Chanting & Zazen Circle (Mo thru Sa)

[Ryokudo]

Hey All,

I trust you are well I just thought I would drop a quick note to say that I will be absent for the rest of the week as I am having to visit my Mum and Dad in Manchester I will try to pop in when I can but other than that Yuki should be back as of tonight. If not obviously we all know what to do anyway

You know

Sanki Raimon
Maka Hannya/Reading
Zazen
Enmei Jukku
Dedication
4 vows etc

Just so anyone knows, this week we have read Call me By My True Names and Hakuin's Song of Zazen. Obviously it also means I won't be able to make our Ango discussion on Thursday but what I would suggest is that all the Ango'ers could meet up prior or hang around after our normal session on Thursday and utilise the same room for a general discussion about any issues people may be having.

I will also post this on our Ango What's App group and you can decide amongst yourselves.

Gassho,

Ryokudo

[Guest]

Hi everybody !

I’m back, yes.
I suggest we add the following text to our practice today.

« The Point of Zazen,” written by Zhengjiao

« The hub of buddhas’ activity,
the turning of the ancestors’ hub,
is known free of forms,
illuminated beyond conditions.

As it is known free of forms,
the knowledge is subtle.
As it is illuminated beyond conditions,
the illumination is wondrous.

When the knowledge is subtle,
there is no thought of discrimination.
When the illumination is wondrous,
there is not the slightest hint.

Where there is no thought of discrimination,
the knowledge is extraordinary with no comparison.
Where there is not the slightest hint,
the illumination has nothing to grasp.

The water is clear to the bottom »
« where the fish swims without moving.
The sky is vast and boundless
where the bird flies away and disappears. »

Extrait de
Treasury of the True Dharma Eye: Zen Master Dogen's

See you all !

Yuki 雪
(Sat today)

[Anchi]

[Guest]

Hi !

Today, the Dōgen’s version of Point of Zazen.

THE POINT OF ZAZEN
Master Dōgen

The hub of buddhas’ activity,
the turning of the ancestors’ hub,
moves along with beyond thinking
and is completed in the realm of beyond merging.

As it moves along with beyond thinking,
its appearing is immediate.
As it is completed in the realm of beyond merging,
completeness itself is realization.

When its appearing is intimate,
you have no illusion.
When completeness reveals itself,
it is neither real nor apparent.

When you have immediacy without illusion,
immediacy is “dropping away” with no obstacles.
Realization, beyond real or apparent,
is effort without expectation.

Clear water all the way to the bottom;
a fish swims like a fish.
Vast sky transparent throughout;
a bird flies like a bird. »

Extrait de
Treasury of the True Dharma Eye: Zen Master Dogen's Shobo Genzo

See you !

Yuki 雪
(Sat today)

[Anchi]

[Guest]

Hi everybody !

I offer you this short text, extract of a book I’ve written twelve years ago.
—————————————-
Ombres sereines

Silence

Lui, le maître, préférait toujours raconter des histoires à enseigner. Parfois, entre deux contes, récits ou anecdotes, il laissait le silence s’installer. Ces moments révélaient la qualité d’être de cet homme sans âge.

Je me taisais. Lui faisait silence. Ce sont deux choses différentes.

En moi, un tumulte de pensées, mi-questions, mi-réflexions. Une tempête que j’affrontais dans l’absence de paroles, dans l’attente des prochains mots qui tomberaient des lèvres de cet homme sage. Une tempête cérébrale me drossait vers des récifs d’énigmes, frêle esquif ballotté par les vagues titanesques que j’engendrais. Sans gouvernail, sans voiles, sans rames pour parer à l’urgence d’un naufrage inévitable. Me taire représentait un terrible tourment, un châtiment juste et mérité, une sanction que cette part de moi, qui cessait d’être raison pour devenir passion, s’infligeait à elle-même.

Lui, il devenait silence. Ses yeux erraient sans tenter de voir, sans chercher à percevoir. Un regard sourd aux harmonies de l’ombre et de la lumière. Juste silence.

La chaleur moite du soir enveloppait nos âmes comme une soie précieuse.

Je vivais l’attente, immobile.

