IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT & DISCUSSION: A New Structure for Treeleaf ...

[Kyonin]

Hi,

I am honored I can be part of this. Thank you for the opportunity to practice with both dear teachers.

If I can be of any help on this transition, you know I'm here

Double Gassho,

Kyonin

[jeff_u]

[Jundo]

P.S. What is the image depicting? Thank you.

An appropriate image of different flavors and cultures of Buddhism meeting on a sacred Buddhist mountain and strengthening each other:

That is actually an old drawing of a legendary Indian-Tibetan saint, Padampa, said to have visited China's famous Buddhist Mountain Wu Tai Shan spreading his Teachings, in an encounter with the Bodhisattva Manjusri (who is traditionally said to reside at Wu Tai Shan) disguised as a sage.

One of the first historical figures who may have directly linked Tibet and Wutai shan was the South Indian adept Padampa Sanggyé (Padangba Sangjie, 帕當巴桑结, d. 1117), founder of the Pacification of Suffering [Chöd or "Cutting Through the Ego"] tradition, who was said to have traveled in China and lived on Wutai shan for approximately twelve years from about 1086 to 1097, before returning to Tibet to found a monastery. ... It is said that today’s visitors can still see a record of Mañjuśrī meeting Padampa at Wutai shan and a stone door panel (dogo lek) of Padampa’s meditation cave there.

http://www.thlib.org/collections/texts/jiats/#!jiats=/06/debreczeny/b5/#ixzz3Bhe8VlTk

Interestingly, in one esoteric oral tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, a version of Dampa Sangye's life-story has him travelling to China and teaching there for 12 years, where he was known as Bodhidharma the founder of Zen!

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=YeEKAAAAYAAJ&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=bodhidharma

Here is a little description of Tibetan Chod Practice, although my personal understanding is that of an outsider to the Tradition ...

Chöd is a special type of mysticism that unites shamanic practice with profound yogic meditation.

Chöd has long been a way of seeking direct and personal experiences of mind and divinity outside of conventional and institutional frameworks.

In Chöd-practice, the yogi or yogini journeys into the night world—the dangerous regions of ghosts, spirits and the damned, to bless all souls lost for a time on the wheel of existence. The selflessness of the practitioner's compassion, his or her contact with spirits of the other-world, and the making of himself into a vehicle of healing, all tends to become a path for the hero to win the noetic Mind-Jewel of true awakening.

Chöd is a practice that combines Buddhist meditation with ancient Tibeto-Siberian shamanic ritual. The "liturgy" of Chöd is sung to the accompaniment of drum, bell and a thigh-bone horn. The word "Chöd" means to cut through, to "chop," and what is chopped off is ultimately the Ego. Initially this begins with cutting all attachment to the body and to material things. When identification with the finite mind-body complex is let go of, then the pure awareness is set free to perceive reality as it really is. The whole world becomes potent as a place of blessing power and awareness. ... Chöd therefore is a subtle blend of the Buddhist path to enlightenment (as represented by the Mahamudra-master Dampa Sanggye) brought from India, and an ancient form of Shamanic ritual (introduced by the woman Machig Labdrön) that was native to Tibet. It was the merging of these two streams which resulted in the actual emergence of Chöd as a practice used by yogins today, in their desire to gain Enlightenment by the shortest possible path.

http://www.dharmafellowship.org/library/essays/chod.htm

And that is likely more than you needed or wanted to know.

Gassho, J

[Khalil Bodhi]

Thank Rev. Jundo!

Gassho,

Mike

[Hotetsu]

Most interesting. I will most definitely visit this new hermitage, though my heart rests here in Treeleaf 😊.

Gassho,
Scott
Sent from my RM-917_nam_usa_100 using Tapatalk

[threethirty]

Cool beans! May the path between the singular two be well worn

[Heisoku]

Thank you for the update Jundo. Two roads up the mountain, still only one we walk. I am grateful for the teachings of both yourself and Taigu. I am interested to hear more about the Lay Ordination or is this what already happens in Shukke Tokudo?
Gassho Heisoku.

[Dokan]

Sangha is infinitely bigger than whatever labels we may attribute to it. Treeleaf, Blue Mountain...not two.

Much love,

Baizan

[Ishin]

Very interesting. Moving forward may we all find the path we need.
Gassho
C

[Shinko]

[Myozan Kodo]

Dear sangha,
No coming and no going. As this place and its teachers and the friendships here have been dear to me, I will not be a stranger ... and please, don't be a stranger, too. See you around! ;-)
Deep bows to you all,
Myozan

[Taikyo]

To all in this wonderful and dearest place.

We come, we stay, we go with no coming, no staying, no going. We are all present here and we are all present there. Where is here, where is there but where we are.

Deep bows and much Love

Taikyo

[Jundo]

Lovely.

[Josan]

Nice new website (www.bluemountainhermitage.org) Looking forward to visiting you in the future,

Love and Gassho,
David

[Meikyo]

Gassho Sangha and wise teachers!

I am very glad to witness this mutual respect and kindness even in face of some adversity. It gives me great hope and great happiness to see that the well of Dharma can satisfy different thirsts and that no ill feelings are harbored as a result. Grateful to be on this journey with you.

Dear Jundo:

"I would also like to offer other avenues which are more secular and suited to modern times, where the bells, robes, myths and incense are not always visible or necessary."

"But there will also be forms of Training where the Kesa is not involved at all, for certain folks who do not find their Dharma Gate there. It is a great experiment, and we will see how it goes."

I wonder if you could elaborate on this. What are these new secular and modern avenues and what new opportunities await?
I am very interested to know more because I share this perspective and Practice with it.

Gassho