Sept. 6-7 2024 -OUR MONTHLY 4-hour Treeleaf ZAZENKAI- Commencing Jukai/Ango Season!

[Jundo]

We commence our Jukai (Undertaking the Precepts) preparations and Ango (Peaceful Abiding) season ...
... with a writing by Master Dogen on doing good, the Precepts and Zazen,
as our response to so much bad in this world ...

Shoaku Makusa
諸惡莫作

'Not Doing Wrongs'
(text below)

Dear All,

Please sit our Monthly 4-Hour Treeleaf Zazenkai LIVE with Zazen, Heart Sutra and more. We meet virtually in our Zoom Scheduled Sitting Room here:
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JOIN ZOOM >>.
The password (if needed): << dogen >>

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For local times, please check the Practice Calendar here: TREELEAF NOW >> (8am to noon Japan time Saturday morning, New York 7pm to 11pm, Los Angeles 4pm to 8pm, Friday night, London midnight to 4am and Paris 1am to 5am on early Saturday morning) and also sittable any time thereafter:
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However, "one way" live sitters are encouraged to come into the Zoom sitting, and just leave the camera and microphone turned off.
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Audio recordings of the Talks in this series are available here:
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Dharma Talk Audio / Podcast Episode:
https://www.treeleaf.org/forums/show...408#post339408

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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

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

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I also recommend a little Talk on why small rituals and procedures are so cherished in the Zendo:
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SIT-A-LONG with Jundo: Small Things in the Zendo
https://www.treeleaf.org/forums/show...s-in-the-Zendo

[Jundo]

We commence our Jukai season with awareness that doing the good that we can, living gently by the precepts, is at the heart of our Buddhist response to all the greed, hate, killing and other terrible violence, cruelty and callousness in this world.

Even as we do our best to do good, avoiding bad, seeking to end true evil in this world ... our practice also allows us to know something more, truly Good, shining through all human and worldly good and bad.

We will examine a few sections of Master Dogen's famous essay, Shoaku Makusa (Not Doing Wrongs).

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The eternal buddha says,
Not to commit wrongs,
To practice the many kinds of right,
Naturally purifies the mind;
This is the teaching of the buddhas

... In regard to the “wrongs” that we are discussing now, among “rightness,” “wrongness,” and “indifference,” there is “wrongness.” Its essence is just nonappearance [unborn]. The essence of rightness, the essence of indifference, and so on are also nonappearance, are [the state] without excess [nondefiled], and are real form. At the same time, at each concrete place these three properties include innumerable kinds of dharmas. In “wrongs,” there are similarities and differences between wrong in this world and wrong in other worlds. There are similarities and differences between former times and latter times. There are similarities and differences between wrong in the heavens above and wrong in the human world. How much greater is the difference between moral wrong, moral right, and moral indifference in Buddhism and in the secular world. Right and wrong are time; time is not right or wrong. Right and wrong are the Dharma; the Dharma is not right or wrong. [When] the Dharma is in balance [all-inclusive], wrong is in balance. [When] the Dharma is in balance, right is in balance. This being so, when we learn [the supreme state of] anuttara samyaksaṃbodhi, when we hear the teachings, do training, and experience the fruit, it is profound, it is distant, and it is fine [deep, vast, and wondrous].

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When we investigate them like this, wrongs are realized as having become completely the same as “not committing.” Aided by this realization, we can penetrate the “not committing” of wrongs, and we can realize it decisively by sitting. Just at this moment—when reality is realized as the “not committing” of wrongs at the beginning, middle, and end—wrongs do not arise from causes and conditions; they are nothing other than just “not committing.” Wrongs do not vanish due to causes and conditions; they are nothing other than just “not committing.” If wrongs are in balance, all dharmas are in balance. ... It is not that wrongs do not exist; they are nothing other than “not committing.” It is not that wrongs exist; they are nothing other than not committing.

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“Practice the many kinds of right.” ... There is none among the many kinds of right that fails to appear at the very moment of doing right. The myriad kinds of right have no set shape but they converge on the place of doing right faster than iron to a magnet, and with a force stronger than the vairambhaka [great hurricane] winds. It is utterly impossible for the earth, mountains and rivers, the world, a nation, or even the force of accumulated karma, to hinder [this] coming together of right. ... What can be recognized [as right] is called right ... Or, for example, it is like the keeping of the precepts by a śrāvaka being the violation of the precepts by a bodhisattva. ... The many kinds of right are “good doing” but they are neither of the doer nor known by the doer, and they are neither of the other nor known by the other. ... At just this moment of “good doing” the realized universe exists ...

