Ango query

[Genshin]

As a Sangha, do we participate in Ango once or twice a year? I've read a couple of explanations that suggest this is traditionally undertaken twice a year, winter and summer.

I've not participated in Ango before, so apologies if this question has been asked before.

Gassho
Matt

[Seimyo]

We do a Fall Ango beginning in September, culminating in December with a retreat.

Here is the announcement for last year's Ango:

http://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showthread.php?9984-ANNOUNCEMENT-Treeleaf-ANGO-%28The-90-Days%29-2012&highlight=ango

Gassho,
Seimyo

[Jundo]

Hi,

Yes, monks in monastic training traditionally sit Ango twice a year, in winter and summer. In Japan, that is usually only done once or a few times, during their training as young monks in a monastic setting for a year or two. When they go off to their own temples, most no longer continue. If living in a monastery, as few priests do, they would sit it twice a year.

Here, we sit our Ango once a year, in the fall. Fall is also "summer-winter-spring" time.

But actually, one can sit Ango any time, and our Treeleaf Ango is available any place and time one might want to sit. Here is more information on our Ango ...

Ango, literally “peaceful dwelling”, is a period of concentrated and committed Zen practice, usually lasting three-months in the Soto Zen tradition. The roots of Ango arise from the earliest days of the Buddhist monastic community in India, when monks and nuns would cease their wandering and settle together in one place for the rainy season. Even today in Zen monasteries of Japan, Ango is a time of intense and rigorous training, typically including long hours of Zazen, short hours for sleep, formal meals taken in the Zendo (meditation hall), and a structured schedule for the rest of the day comprising periods for work, liturgy, study, rest, and personal needs. In the West, most Zen groups have adapted the form of the three-month practice period to the needs and demands of life in their communities.

In keeping with the philosophy and path of practice here at Treeleaf ("all of life is our temple"), we will seek to obtain many of the same ... (and, I believe, quite a few additional and very special) ... fruits and lessons of a traditional Ango while sitting within the "monastery" of our day-to-day lives, jobs, problems, unending distractions and family responsibilities.


More details here:

http://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showthread.php?9984-ANNOUNCEMENT-Treeleaf-ANGO-%28The-90-Days%29-2012

Gassho, J

[Genshin]

Thanks for clarifying Jundo and Seimyo.

Gassho
Matt