reminder, THIS WEEK we have the Treeleaf beginners teaparty...
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=3118

Gassho & Mtfbwy
Shohei and Fugen

[Dosho]

Re: Sharing Helpful and Insightful Tips (was The Tea Party)

Hi guys,

Just so you know, I'll probably miss the beginning of the tea party this week but may make it for some of the call. Otherwise, I'll talk to you the following week.

Gassho,
Dosho

[Tb]

Re: Sharing Helpful and Insightful Tips (was The Tea Party)

Hi.

A reminder of the Treeleaf teaparty ,sunday 21.00 (swedish time ) on skype.
Contains a short ceremony and some friendly talks.
If you want to join, unless you already have, pm Fugen or Shohei your skypename.

Everybody's welcome.
Same time, same place.
Thank you for your practice.

And a reminder, next week we have the Treeleaf beginners teaparty...
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=3118

Gassho & Mtfbwy
Shohei and Fugen

[Dosho]

Re: Sharing Helpful and Insightful Tips (was The Tea Party)

Thanks Dave!

[Hogo]

Re: Sharing Helpful and Insightful Tips (was The Tea Party)

Hello friends,
A quick lesson this morning on impermanence and paitence for me, as I had this post nearly finished a momemt ago,
and proceeded to (as I have done numerous times before) to flail about and hit Something on my keyboard that made my
browser go back........**Poof**

So as advised by my wife (also numerous times) I am now writing this in word, and I will copy and paste to the post
later.

Anyway here (again) is your weekly report of this past Sundays Tea gathering. Turnout was lighter than some weeks
but a very good and broad ranging discussion was shared on many different topics of life and practice. I was so busy
listening, (and running my own mouth) That my notes were not as clear as I like, so here is a Vauge recolection of
the topics discussed.

After our short group sit, and sharing of personal points of recent practice the discussion moved on to the use of
Internet communications, and how it relates to our practice and the concept of the "virtual Sangha" regarding what
is cosidered real or not when utilizing various technologies to conduct operations and communicate.

We later went on to discuss the differences between Re-birth, and Re-incarnation, and the various ideas associated
with those concepts. This conversation progressed into a deep and a bit mindbending discussion on the concept of
Self, and how it relates to time, and perception. (as I decribed Sunday, it was all very Stephen Hawking type stuff)
Very cool but difficult at times. You never know where these disscusion will go.

As always I personally had a great time sharing with friends.
Till next week may all your little moments of time be well.
Deep bows and gratitude to all ~ Dave.

[Dosho]

Re: Sharing Helpful and Insightful Tips (was The Tea Party)

Hi all,

Here's this past week's, just under the wire, tea party report:

A new feature added to the tea party recently is beginning with a short sit, which does seem to set a nice tone for discussing matters of practice. We were joined by all 3 priest trainees and began with a discussion of our sitting space. A number of folks have been setting up new spaces which one person mentioned does feel very different than the space he's been using for the last couple years. Some are using spare bedrooms, others what amount to oversized closets. We also discussed the idea of sitting groups which some have begun in their local communities. Most in attendance mentioned wanting to start a group at some point, but for sitting, not prosletyzing.

Hans recommended a book to all members of the sangha: Cultivating the Empty Field (most recent translation by Taigen Dan Leighton) which he found to be a short but very illuminating read. Recent threads on the forum about community service and whether or not it was important to identify ourselves as buddhist when volunteering were discussed as well as the support we receive (or don't) from our significant others. There was also some discussion of the virtues of Netflix as we concluded.

Hope to "see" some folks on today's call!

Gassho,
Dosho

[Tb]

Re: Sharing Helpful and Insightful Tips (was The Tea Party)

Hi.

A reminder of the Treeleaf teaparty ,sunday 21.00 (swedish time ).
Contains a short ceremony and some friendly talks.
If you want to join, unless you already have, pm Fugen or Shohei your skypename.

Everybody's welcome.
Same time, same place.
Thank you for your practice.

Gassho & Mtfbwy
Shohei and Fugen

[Dokan]

Re: Sharing Helpful and Insightful Tips (was The Tea Party)

Will have to miss this week. Hope you guys have a good talk!

Gassho,
Shawn

[Tb]

Re: Sharing Helpful and Insightful Tips (was The Tea Party)

Hi.

A reminder of the Treeleaf teaparty , 21.00 (swedish time ).
Contains a short ceremony and some friendly talks.
If you want to join, unless you already have, pm Fugen or Shohei your skypename.

Everybody's welcome.
Same time, same place.
Thank you for your practice.

Gassho & Mtfbwy
Shohei and Fugen

[Dosho]

Re: Sharing Helpful and Insightful Tips (was The Tea Party)

Hi all,

Here is this past week's (couldn't get much more belated than this) tea party report:

The call started with some technical difficulties, but after all was set straight we had a good number of folks including some newbies! There was a lively discussion about one participant's practice who was feeling disconnected from the sangha but afterwards much less so. A general conversation followed about feeling "burnt out" at times after making zazen a regular aspect of your life, particularly when we feel like we HAVE to do zazen and then punish ourselves when we don't sit as often as our lofty expectations demand. It seemed to be agreed by many that perfectionism can be a detriment to practice if we don't see all of our imperfect lives as zazen. Some general discussions followed on politics, zen communites and how they deal with "scandals" inside and outside particular sanghas, as well as the many sutras and their meanings and place in our practice.

Hope to see some folks...in about 45 minutes.

Gassho,
Dosho

[Dosho]

Re: Sharing Helpful and Insightful Tips (was The Tea Party)

Hi all,

Here is this week's (much belated) tea party report:

With Fugen off to a family event for the beginning of the call, attendance was fairly light with only a couple folks on for the entire time. All of our priest trainees made an appearance though, including Fugen just at the end. For many it was the last day of holiday break and while it was back to the grind for some, for others it was a welcome return to normalcy. There was some "shop talk", with discussions of practice centers nearby and sutras with incredibly long names. Other topics included rebuilding computers nearly from scratch, Christmas traditons in different countries, flu symptoms, the unfortunate realities of profanity laced childrens' music, and mormonism.

Just another typical tea party! Hope to see some folks...later today!

Gassho,
Dosho

[Tb]

Re: Sharing Helpful and Insightful Tips (was The Tea Party)

Hi.

A reminder of the Treeleaf teaparty , 21.00 (swedish time ).
Contains a short ceremony and some friendly talks.
If you want to join, unless you already have, pm Fugen or Shohei your skypename.

Everybody's welcome.
Same time, same place.
Thank you for your practice.

Gassho & Mtfbwy
Shohei and Fugen