Apr 5-6 2024-OUR MONTHLY 4-hour Treeleaf ZAZENKAI- Zazen-Yojinki II DAYLIGHT SAVINGS!

[Jundo]

CHECK START TIME CHANGES FOR DAYLIGHT SAVINGS!!


We continue our series on

Master Keizan's 'Zazen-Yōjinki'

坐禅用心記

'Notes to Keep in Heart for Zazen'
(text below)


Our Zazenkai today is also in CELEBRATION of BUDDHA'S BIRTHDAY,
traditionally APRIL 8th in Japan! ... (Shokai's Birthday too) ...

Dear All,

Please sit our Monthly 4-Hour Treeleaf Zazenkai netcast LIVE 8am to noon Japan time Saturday morning (that is New York 7pm to 11pm, Los Angeles 4pm to 8pm (Friday night), London midnight to 4am and Paris 1am to 5am (early Saturday morning)), and also sitable any time thereafter:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXBrKbutP_c

However, "one way" live sitters are encouraged to come into the Zoom sitting, and just leave the camera and microphone turned off: Join live (with or without a camera & microphone) on Zoom at: TREELEAF Now OR at DIRECT ZOOM LINK, password (if needed): dogen

Dharma Talk Audio / Podcast Episode:
https://www.treeleaf.org/forums/show...408#post339408

The Sitting Schedule is as follows:

00:00 - 00:50 CEREMONY (HEART SUTRA IN JAPANESE / SANDOKAI IN ENGLISH) & ZAZEN
00:50 - 01:00 KINHIN
01:00 - 01:30 ZAZEN
01:30 - 01:50 KINHIN

01:50 - 02:30 DHARMA TALK & ZAZEN
02:30 - 02:40 KINHIN & HOKEY-POKEY RITUAL

02:40 - 03:15 ZAZEN
03:15 - 03:30 KINHIN
03:30 - 04:00 METTA CHANT & ZAZEN, VERSE OF ATONEMENT, FOUR VOWS, & CLOSING

ATTENTION: Everyone, when rising for Kinhin or Ceremonies after Zazen, get up slowly, don't rush, hold something stable, you won't be "late," so TAKE YOUR TIME! Make sure you are careful getting up!

Gassho, Jundo

STLah


PS - There is no "wrong" or "right" in Zazen ... yet here is a little explanation of the "right" times to Bow (A Koan) ...

Chant Book is here for those who wish to join in: CHANT BOOK LINK

The other video I mention on Zendo decorum is this one, from our "Always Beginners" video Series:

Sit-a-Long with Jundo: Zazen for Beginners (12) - Basic Zendo Decorum At Home
https://www.treeleaf.org/forums/show...093#post189093

I also recommend a little Talk on why small rituals and procedures are so cherished in the Zendo:

SIT-A-LONG with Jundo: Small Things in the Zendo
https://www.treeleaf.org/forums/show...s-in-the-Zendo

[Jundo]

This is Part II of our series on Keizan Jokin Zenji's 13th Century ...

... 'Zazen-Yōjinki'

(坐禅用心記; 'Notes to Keep in Heart for Zazen')

~ ~ ~

Thus Buddhas have arisen in this world for the one Great Matter of teaching people the wisdom and insight of Awakening and to give them true entry. For this there is the peaceful, pure practice of sitting. This is nothing but the samadhi, in which all buddhas receive and use themselves as buddhas (jijuyu-zanmai). This is the sovereign of all samadhis. Entering this samadhi, the ground of mind is clarified at once. You should know that this is the true gate to the Way of the Buddhas.

If you want to clarify the mind-ground, give up your jumble of limited knowledge and interpretation, cut off thoughts of usualness and holiness [worldly affairs and buddha-dharma], abandon all delusive feelings. When the true mind of reality manifests, the clouds of delusion dissipate and the moon of the mind shines bright.

The Buddha said, "Listening and thinking about it are like being shut out by a door. Zazen is like coming home and sitting at ease." This is true! When we are listening and thinking about it, views have not ceased and the mind is obstructed; this is why it's like being shut out by a door. Zazen alone brings everything to rest and, flowing freely, reaches everywhere. So zazen is like returning home and sitting at ease.

Being afflicted by the five obstructions [excess desire, ill-will, sloth-and-torpor, restlessness-and-worry, doubt] arises from not understanding your own nature, not clarifying yourself. Zazen is understanding your own nature. Even if you were to eliminate the five obstructions, if you haven't eliminated basic ignorance, you have not yet realized yourself as the Buddhas and Awakened Ancestors. If you want to release basic ignorance, the essential key is to sit and practice the Way.

An old master said, "When confusion ceases, clarity/tranquility arises; when clarity/tranquility arises, wisdom appears; and when wisdom appears, Reality displays itself."