... The cause-and-effect of this right, similarly, is the universe as the realization of “good doing.” It is not that causes are before and effects are after. Rather, causes perfectly satisfy themselves and effects perfectly satisfy themselves; when causes are in balance the Dharma is in balance and when effects are in balance the Dharma is in balance. Awaited by causes, effects are felt, but it is not a matter of before and after; for the truth is present that the [moment] before and the [moment] after are balanced [as they are].

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... Even if wrong upon wrong pervade the whole universe, and even if wrongs have swallowed the whole Dharma again and again, there is still salvation and liberation in “not committing.” ...

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... Layman Kyoi asks, “What is the great intention of the Buddha-Dharma?”
Master Dōrin says, “Not to commit wrongs. To practice the many kinds of right.”
Kyoi says, “If it is so, even a child of three can express it!”
Dōrin says, “A child of three can speak the truth, but an old man of eighty cannot practice it.”

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Kyoi thinks that Dōrin is only telling him “Do not commit wrongs! Practice the many kinds of right!” through recognition of the conscious aim. Thus, he neither knows nor hears the truth that the time-honored67 [teaching] of the “not committing” of wrongs, the “good doing” of rights, has been in Buddhism from the eternal past to the eternal present. ... [But] Even if wrong upon wrong pervade the whole universe, and even if wrongs have swallowed
the whole Dharma again and again, there is still salvation and liberation in “not committing.” ... He does not hear Dōrin’s voice, which is more vivid than thunder, and so he says, “Even a child of three could express it!” as if to say that [Master Dōrin himself] has not expressed the truth in his words. Thus [Kyoi] does not hear the lion’s roar of an infant, and he passes vainly by the Zen master’s turning of the Dharma wheel. ...

[Jundo]

James 'Roshi' Brown reminds us ...

Wow! I feel nice, like sugar and spice
I feel nice, like sugar and spice
So nice, so nice, 'cause I got you
When I hold you in my arms
I know that I can't do no wrong
And when I hold you in my arms
My love won't do you no harm

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Gassho, J
stlah

[Bion]

Wonderful occasion and I hope I see many, many of you there! Time to begin our Ango!

Gassho
sat and lah

[Anthony]

I won't be able to make it live due to my work schedule, but I wanted to wish metta to all joiners and Ango-participants! I will join you across space and time tomorrow morning.

Gassho,
Anthony
satlah

[PaulH]

Sat with you today - it was my first 4-hour zazenkai done in one set

Gassho
Paul
Sat today & Lent a hand

[Bion]

Sat with you today - it was my first 4-hour zazenkai done in one set

Gassho
Paul
Sat today & Lent a hand

Ah! Thank you for making the effort!

Gassho
sat and lah

[Shigeru]

Sat with you all this morning. Thank you all. And thank you Jundo for the excellent teaching of this text, a great talk to start off Ango. One thing I will especially carry with me after this talk was this great quote:

...That's what we do. That is Jukai, that is the meaning of our precepts, this is the answer for us to the violence, to the wrong and the ugliness in this world. It's on you. Leave the world better, that's all, that's Jukai.

Gassho
Will
SatLah

[Kotei]

Thank you for starting into our Ango/Jukai season together!
Gassho,
Kotei sat/lah today.

[johns]

I sat with my brothers and sisters via recording at a later time. I am grateful to be a part of this.

Gassho

John

SatTodayLAH

[Shade]

Thanks to everyone for another great Zazenkai!

Gassho,

Chukyo

ST/LAH

[Onsho]

Thank you everyone! Wish i could have sat in person.

Gassho
Onsho
SatLah

[Heiso]

Thank you everyone, sat the first part this evening.

Gassho,

Heiso
StLah

[Hokin]

Hello everyone! Just finished sitting (and dancing...and oh boy did that really feel good!!) with you just now, on demand! I appreciate your talk Jundo, as always very deep and to the point. I love the 3 years old child-"Just do good"-koan...it is one of my favourite...that along with the master's fan....which I think is also very much related to this zazenkai's topic!
thank you everyone, also, for your practice...each one of you out there.
Let's ango together.
See you soon.

Hokin
ST/LAH

[bonsai23]

I needed to leave early last night, and I had missed the dharma talk. I just finished sitting zazenkai on my own (with all of you, in spirit) and it was just lovely. I thoroughly enjoyed Jundo's talk, and I loved dancing afterwards.

Thank you all so much for being here with me, in this Ango season!

Gassho!
Syd
sat.lah