August 1-2, 2025 -OUR MONTHLY THREE-hour ZAZENKAI- NEW TIME, NEW SCHEDULE, SAME FUN!!

[Jundo]

ATTENTION:
WELCOME to our THREE-hour Monthly Treeleaf Zazenkai!
Same startless-start time,
BUT new timeless schedule and new endless end time!
Check it out below.

Today we Walk with Master Menzan's Kinhinki
經行軌
The Way of Walking Zen

(text below)

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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 >>

For local times, please check the Practice Calendar here: TREELEAF NOW >> (8am to 11am Japan time Saturday morning, New York 7pm to 10pm, Los Angeles 4pm to 7pm, Friday night, London midnight to 3am and Paris 1am to 4am 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 during Zazenkai are available here:
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Dharma Talk Audio / Podcast Episode:
LINK

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The Sitting Schedule is as follows:
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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 - 01:40 KINHIN
01:40 - 02:20 DHARMA TALK & ZAZEN
02:20 - 02:25 KANNON STRETCH
02:25 - 02:55 ZAZEN and METTA VERSES
02:55 - 03:00 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]

Today we will take a stroll hand-in-hand with Master Menzan Zuihō (面山瑞方 - 1683-1769) and portions of his guides to Kinhin, Walking Zen ... the Kinhinki (經行軌) and Kinhinkimonge (經行軌聞解) ... say that three times fast!
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Menzan Zenji and old copy of Kinhinkimonge

Master Menzan gives us the Kinhin step by step ...
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The Buddha said [in the Lotus Sutra], ‘‘First I sit in the practice place, contemplate the tree, and do kinhin.’’ This is definitely the origin of kinhin, as a part of seated Zazen. ... [Bodhidharma did kinhin at the foot of Mt. Sung] ... This way of kinhin was passed down from the time of T’ien-t’ung Ju-ching to our First Ancestor [Dogen Zenji], face to face, nearly half a thousand years ago. But the standards of our house have collapsed ... [and so] I searched widely in the ancient traces.

[In the Hokyoki and Bendoho it is taught that] the way of kinhin that is to be wished for is to clasp both hands in front of the chest [isshu] ... putting them inside the sleeves, and not letting the sleeves fall down near the feet to the right and left. ... whether [] with hands in isshu or shashu, all all done in the same way with hands at the chest. To have them lower at the waist is not correct. ... When you do kinhin, cover the left hand. Fold the thumb into the palm, and with the remaining four fingers grasp the thumb making a fist. Next cover [it with] the right hand, grasping the left arm. ... This is the correct way. The truth of this hand position [mudra] is an oral transmission.

When walking properly, use the breath as measure: a half step is taken in the time of one breath (in and out). ... Look directly one fathom ahead (about six or seven feet). Do not look around right and left or gaze up and down. Do not look at your feet. Move without bending over or looking up. Do not move your chest and shoulders. Do not make noise by dragging your slippers. ... you must turn to the right, not to the left. When you begin to walk, the right foot is first, then the left foot. ... Now we do kinhin under the eaves of the monks hall, so of course the right way is to adapt to that dimension.

Be as though standing in one place, as though not moving forward. It is splendid to move slowly, walking in magnificent ease and quiet. ... Walk gently, modestly, and not bustling.’ ["Bustling"] means quickly and in a frenzy, or going in circles. It means to run back and forth like dogs and horses, in an unruly way.

[In the Vinaya of the Mahasangha it is written that] Koti Putara had recently left home, and did kinhin in the graveyard tirelessly, such that the soles of his feet were lacerated, and blood flowed onto the ground. The Buddha saw this and understanding what had happened, he asked a monk, ‘‘Who is it that has done kinhin here such that blood has flowed out like this?’’ The monk replied, ‘‘This is the place where Koti Putara did kinhin.’’ Buddha instructed the bhikqu, ‘‘If Koti Putara or anyone does kinhin with vigor as if to pulverize Mt. Sumeru into dust, he will not be able to attain the way. Moreover alas, he will harm his feet.’
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Know that it is different from going around in a circle. Go straight ahead and return straight, following just one path. ... Going around [circumambulating sacred persons and sites] originally meant to revere and respect the three treasures. It is for making merit, and basically one desires to show respect. Kinhin on the other hand means to extinguish tension and to loosen up, which nourishes the body.’ ... It is like the warp [kin] of the cloth. That is why it is called kinhin. ... ‘‘going and returning’’ just as ‘‘the bright wisdom enlightens without dependence on conditions,’’ the various conditions all become bright.