If you want to cease your confusion/delusive thoughts, you must cease involvement in thoughts of good or bad. Stop getting caught up in unnecessary affairs. A mind "unoccupied" together with a body "free of activity" is the essential point to remember. [Give up all affairs with which you are involved; do not occupy your mind with any concerns nor become physically engaged in any activity. This is the primary point to bear in mind.]

When delusive attachments end, the mind of delusion dies out. When delusion dies out, the Reality that was always the case manifests and you are always clearly aware of it. It is not a matter of extinction or of activity.

================

I have been reading some recently published translations of Shenhui, an 8th Century Zen figure who seems to have largely created the focus in later Zen on "sudden enlightenment" (while criticizing the "gradual enlightenment" of more traditional Buddhism). Some of his writings resonate with today's readings and our Shikantaza practice:

... What is subtle falsity? When you hear an explanation of bodhi [wisdom] and activate the intention to grasp bodhi; when you hear an explanation of nirvāṇa and activate the intention to grasp nirvāṇa; when you hear an explanation of emptiness and activate the intention to grasp emptiness; when you hear an explanation of concentration [Samadhi] and activate the intention to grasp concentration ... these are all [examples of] the false mind, of being bound to the Dharma, of having mistaken views of the Dharma. If your mind functions like this, you will not attain emancipation; this is not your inherently serene and pure mind. If you attempt to reside in nirvāṇa, you will be bound by nirvāṇa ... ; if you reside in emptiness, you will be bound by emptiness; If you attempt to reside in concentration, you will be bound by concentration ...

Friends, you should all take care to listen carefully as I explain the pure inherent mind. When you hear an explanation of bodhi, don’t create the intention to grasp bodhi; when you hear an explanation of nirvāṇa, don’t create the intention to grasp nirvāṇa ... ; when you hear an explanation of emptiness, don’t create the intention to grasp emptiness; when you hear an explanation of concentration, don’t create the intention to grasp concentration ...

...

When your mind discriminates dharmas [separate phenomena, the many things in this world], discriminate well all the dharmas. Do not activate [the mind] in consequence of this discrimination, but attain autonomy within dharmas, so that within dharmas you attain completely to the samādhi of emancipated dharmas. When all your sensory faculties discriminate well in this fashion, this is the fundamental wisdom. When you do not activate [the mind] in consequence of this discrimination, this is the fundamental concentration. The sūtra says, “Without discarding the Dharmas of the Path, one still manifests the affairs of an ordinary person ... ” [To perform] the myriad activities and worldly [affairs] without generating thoughts about those affairs: this is the combined cultivation of concentration and wisdom, which cannot be separated.

[From Shenhui's 'Platform Sermon' https://uhpress.hawaii.edu/title/zen...chan-buddhism/ ]

[Jundo]

To Celebrate Hana-Matusri, the Flower Festival that is Buddha's Birthday in Japan, there is a popular "Hana Matsuri Dance" ...

I think it is a bit complicated to master quickly, so I recommend a kind of modified HULA to all ... or a Hokey Pokey ... or a Hula Pokey

...

The video features Pure Land priests in Suita City, near Osaka ...

https://youtu.be/0unvEQVlFm8

However, should someone want to master the steps, here is a "simple" lesson ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6qMaipvH0A

The song for our dance is "Hanamatsuri " by singer Tatsuya Ishii on. The lyrics are ...

~~~~

Let's all bloom, let's all sing

All the cool kids and the not-so-cool kids, come on over, let's just have a festival!
Let's dance with our shoulders completely relaxed Let's reach for the sky

Don't say you don't believe in anything, let's hustle again
Just for now, let's forget all about it and sing together

We were all born into the same world
What really makes you feel good is not who you are

Let's all bloom, let's all sing together

You may seem shy, but you do it when you have to.
Let's turn our necks, arms, hips, and legs and dance together

Worrying all night and all day may not make things better
The earth is still spinning today anyway

Let's all bloom, let's all sing, let's all sing
Let's all bloom, let's all sing a song

Everybody make them bloom Everybody sing Everybody sing
Everybody make the flowers bloom Everybody sing Everybody sing Everybody sing

