Sharing Helpful and Insightful Tips (was The Tea Party)

[Tb]

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

Hi.

A reminder of the Treeleaf teaparty , 21.00 (swedish time).

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

Note: If you have skype and want to participate, please pm Shohei or Fugen your skypename if you haven't already done so.

Gassho and Mtfbwy
Shohei and Fugen

[murasaki]

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

Today's Tea Party discussion was really good, and I was glad to meet two new Tea Partygoers. Gassho to everyone there.

Julia

[Sloppy_Zen]

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

Thank you to all who attended yesterday's tea party. I really enjoyed myself and meeting new people. Hope to see everybody again next week.

-Jim

[Tb]

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

Hi.

A reminder of the Treeleaf teaparty , 21.00 (swedish time).

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

Also, this sunday we have the Treeleaf beginners mind teaparty, starting an hour earlier, 20.00 (swedish time).
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=3118

If you want to join either, Just pm Fugen or Shohei your skypename.

Gassho & Mtfbwy
Shohei and Fugen

[Dosho]

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

Hi all,

Here is this past week's tea party report:

The turnout was very high this week, with most folks staying the entire time with a few latecomers just stopping by to say hello. A high number of the attendees were graduate students taking a break during their finals week who were looking forward to doing the rohatsu retreat or just getting a chance to rest. Fugen started the call by bringing to our attention to a post from one Treeleafer that Harada Daiun Roshi had died this day in 1961. Fugen also asked everyone about their practice. One participant mentioned that his practice has actually heightened since ango ended, with more sittings and reading, and a few of the others mentioned a similar phenomenon. It was speculated that, for some, maybe there is increased pressure from ourselves to sit more during ango which actually has the opposite effect. Another person discussed how they'd been listening to Norman Fischer's talks at Everyday Zen a lot lately and had found them inspiring.

Other topics included the diverse climates we were all calling from, some very warm and others very cold and snowy. One Treeleafer made a return to the tea party after several months, calling from his home in the US, but was soon heading overseas. One of the topics included land mines, both the actual ones that explode and topics that are sensitive in nature...which we seem to navigate successfully. We also discussed the new translation of Shobogenzo...how expensive it is, which version is "better", and how the Nishijima/Crross version is available online, which is especially nice for searching. Then, after a lengthy discussion of the interaction of buddhism and zen with psychology, the tea party concluded.

Hope to see you at the tea party this week!

Gassho,
Dosho

[Dosho]

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

Hi all,

Here's this past week's tea party report:

The tea party was a small gathering this week of recent regulars and a long time attendee who hadn't been on in awhile. There was some discussion of the practice partner exercises from Ango and a particularly active thread on the forum about the possibility of being a priest in both zen and christian traditions. The crazy weather in Los Angeles also came up with one member living through it as well as a discussion of crazy relationships in our personal lives. One person had also recently ordered a Taigu recommended book, "Realizing Genjokoan" and reviews from the attendees who had read it were very positive (I ordered it!). As the call concluded, a few remaining discussed the hope that one would become a regular on the forum again.

Hope to "see" you on the tea party call this week!

Gassho,
Dosho

[Tb]

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

Hi.

Putting in an early (since its the holidays and all...) reminder of the Treeleaf teaparty, on sunday 21.00 (swedish time).

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

If you want to join, Just pm Fugen or Shohei your skypename.

Also, there will be a surprise this sunday, so....

Gassho & Mtfbwy
Shohei and Fugen

[Dosho]

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

Hi all,

Here is this past week's tea party report:

The call started off with one of our priests in training asking if many folks had sitting groups near them. Besides one of our other novices who had one (two?) going, most indicated that they did not. Both mentioned the biggest issue being regular, consistent sitters. It was thought that many people come to sittings thinking they don't know how to sit, some even still believing that after attending more than one sitting.

There were many questions asked during the call and, as usually happens, there were more questions than answers. One person on the call asked if "successful" people have any reason to sit zazen or if folks who sit are mostly those who feel "lost" in some way, which probably depends on how you define "success" and "lost". Other questions were, "What brings you back to the cushion after time away?", "Can you throw away many of the esoteric practices of particular sects, but still maintain any kind of tradition?", "Can too much study and not enough sitting make one's practice academic?", and "Is it all b#llsh!t?"'

In the end, there was one thing agreed to by all left: Jar-Jar is a very poorly written character.

Hope to see some of you on this week's call!

Gassho,
Dosho

[Geika]

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

With regards to Jar-Jar...

http://www.redlettermedia.com/phantom_menace.html

[Jundo]

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

With regards to Jar-Jar...

http://www.redlettermedia.com/phantom_menace.html

Hi,

Well, I received a complaint about the content and language of the above link. It perhaps could be more gentle in tone, speech and forgiveness ...

So, I will just leave it at this ...

Let us all send much Metta to Jar-Jar ... he cannot help being Jar-Jar, and Jar-Jar is just who we are ... we may all someday be reborn as Jar-Jar, in a Galaxy Far Far Away ...

Gassho, Jundo

[Geika]

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

Oops... I should have mentioned that the link was to be watched at own risk. That was why I posted the link and not the actual video. Sorry!

[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 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

[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

[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