No Seniors, No Juniors - Just People of No Rank

[Meikyo]

Hi.

Good call on the seniority removal.

Gassho
Meikyo

[Kyonin]

A regular day in my life:

Get up and literally say "I feel grateful for waking up one more day".

Make coffee.

Watch Conan's monologue to start my day with a smile.

Read the Buddhist book in turn while I drink a big cup of coffee.

Sit zazen for 40 minutes.

Yoga or running.

Work! My work is very weird these days. I spend my time online with people in my courses, writing, looking for costumers... and visiting people whom I help and listen to.

Lunch and nap.

Work a bit more in the afternoon.

Late in the afternoon I spend time in Treeleaf, study my zen books and if I have time I practice a little guitar.

And at night I spend time with the family (Sandy and the cats) and if there's time I play computer game.

Before sleep I read.

There's also a lot going on in between. Like small chores, cooking, going to see the kids or elders to the hospital, talk to people who need me and on Mondays I go sit to my newly created zazen group.

I'm glad you are feeling the calling, brother. Sit more and explore how you feel about it. And let us know!

Gassho,

Kyonin
#SatToday

[kidbuda]

Thanks for sharing Kyonin! And Yes! I´ll sit more with this "state of being" and explore more how I feel about it.

Gassho.

#SatToday

[Jika]

I once heard someone quip that wearing a rakusu is actually like tying on an apron, as in, "I'm here to serve. ..."

Jundo and Shinzan, you know when I work I should be working, you know?!

But with this you really had me. My apron is ugly rubber, thrown away quickly.
But when the tools are the significance of the work, the work the significance of saving all beings...
Then any tool put to a good purpose (let's say, in an interpretation anyhow in the way of the precepts) is the rakusu.
And the rakusu is all.
This sounds quite lame, but had me busy all day long.
No, I had enough work...

Kyonin, thanks, I'll enter "coffee" on my list of ceremony (yep, it already is).

Gassho,
Danny
#sattoday

[kidbuda]

Thank you, Kidbuda, I too think you have found a wonderful expression for your dedication.

Yugen, thank you for putting some of the jigsaw parts together.

Gassho,
Danny

#sattoday

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I really appreciate it.
Gassho.

#SatToday

[Hotetsu]

I know I have heard the calling to serve. Before my marriage, I was studying toward a Bachelor's degree in Religious Studies with the intent to enter the seminary. Obviously, those plans changed . Since taking up practice and Jukai, I have found myself wishing to go further in my studies and pursue ordination. Hopefully someday I can.

Gassho,
Hōtetsu

#SatToday

[Amelia]

No rank, yet it looks like everyone wants to be ordained!

Not everyone, of course, but I'd like to think we can all behave as an unsui would, regardless.

Gassho

Sat today

[kidbuda]

I know I have heard the calling to serve. Before my marriage, I was studying toward a Bachelor's degree in Religious Studies with the intent to enter the seminary. Obviously, those plans changed . Since taking up practice and Jukai, I have found myself wishing to go further in my studies and pursue ordination. Hopefully someday I can.

Gassho,
Hōtetsu

#SatToday

Thanks for sharing ScottH.

Gassho.

#SatToday

[kidbuda]

No rank, yet it looks like everyone wants to be ordained!

Not everyone, of course, but I'd like to think we can all behave as an unsui would, regardless.

Gassho

Sat today

Jajaja! Yes! Good observation! And also yes, I too think we all can behave like an Unsui would, with or without robes.

Gassho.

#SatToday

[Nindo]

I feel that I can do more or aim my efforts better, with my practice and the way I serve others, getting more committed to doing that feels natural and almost necessary.

Jukai is probably a great place to start, and explore your calling in the context of the precepts.

Gassho,
Nindo
sattoday

[Meishin]

Jukai is probably a great place to start, and explore your calling in the context of the precepts.

Gassho,
Nindo
sattoday

Gassho
Meishin
sat today

[kidbuda]

Jukai is probably a great place to start, and explore your calling in the context of the precepts.

Gassho,
Nindo
sattoday

Thanks! that is the path to follow.

Gassho

#SatToday

[Heisoku]

Hi Dharma friends, I fully support the idea of getting rid of all the cues that make us judge things about others. So goodbye senior and junior members and all those posts!
Gassho
Heisoku
Sat today.

[MikeTango]

Thank you everybody for this inspirational thread,
It was really amazing entering into the daily routine of our treeleaf monks, learning about their perspectives and motivations.
And of course it´s great news to know that we all are members. I remember my time sharing with an orthodox soto Zen group in my city and if there was something that made me uncomfortable was the formality and the rigid hierarchy.
Gassho
Miguel
#Sat Today

[Jundo]

good move; i was about to raise this a few days back

should we also stop displaying number of posts? or make them private (visible only to the account holder)

Gassho,
Sam Sat Today

Good suggestion. I am asking Seimyo if we can remove the visible "number of posts" (I am not sure if it is possible). Around here silence can be profound, words can say too much. (However, Dogen also frequently reminded us that silence is not good either if it is merely being tongue tied, and words can be "turning words" well spoken).

Words and Buddhist Ideas alone are not barriers! There is a time for all words and categories to drop away. There is a time for the dropping away of words and categories right in and through words and categories.

Dogen ... the master wordsmith ... held well expressed language to be the very essence of Buddhist Truths. For Dogen, suchness was not a matter of rejecting or embracing silence or speaking (there are right moments for each) ... but of how what is said, the well turned and turning phrase. The right words and Buddhist ideas do not simply describe Truth, but dance Truth itself, are True Dancing. The moons illuminates all things ... words no less ... and words illuminate the moon.

Properly Illuminated words are not simply 'the finger pointing at the moon which cannot be described in words'. Enlightened words are the Very Moonlight.

More here: http://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showt...l=1#post102273

So, no reason to judge by either there being many words or few ... either can be right. However, no number should be placed on that.

On the other hand, I am going to retain the "Date Joined". That actually says something and, in fact, one will find in Zen and Buddhist Temples throughout Asia, date and order of entering the monastery is very important. The fellow who entered the monastery, or was Ordained, even a day earlier gets a seat at events and meals slightly ahead of the fellow who came a day later. I think we should retain that little degree of recognition around here too.

Scroll down here to the paragraph that contains the word "seniority" on page 208 (in fact, that whole page on differences in training methods between the West and Asia is interesting) ...

https://books.google.co.jp/books?id=SqwzJt9XGpoC&pg=PA208&lpg=PA208&dq=seniority+in+zen+monastery+date+seniors+juniors&source=bl&ots=L-X3sPlk21&sig=kf0ZrVrRkLKtgXVeksJiEIpm_IQ&hl=en&sa=X&ei=E8LBVI_pCZDe8AWauoKwAw&ved=0CCkQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=seniority%20in%20zen%20monastery%20date%20seniors%20juniors&f=false

A Zen Teacher I know sometimes says something like, "A day of Practice is a day of Buddha. 30 years of Practice is 30 years of Buddha. There is no road, and no place to go not Buddha. Nonetheless, the fellow Practicing 30 years is probably 30 years farther down it!" We are all, always beginners ... but some folks are more experienced beginners than others. I know that "Join Date" is not a perfect measure of that by any means, but it is helpful.

Gassho, J

SatToday