~~~~

みんなで花咲かせや みんなで歌唄えや

イケテルヤツもイケテナイヤツもよって来い とにかくまつりだ
肩の力をすっかり抜いちゃって踊ろう 空に手をのばそう

何も信じられないなんて言わずに もう一度ハッスルしよう
今だけはスベテ忘れちまってさ いっしょに唄おう

みんな同じ世界に生まれて来たわけなんだから
ホントに気持ちいいことが スナオな自分なんじゃない

みんなで花咲かせや みんなで歌唄えや

あんがい君なんて引っ込み思案なようで やるときゃやったりして
首も腕も腰も足も回し いっしょに踊ろうぜ

夜も昼も悩んでいたって 事はうまくゆかないかもね
どうせ今日も地球は ホラ回り続けているんだから

みんなで花咲かせや みんなで歌唄えや
みんなで花咲かせや みんなで歌唄えや

みんなで花咲かせや みんなで歌唄えや
みんなで花咲かせや みんなで歌唄えや

[Doshin]

I will be traveling when y’all start but will join when I arrive at the destination. I will enter gently

Doshin
Stlah

[Ryokudo]

Many thanks Jundo, I really enjoyed today, unfortunately IUK time caught up with me so I left a little early. Not before you got some video of my funky dancing though.

Gassho Ryokudo,

SAT/LAH

[Bion]

Many thanks Jundo, I really enjoyed today, unfortunately IUK time caught up with me so I left a little early. Not before you got some video of my funky dancing though.

Gassho Ryokudo,

SAT/LAH

I mean, it’s why we come, right? To dance!!

Thank you for making the effort, as always

Gassho
Sat and lah

[mdonnoe]

Thank you, Jundo, for a wonderful Dharma talk, and to Bion for a lovely job as Ino!

Jundo spoke of "Jijuyu Zanmai," the "samadhi of self-enjoyment," (as I recall Jundo translated it?) and Chukyo asked about it following the Dharma talk, so I wanted to also share this wonderful piece on just that topic, assembled by Kokyo Henkel, a Zen Teacher I know in California:

https://kokyohenkel.weebly.com/uploads/1/2/7/4/127410773/self-fulfilling_samadhi_jijuyu_zammai_-_kokyo.pdf

I hope that you enjoy reading this as much as I did!

Gashso,

Michael
Sat/Lah

[Bion]

Thank you, Jundo, for a wonderful Dharma talk, and to Bion for a lovely job as Ino!

Jundo spoke of "Jijuyu Zanmai," the "samadhi of self-enjoyment," (as I recall Jundo translated it?) and Chukyo asked about it following the Dharma talk, so I wanted to also share this wonderful piece on just that topic, assembled by Kokyo Henkel, a Zen Teacher I know in California:

https://kokyohenkel.weebly.com/uploads/1/2/7/4/127410773/self-fulfilling_samadhi_jijuyu_zammai_-_kokyo.pdf

I hope that you enjoy reading this as much as I did!

Gashso,

Michael
Sat/Lah

I am very glad I was a part of your first monthly zazenkai and your first dance!! You and Santiago were fantastic!

Gassho
Sat and lah

[Jundo]

Thank you, Jundo, for a wonderful Dharma talk, and to Bion for a lovely job as Ino!

Jundo spoke of "Jijuyu Zanmai," the "samadhi of self-enjoyment," (as I recall Jundo translated it?) and Chukyo asked about it following the Dharma talk, so I wanted to also share this wonderful piece on just that topic, assembled by Kokyo Henkel, a Zen Teacher I know in California:

https://kokyohenkel.weebly.com/uploads/1/2/7/4/127410773/self-fulfilling_samadhi_jijuyu_zammai_-_kokyo.pdf

I hope that you enjoy reading this as much as I did!

Gashso,

Michael
Sat/Lah

They are all lovely, but I have always a soft spot for Master Ejo's expression of this. Katagiri Roshi too, as quoted there.

Do you know Menzan's expression of this too? It is also very nice ...

Arousing the mind to eliminate illusory thoughts is like pouring oil on a fire to extinguish it. The fire will blaze with increased strength.

People in the present day often practice zazen in this manner. … They aspire to rid themselves of delusions and to gain enlightenment; to eliminate illusory thoughts and to obtain the truth. This is nothing but creating the karma of acceptance and rejection. Such an attitude is just another form of dualism, in that one escapes from one thing and chases after another … mere methods to rid oneself of delusions and to obtain enlightenment. What a pitiful view! …

The true zazen which has been transmitted by the Buddhas and Patriarchs is the Tathagata's Jijuyu-zanmai. ... Obviously, zazen is not a practice for getting rid of delusions and gaining enlightenment. … We must learn Bodhidarma's teaching thoroughly. What is his teaching? -- To live facing the wall unwaveringly and to see that ordinary people and sages are one and the same. We must also study carefully the words of the Second Patriarch, "Always be clearly aware" ...

