Chanting & Zazen Circle (Mo thru Sa)

[Ryokudo]

Hi everybody !

Here is an excellent suggestion from Omom for the next week reading.

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TO ZEN MAN BOKUSHIN ('SIMPLE MIND')

Silver mountain, iron wall, just sitting only; simplicity is
the mind, nonadornment is basic. One flavor, pure and
real, aloof of all appearances, not flowing into second
thoughts, nostrils right, present in the community like a
mountain -- this is what is called a real patchrobed monk,
or one exalted beyond things.

Bokushin is also called Mumon ('no ornament') -- he
wanted me to write some words of instruction based on
his name, so I wrote this and gave it to him. If you want
to be such a man, you must cultivate such a thing. Work
on this.


TO ZEN MAN ENKAI ('PERFECT OCEAN')

Great perfect awareness is the ocean of ultimate peace; still
and silent, myriad forms and images reflect therein. Yet
suddenly when the wind of objects arises it turns into an
ocean of birth and death, with waves of consciousnesses
and feelings billowing day and night, where all sentient
beings appear and disappear, with no end in sight. Although
the two oceans seem different, really they come
from the same source, mind. Originally there is no sign of
distinction in the mind source; life and death and nirvana
all revert to the essential nature of the source.

Therefore, when you realize the mind-source, the whole
universe is a great round perfect ocean. But how to realize
the mind source? You must liberate body and mind on the
sitting cushion before you can do so.


”One minute of sitting, one inch of Buddha.
Like lightning, all thoughts come and pass.
Just once look into your mind-depths:
Nothing else has ever been.”

~ Manzan Dohaku

卍山道白 Manzan Dōhaku (1635-1715)
_____________________________

Merci beaucoup Omom !

See you this afternoon !

Yuki 雪
Ango sitting With « Thousand Harbours Zen » this morning.

Hey Omom,

Great readings, I can't wait. And we'll do some Maka Hannya and Sandokai's around them

Gassho,

Ryokudo

[Nengyoku]

I have been asked to come into work this Saturday, so I will be probably unable to join you sadly. I am trying to figure out a way to be here, but I may just have to skip a week, unfortunately.

Thanks William,

The next time you join we will use this if that's ok. In fact you can read it if you would like

I would be more than happy to read this the next time I am with you all.

Gassho,
William
SatToday

[Seiko]

I have been asked to come into work this Saturday, so I will be probably unable to join you sadly. I am trying to figure out a way to be here, but I may just have to skip a week, unfortunately.



I would be more than happy to read this the next time I am with you all.

Gassho,
William
SatToday

Hi William,
We are always sitting, always chanting.
No need to make a sound, or login, or even sit.

But it's great when you can.

Bows

Seiko
stlah

[aprapti]

dear friends,

i will be in a benedictine abbey for a week, without internet reach. But i will sit at the same time as you guys (and girls )..



aprapti


sat

[Guest]

Dear Aprapti,

I wish you a nice stay in this Benedictine abbey. We will sit with you in our mind.

Yuki 雪

Sat with all of you today

[Seiko]

If you can, please may I ask that we dedicate some of our practice this week to the families and the victims of suicide? Where I live - Lincoln - now has the highest suicide rate across England and Wales after a rise in numbers during the pandemic.

Bows

Seiko
stlah

[Ryokudo]

If you can, please may I ask that we dedicate some of our practice this week to the families and the victims of suicide? Where I live - Lincoln - now has the highest suicide rate across England and Wales after a rise in numbers during the pandemic.

Bows

Seiko
stlah

Of course Seiko, and perhaps a few days each week we can build in some Metta practice, which is a beautiful practice anyway.

Stay cool my brother,

Ryokudo

SAT/LAH

[Ryokudo]

Dear Aprapti,

I wish you a nice stay in this Benedictine abbey. We will sit with you in our mind.

Yuki 雪

Sat with all of you today

Indeed Aprapti,

Across time and space we will reach each other and the Benedictines. And of course they will reach us.

Gassho

Ryokudo

[Anchi]

Gassho

[Guest]

Ango sitting this morning with Thousand Harbours Zen folks. Sent metta to all the families and the victims of suicide.

Yuki 雪

[Ryokudo]

Ango sitting this morning with Thousand Harbours Zen folks. Sent metta to all the families and the victims of suicide.

Yuki 雪

Lovely and Omom has sent a great piece through from TNH, which we could do next week.

