Why do you sit here,Soto Japanese style Zazen at Trealeaf?

[Guest]

I want to ask for you.

Because I am Japanese.

I was at Antaiji and I meet lots of people from oversea from western country.

They have sometimes experience of sitting other country Zen,Korea and China and other eastern country.

Lots of person who live at western country can not know our race.

I realize that our Soto style is different from another style.

[Myosha]

Hello,

"Why . . .?"

Teacher is here.


Gassho
Myosha sat today

[Kakunen]

Hello,

"Why . . .?"

Teacher is here.


Gassho
Myosha sat today

Jundo is not at here.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Jundo]

Then where the heck am I?

[Jika]

Dear Konan,

I live in Germany.
I have a friend who was born in Hiroshima, who came to Germany to study the piano.
Now she is teaching the piano here.
She likes playing Bach, Schubert, Chopin, Yoshimatsu.

Does she play and teach Japanese piano or German piano?

Gassho
Jika
#sattoday

[Kairu]

If I were and ancient Indian buddhist I might ask you why you only sit in Japan. The Buddhist style is different from the Soto style.

Kyle,
Sat2day.

[Myosha]

Jundo is not at here.

Hello,

Good point. Being selfish. All and no one . . .

dropping all thought of 'here' 'there' 'now' 'then' . . . we are sitting all together.


Gassho
Myosha sat today

[Jundo]

Today I was in Sushi restaurant here in Tsukuba where they serve "California Roll" (a Sushi roll with avocado and mayonnaise) that was invented in America when Sushi first caught on there, was later back-imported to Japan and has since become incredibly popular here.

Is this place Japan, America, Europe, the Universe? Just delicious!



Gassho, Jundo

[Doshin]

I did not know I was sitting Japanese style.

My ancestors came here from Europe almost 400 hundred years ago. Living in New Mexico I eat a lot of Mexican food. Apparently I sit Japanese style. And yet I am an American which by definition is many cultures and many ways. We live in a culturally rich world. All good. Thanks for sharing your way.


Gassho
Doshin
Sattoday

[Mp]

When I sit ... there is no me and you; Japanese, American, Canadian, or European; no separateness in race, age, or gender; no here or there; no Treeleaf or Antaiji. All these things are conditions within our minds, so when I sit, I allow them to drop away ... if they arise I acknowledge them and then let them fall away. I feel zazen is not about differences, but about wholeness ... oneness ... through and through! =)

Gassho
Shingen

#sattoday

[alan.r]

Then where the heck am I?

Lol!

Gassho,
Alan
sat today

[Doshin]

When I sit ... there is no me and you; Japanese, American, Canadian, or European; no separateness in race, age, or gender; no here or there; no Treeleaf or Antaiji. All these things are conditions within our minds, so when I sit, I allow them to drop away ... if they arise I acknowledge them and then let them fall away. I feel zazen is not about differences, but about wholeness ... oneness ... through and through! =)

Gassho
Shingen

#sattoday

Sounds right to me/us.

Gassho
Doshin
Sattoday

[Amelia]

I think it was Suzuki Roshi who said that a Westerner's unfamiliarity with Japanese language and culture gives us a unique earnestness to learn, or a kind of beginner's mind.

I believe Rev. Muho is from Germany, but he enjoys the practice and lifestyle enough to learn well enough to become the abbot of Antaiji.

I know I will never understand Japanese culture fully, but I do think the teachings of Buddha, an Indian, are so simple that they transcend cultural boundaries.

Gassho, and my apologies if I don't quite get the true question of the original post.

Sat today

[Jishin]

Because of the green booger hanging from my nose.

Gasho, Jishin, _/st\_

[Byrne]

Japanese Buddhists inspire me. The Zen guys and the Pure Land guys in particular. They are more removed from India compared to the Chinese where they mostly learned it. I'm sure many Chinese Buddhists thought the Japanese were being "Buddhist correctly", and yet they found ways to relate the teachings to their unique culture that only exists in Japan. I've toured through Japan several times with a Japanese singer and work with several Japanese musicians who come to the USA. You're right that unless one is Japanese and is raised in Japan it may be impossible to ever really understand what that means. I'm okay with that. If Japan can enrich Buddhism on their own merits so can the west.

Gassho

Sat Today