... "Not to make mental struggle" means not to add the illusory mind's discrimination to the reality. When you make mental struggle, the light becomes illusory mind and brightness becomes darkness. If you do not make mental struggle, the darkness itself becomes the Self illumination of the light. This is similar to the light of a jewel illuminating the jewel itself. For example, it is like the light of the sun or the moon illuminating everything-mountains and rivers, human beings and dogs, etc. equally, without differentiation or evaluation. Also, a mirror reflects everything without bothering to discriminate. In this jijuyu-zanmai, just keep the light [of the self] unclouded without being concerned with discrimination of objects. …

https://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showthread.php?13528-SIT-A-LONG-with-Jundo-Master-Menzan-s-JIJUYU-ZANMAI&p=155255&viewfull=1#post155255

Gassho, J

stlah

[mdonnoe]

[Kaitan]

Thank you, everyone!

Gasshō

stlah, Kaitan

[Tairin]

Thank you everyone. I sat with you this morning


Tairin
Sat today and lah

[Houzan]

Apr 5-6 2024-OUR MONTHLY 4-hour Treeleaf ZAZENKAI- Zazen-Yojinki II DAYLIGHT SAVINGS!

Sat with you all just now. Elvis lives! [emoji120]

With regards to sudden vs gradual enlightenment: when Keizan says: “even if you were to eliminate the five obstructions…”, meaning that you don’t have to eliminate these obstructions in order to eliminate basic ignorance, he is here referring to the approach of sudden enlightenment, is he not?

The way I understand sudden enlightenment is as an approach to directly attain the non-attainable, a short cut, circumventing the whole job of having to first polish your acts, words and thoughts thoroughly (gradual enlightenment). Of course, after this, there is the gradual and truly important polishing job, developing and enacting enlightened acts, words and thoughts in every moment, stone by stone, to become through and through a full Buddha, or more realistically, as close as possible to this ideal. I see the Theravada approach as “more”gradual and our approach as “more” sudden. Is my understanding correct?

Also, is this what Nishijima referred to when he used the expressions “first” (sudden, the shortcut) and “second” (after years and years of polishing) enlightenment?

PS: I enjoy your pragmatic and homemade podium, Bion. Very nice [emoji106]

Sorry for running long.

Gassho, Hozan
Satlah

[Bion]

PS: I enjoy your pragmatic and homemade podium, Bion. Very nice [emoji106]

Thank you!! I enjoy it too! My homemade Tan does a wonderful job!

gassho
sat and lah

[Jundo]

Sat with you all just now. Elvis lives! [emoji120]

With regards to sudden vs gradual enlightenment: when Keizan says: “even if you were to eliminate the five obstructions…”, meaning that you don’t have to eliminate these obstructions in order to eliminate basic ignorance, he is here referring to the approach of sudden enlightenment, is he not?

The way I understand sudden enlightenment is as an approach to directly attain the non-attainable, a short cut, circumventing the whole job of having to first polish your acts, words and thoughts thoroughly (gradual enlightenment). Of course, after this, there is the gradual and truly important polishing job, developing and enacting enlightened acts, words and thoughts in every moment, stone by stone, to become through and through a full Buddha, or more realistically, as close as possible to this ideal. I see the Theravada approach as “more”gradual and our approach as “more” sudden. Is my understanding correct?

Also, is this what Nishijima referred to when he used the expressions “first” (sudden, the shortcut) and “second” (after years and years of polishing) enlightenment?

PS: I enjoy your pragmatic and homemade podium, Bion. Very nice [emoji106]

Sorry for running long.

Gassho, Hozan
Satlah

Yes, in this practice there are many kinds of "sudden" insight ... the deep and powerful ones in which body-mind fully drops away, and one experiences the wholeness and interidentity of all things ... but also more passing, subtle, light and gentle insights in which there is a softening of self (the movie Perfect Days which I posted about is filled with many such moments, when he sees the sky and the light pouring through the leaves ...) ... and every Zazen sitting is as sudden as sudden can be, for in that moment there is nothing else, nothing lacking, and all is realized as Buddha sitting Buddha in each moment of sitting ... Buddha right here, the Pure Land right here, Nirvana right here now ...

Some insights are profound in the moment, like a thunderstorm, and some are like dew slowly dampening one's robes ... but every water drop in both ways is "sudden."

Zen emphasizes such "sudden" insight(s) ..

... but all practice is also "gradual," as we day to day get on with the grind of refining these insights in this complicated, crazy life in Samsara, where the rubber of Dharma hits the road of life.

So, our practice in this life, for all Zen folks of every tradition, is always both sudden and gradual.

Zen was rather unique in this emphasis on both sudden and gradual, compared to some other Buddhist traditions that really are gradualist (often requiring 1000 lifetimes for any real progress.) But when Zen folks sometimes accuse each other of not being "sudden" enough, it is often just politics. Both Rinzai and Soto Zen are BOTH thoroughly sudden and thoroughly gradual too.

Gassho, J

stlah