The Great Bell Chant (The End Of Suffering)
Read by Thich Nath Hanh,

May the sound of this bell
Penetrate deep into the cosmos
Even in the darkest spots
Living beings are able to hear it clearly
So that all suffering in them cease
Understanding come to their hearts
And they transcend the path
Of sorrow and death

The universal dharma door is already open
The sound of the rising tide is heard clearly
The miracle happens
A beautiful child appears in the heart
Of a Lotus flower
One single drop of this compassionate water
Is enough to bring back the refreshing spring
To our mountains and rivers

Listening to the bell
I feel the afflictions in me begin to dissolve
My mind calm, my body relax
A smile is born on my lips
Following the sound of the bell
My breath brings me back
To the safe Island of Mindfulness
In the garden of my heart
The flowers of Peace bloom beautifully

The Great Bell Chant (The End Of Suffering) - YouTube

Also I figured if people are getting bored with Sanki Raimon then we have the following alternatives, but what does everyone think?

Three Refuges Verse (Sankie mon 三帰依文 ）

Hail refuge in buddha; hail refuge in dharma； hail refuge in sangha.

I take refuge in buddha, honored as the highest; I take refuge in dharma, honored as the stainless； I take refuge in sangha, honored as harmonious.

I have completely taken refuge in buddha; I have completely taken refuge in dharma； I have completely taken refuge in sangha.




Verse in Worship of the Three Venerable Ones (Sanzon raimon 三尊礼文）


Homage to our great benefactor and lord of the doctrine,
the Original Teacher Shakyamuni Buddha.
Homage to the High Patriarch Dogen.
Homage to the Eminent Patriarch Keizan.
We gather up and receive your great compassionate pity.
May we encounter and obtain it from life to life in every world.

[Seiko]

dear friends,

i will be in a benedictine abbey for a week, without internet reach. But i will sit at the same time as you guys (and girls )..



aprapti


sat

Ah Aprāpti,
This sounds lovely. In my youth I often sat zazen alongside Jesuit monks, but not Benedictines. Never say never.

Bows,
Seiko, stlah

[Guest]

Hi everybody !

Here, the text of the « Ceremony of the remembrance » we used today:
____________

A Ceremony of Remembrance for Peoples who Have Died

Because of the ceaseless action of cause and effect,
reality appears in all its many forms.

To know this fully liberates all those who suffer.

All beings appear just as we all do, from the One, and pass away as we all do, after a few flickering moments or years of life, back to our Original Unborn Nature.

Truly our lives are waves on the vast ocean of True Nature, which is not born and does not pass away.

In gathering today we remember peoples who have died and express our love and support for their parents, family, and friends.

Here these peoples are in complete repose, at one with the mystery that is our own birth and death, our own no-birth and no-death.
_________________
I add two poems about Jizo :
_________________
When I see
The misery
Of those in this world
Their sadness
Becomes mine.
Oh that my monk’s robe
Were wide enough
To gather up all
The suffering people
In this floating world.
Nothing makes me
More happy than
The vow To save everyone.
_________________________
I watch people in the world
Throw away their lives lusting after things,
Never able to satisfy their desires,
Failing into deep despair and torturing themselves.
Even if they get what they want,
How long will they be able to enjoy it?
For one heavenly pleasure they suffer ten torments of hell.
Binding themselves more firmly to the grindstone.
Such people are like monkeys
Frantically grasping for the moon in the water
And then falling into a whirlpool.
How endlessly those caught up in the floating world suffer.
Ryōkan
____________________
And, at last, the two vows of Jizo Bodhisattva :

« Only after the Hells are empty will I become a Buddha”

“Only after all beings are taken across to Enlightenment will I myself realize Bodhi. »
_________________

See you soon,

Yuki 雪
(Sit, sat, sitting… today)

[Anchi]

[Guest]

Bonjour !

Here is the text of Takkesa Ge

__________________

Takkesa Ge

Dai sai geda puku
Muso fukuden e
Hi bu nyorai kyo
Kodo sho shu jo

Ô vêtement de la Grande Libération

Kesa du champ du bonheur illimité

Je reçois avec foi l’enseignement du Bouddha

Pour aider largement tous les êtres sensibles

______________________________________

Oh, robe of great liberation,

Kesa of formless happiness,

I faithfully receive the Budhha's teaching,

to help liberate all beings.

______________

See you soon !

Yuki 雪
(Sat today)