Calling All Sitters ...
We have a live, weekly, 90 minute group sitting EACH SATURDAY[/b] (with a longer 4-hour retreat on the first Saturday of each month), though actually Friday night in some times zones, led by Jundo.
The weekly 90-minute "Live from Treeleaf" Zazenkai commences from 9am Japan time Saturday morning (that is New York 7pm, Los Angeles 4pm (Friday night), London midnight and Paris 1am (early Saturday morning), and is 90 minutes long.
The monthly 4-hour ZAZENKAI is held on the first Friday Night/Saturday of the month from Saturday morning 8am Japan time (that is New York 6pm to 10pm, Los Angeles 3pm to 7pm (Friday night), London 11pm to 3am and Paris midnight to 4am (early Saturday morning), and is 4 hours long.
You can find the local times for these events in our Treeleaf Practice Calendar here: http://www.treeleaf.org/now
The Zazenkai is also streamed lived on our YouTube channel here: TREELEAF YOUTUBE
However, if it is not possible for you to join 'live' in your location at the appointed times, FEAR NOT, as the entire sitting will be recorded in REAL TIME and available for full participation ON DEMAND at any time after that, no different from the 'live' sitting. (the links will be posted each week in this forum).
The schedule for our weekly 90 minute Zazenkai is as follows:
15' CEREMONY (HEART SUTRA iIN ENGLISH AND DEDICATION)
30' ZAZEN
10' KINHIN
30' ZAZEN
5' FOUR VOWS, & VERSE OF ATONEMENT
15' CEREMONY (HEART SUTRA iIN ENGLISH AND DEDICATION)
30' ZAZEN
10' KINHIN
30' ZAZEN
5' FOUR VOWS, & VERSE OF ATONEMENT
As you can see, our Zazenkai consists of chanting the 'Heart Sutra' in English (the words are at the link below), some full floor prostrations in sets of three (please follow along with me ... or a simple Gassho can be substituted if you wish), followed by our Dedication, Zazen twice for 30 minutes each, with 10 minutes of Kinhin in between, and we end the sitting with 'The Verse of Atonement' and 'The Four Vows'.
The 4-hour monthly Zazenkai retreat on the first Friday / Saturday of each month runs as follows:
50' CEREMONY (HEART SUTRA IN JAPANESE / SANDOKAI IN ENGLISH) & ZAZEN
10' KINHIN
30' ZAZEN
20' KINHIN
40' DHARMA TALK & ZAZEN
10' KINHIN & HOKEY-POKEY DANCE
35' ZAZEN
15' KINHIN
30' METTA CHANT & ZAZEN, VERSE OF ATONEMENT, FOUR VOWS, & CLOSING
50' CEREMONY (HEART SUTRA IN JAPANESE / SANDOKAI IN ENGLISH) & ZAZEN
10' KINHIN
30' ZAZEN
20' KINHIN
40' DHARMA TALK & ZAZEN
10' KINHIN & HOKEY-POKEY DANCE
35' ZAZEN
15' KINHIN
30' METTA CHANT & ZAZEN, VERSE OF ATONEMENT, FOUR VOWS, & CLOSING
As you can see, there will be 5 periods of Zazen, most 30 minutes long. In between each period of Zazen, there will be a few periods for Kinhin walking (which will also serve for any needed bathroom breaks).
The chant book used for these events (weekly and monthly are a little different) are available at THIS LINK:
http://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showt...t-Book-is-Here
http://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showt...t-Book-is-Here
I STRONGLY SUGGEST THAT YOU POSITION YOUR ZAFU ON THE FLOOR IN A PLACE WHERE YOU ARE NOT STARING DIRECTLY AT THE COMPUTER SCREEN, BUT CAN GLANCE OVER AND SEE THE SCREEN WHEN NECESSARY. YOUR ZAFU SHOULD ALSO BE IN A POSITION WHERE YOU CAN SEE THE COMPUTER SCREEN WHILE STANDING IN FRONT OF THE ZAFU FOR THE CEREMONIES, AND HAVE ROOM FOR BOWING AND KINHIN.
[b]
Please be patient with technical glitches and little annoyances ... as all are just part of the experience and practice!
I hope you will join us ... an open Zafu is waiting.
Gassho, Jundo