«*Une ombre en mouvement, un sentier difficile, une destination inconnue. Peux-tu maintenant mesurer le poids des ombres ?*» Je méditais ces premières paroles tel un moine novice s’acharne sur un koan insoluble.

Le temps s’écoulait et soudain, sans avertissement, le maître reprenait ses récits.


Serene shadows

Silence

He, the master, always preferred to tell stories to teach. Sometimes, between two tales, stories or anecdotes, he would let silence settle in. These moments revealed the quality of being of this ageless man.

I shut up. He was silent. Those are two different things.

In me, a tumult of thoughts, half questions, half reflections. A storm that I faced in the absence of words, waiting for the next speech to fall from the lips of this wise man. A brain storm drove me towards reefs of enigmas, a frail skiff tossed about by the titanic waves that I generated. Without a rudder, without sails, without oars to deal with the emergency of an inevitable shipwreck. To keep silent represented a terrible torment, a just and deserved punishment, a sanction that this part of me, which ceased to be reason and became passion, inflicted on itself.

Him, he was becoming silent. His eyes wandered without trying to see, without trying to perceive. A look deaf to the harmonies of light and shadow. Just silence.

The moist heat of the evening enveloped our souls like precious silk.

I lived the wait, still.

«*A moving shadow, a difficult path, an unknown destination. Can you now measure the weight of the shadows?*» I meditated on these first words like a novice monk struggling with an insoluble koan.

Time passed and suddenly, without warning, master resumed his tales.

Extract of «*Ombres sereines*», page 28. My imperfect translation ( thanks Google).
_____________________________



Yuki 雪
(Sat today)

[Anchi]

[Guest]

Hi !

As promised, here is the link for the Soto Book :

https://www.sotozen.com/eng/practice/sutra/scriptures.html

Enjoy !

Yuki 雪
(Sat today)

[Anchi]

[aprapti]

dear chanting sitters and sitting chanters,

i could not make it yesterday evening and i am now going to zencenter Noorderpoort in the Netherlands for a gosesshin of 5 days.. hope to see you next Monday.



aprapti

sat

[Guest]

Hi Omom and William !

Here is the story you requested.
_____________

Too many words

To a student asking a long and complex question about understanding the Way, a teacher simply replied, "When too many words, no space for the Void. "

As the student returned with a new question, the teacher added: "Too many words, no Stillness. "

As the pupil expressed his intention to raise a new question, the sage interrupted him sharply: "Too many words, no Wisdom!"

The student, surprised and bewildered, began to think. The master observed him for a long moment before concluding with a sigh: "Still too many words!"


From « Serenes Shadows »

Yuki 雪
(Sat today)

[Nengyoku]

[Anchi]

[Guest]

This week :

Sanki Raimon
(Kaikyo Ge +
Hannya Shingyo)

Two shorts reading:

Deluded, a Buddha is a sentient being;
Awakened, a sentient being is a Buddha.
Ignorant, a Buddha is a sentient being;
With wisdom,a sentient being is a Buddha.
If the mind is warped, a Buddha is a sentient being;
If the mind is impartial, a sentient being is a Buddha.
When once a warped mind is produced,
Buddha is concealed within the sentient being.
If for one instant of thought we become impartial,
Then sentient beings are themselves Buddha.
In our mind itself a Buddha exists,
Our own Buddha is the true Buddha.
If we do not have in ourselves the Buddha mind,
Then where are we to seek Buddha?

HUINENG

« I originally came to China
to transmit the teaching and save deluded beings.
One flower opens five petals,
and the fruit ripens of itself. »
Bodhidharma, according to Huineng

If evil flowers bloom in the mind-ground,
Five blossoms flower from the stem.
Together they will create the karma of ignorance;
Now the mind-ground is blown by the winds of karma.
If correct flowers bloom in the mind-ground,
Five blossoms flower from the stem.
Together practise the prajna wisdom;
In the future this will be the enlightenment of
the Buddha.

Huineng

Zazen

Enmei Juku Kannon Gyo
Dedication
Haïkus
Four vows

Gassho !

Yuki 雪
(Sat today)

[Nengyoku]

I know I don't get to sit with you guys very much, but I do enjoy reading what you have picked out.

Thank you everyone for your practice.

Gassho,
William
Sat