Hundreds of rivers of different sources all return to the great ocean and become one flavor, and each and every drop completely penetrates throughout the great ocean. That is how expansively broad it is. ... Be unmoved by the eight things buffeting the human being: profit and loss, praise and slander, fame and infamy, pain and pleasure. ... . The true and the mundane, forms and emptiness, being and nonbeing, good and bad, expedient and perfect, long and short, straight and biased, bright and dark. All pairs are like the forward step, the after step, breathing in and breathing out. The true kinhin is the unimaginable, the unattainable marvelous practice. ... One action is all actions, one phenomenon is all phenomena. And so the true teaching is that since all phenomena are one phenomenon and all actions are one action, there is not a single phenomenon nor a single action, neither are there all phenomena nor all actions. ... Far and near are the same. Past and present are not two. The great and the small merge. This is the teaching of the freedom of movement and stillness, which defers to no other teaching. ...

You must not fail to know that if you vigorously work on this, it will greatly benefit your physical constitution and bring your practice to fulfilment. ... The Ch’u yao ching [Sutra of Verses] says: As explained by the Buddha in the Sutras, those who do kinhin will obtain five virtues. What are these five? The first is endurance for long walks. The second is increase of strength. The third is that food is naturally digested. The fourth is having no sickness. Fifth, the person who does kinhin quickly enters samadhi. ... Of these five, the first four are worldly virtues that preserve and nourish the bodily form. The last one is a virtue for those leaving the world, and it brings to fulfillment the dharma body. ... ‘‘Just breathing out without being entangled with objects, breathing in without dwelling in the world of appearances.’’ ‘‘Without being entangled, without dwelling’ ... Without pursuing conditions, and not abiding in dismal emptiness, the empty [mind] is bright and self-illuminating, and the power of the mind is not impeded.

Kinhin is among the practices of the Great Vehicle, it is the walking practice, and one naturally takes on this way of practice. The place to do it is where the Buddha way is attained. This practice is done from the desire to save people. ... In India, both lay and clerics often do kinhin.

(A scholar's essay and translation: LINK )

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Isshu and Shashu

When I sat Sesshin in China a few years ago, at the 6th Ancestors' Temple,, they do a Rinzai style running Kinhin (from the 1:10 mark) bent over with sleeves hanging down, circumambulating. Other places run even faster. Menzan would not approve. By the way, my big cameos come about the 00:23 and 02:50 marks of the film (a Chinese documentary company happened to be filming the sesshin for broadcast) ... where I can be found cruising in the inside "slow lane" of the Kinhin highway, closest to the Buddha statue, so not to get run over.
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And the latest health recommendations ...

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx238lgy3pwo

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Gassho, J
stlah

[Jundo]

POLL: FROM NEXT MONTH, WHAT WOULD FOLKS PREFER:

1 - Start same time as always, end an hour earlier ...

8am to 11am Japan time Saturday morning, New York 7pm to 10pm, Los Angeles 4pm to 7pm, Friday night, London midnight to 3am and Paris 1am to 4am on early Saturday morning

2 - Start an hour later, end an hour later ...

9am to noon Japan time Saturday morning, New York 8pm to 11pm, Los Angeles 5pm to 8pm, Friday night, London 1am to 4am and Paris 2am to 5am on early Saturday morning

3- No Preference (Very Zen) (However, please choose 1 or 2 anyway!

Two words of caution: It will all jump back earlier an hour for daylight savings time changes in the Fall.

Everyone gets one (1) vote except Bion, who gets up in the middle of night for these, so gets five (5) votes.

Gassho, J
stlah

[Bion]

I appreciate the extra votes I vote 1. Keep it at the same time, end earlier!

Gassho
sat lah

[Onsho]

This Sesshin footage is really fascinating!

Gassho,
Onsho
satlah

[Kojitsu]

1 please.

gassho,
Kojitsu

[Seikan]

Thank you all for coming together to practice. I enjoyed the new condensed (yet 25% faster! ) format. As far as start time, I vote #1 as noted above.

And thank you Jundo for the Dharma talk. I had no idea that our Kinhin was such a "new" practice. Fascinating!

Gassho,
Seikan

satlah

[Kotei]

Of course you were right, Bion, here I am sitting with you all, transcending time and space.
Thank you Jundo. Thank you Onkai for the Ino-ing and Bion for the tech and everyone for sitting together.
Gassho,
Kotei.

[Tairin]

Thank you everyone. I sat with you this morning.


Tairin
sat today and lah

[Vic]

Thank you for the teaching, Jundo! Sorry to have missed this one, but looking forward to the next I can attend! (Like last week, I will also probably miss this week due to a late-in-the-day appointment in another city.) My preference is for 1, but either way will work for me in the end.

Gassho,
Vic
Sat/LAH Today

[MattN]

Thank you for this (just caught up via the podcast). As someone whose daily step count is generally quite high (ferrying kids / exercise / walking the dog) I have struggled with kinhin as my muscle memory habitually kicks into a "get where you need to be" bustle. I found the "you are here / here / here" formulation very insightful and I look forward to practising with it.

Gassho
Matt
sat/lah