March 6th, 2020 - OUR MONTHLY 4-hour Treeleaf ZAZENKAI - Welcoming Spring and Life

[Jundo]

Today's Talk welcomes Spring with passages and poems from Master Dogen's Plum Blossoms (Shobogenzo-Baike-梅華), a message of hope, the earth's wisdom and life's renewal in Springtime that many of us may need to hear in these troubling days ...

(text below in this thread)

Please 'sit-a-long' with our MONTHLY 4-hour ZAZENKAI, netcast LIVE 8am to noon Japan time Saturday morning (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 visible at the following link during those times ...

... and to be visible on the following screen during those times and sit-a-long-able any time thereafter ...

LIVE ZAZENKAI NETCAST IS HERE:

Video begins about 5 minutes into the Zazenkai.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dbm1DAYsgEM

Dharma Talk Audio / Podcast Episode:
LINK TO BE POSTED HERE IN THE COMING DAYS

FOR THOSE WHO WISH TO JOIN TO SIT LIVE WITH A CAMERA, A LINK TO JOIN IS POSTED BELOW IN THIS THREAD. JUST CLICK AND JOIN BEFORE START TIME. 'TWO WAY' REQUIRES INDIVIDUALS WITH CAMERAS, BUT ANYONE CAN WATCH LIVE 'ONE WAY' AND SIT-A-LONG VIA THE ABOVE SCREEN. IF JOINING WITH CAMERA, PLEASE MAKE SURE YOUR MICROPHONE IS MUTED:

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

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


Our Zazenkai consists of our chanting the 'Heart Sutra' in Japanese and the 'Identity of Relative and Absolute (Sandokai)' in English (please download our Chant Book at the link below), some full floor prostrations (please follow along with me ... or a simple Gassho can be substituted if you wish), a little talk by me ... and we close with the 'Metta Chant', followed at the end with the 'Verse of Atonement' and 'The Four Vows'. Oh, and lots and lots of Zazen and walkin' Kinhin in between!

Please download and print out the Chants we will recite at the following link (PDF):

Chant Book (PDF)

or

Chant Book (SHORT VERSION HTML)

Not everyone realizes that they can join in the Chanting of the Heart Sutra, Identity of Relative & Absolute, Metta Verses, Verse of Atonement and Four Vows (although we ask that you keep your microphone down). Please follow along with the Chant Book, and let your voice ring!

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.

ALSO, REMEMBER TO SET YOUR COMPUTER (& SCREEN SAVER) SO THAT IT DOES NOT SHUT OFF DURING THE 4 HOURS.

I hope you will join us ... an open Zafu is waiting. When we drop all thought of 'here' 'there' 'now' 'then' ... we are sitting all together!


Gassho, Jundo

SatTodayLAH

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

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

HOW TO JOIN THE ZAZENKAI '2-WAY':

You can join the Zazenkai two-way in the Scheduled Sitting Room using Zoom any one of the following ways:

- Use this direct link: https://zoom.us/j/4834831244
- Open Zoom and join with this meeting id: 483 483 1244
- Go to Treeleaf NOW and select the Scheduled Sitting Room: treeleaf.org/ssr

Notes:

- When you first join, you'll need to choose an audio source (usually you can simply select "Join with Computer Audio" on desktop or "Call using Internet Audio" on mobile).

- You can switch between the "speaker view" (the default view) and "gallery view" (a grid / tic-tac-toe style view):
-- On desktop, click the "gallery view" / "speaker view" toggle button on the top right
-- On mobile, swipe right for "gallery views" -- only 4 participants are shown at a time on mobile, so keep swiping right to go through different groups, swipe left to go back to the "gallery view"

- You can mute, unmute, etc. with the control bar on the bottom of the screen
-- On desktop, hover the mouse over the window and the control bar should pop up
-- On mobile, tap the screen and the control bar should pop up
-- On mobile, so that your own picture does not take up one of the four slots you see, you can tap for the control bar, then tap "... menu" and select "Remove myself from gallery view"

- If you are on a slow Internet connection and are experiencing drop-outs, try turning off video (you can always turn it on for a bit at the beginning and end to say hi and bow to everyone)

[Jundo]

To welcome the Spring, we will sit Zazen with Plum Blossoms. It is still a bit cold to sit outside, but their beautiful pinkish buds can be seen all around our neighborhood today. A short ways from Tsukuba, in our provincial capital of Mito (Hi Shoka ), there is an annual Plum Blossom festival ongoing and in full bloom.

https://youtu.be/zGTcPw_Bd4g

I think that, with all the things in the news, some very scary or disheartening, it is good to recall that the planet and nature are sometimes wiser than we are.

Shobogenzo Baike
Plum Blossoms　（1243）

[Nishijima Roshi’s] Note: Baike means plum blossoms. Master Dōgen [and] Master Tendō Nyojō, Master Dōgen’s master, loved plum blossoms and so we can find many poems about plum blossoms in [their] works. Plum blossoms may have been a great pleasure to Buddhist monks living in mountain temples when there were few consolations to relieve the hardship of winter—because plum blossoms bloom at the very beginning of spring, when there are no other flowers, and plum blossoms are both pretty and fragrant.

--------

My late master Tendō [Nyojō] preaches to the assembly:

Jagged and gnarled is the old plum tree;
Suddenly it flowers—one flower, two flowers, three, four, five flowers—countless flowers.
Not proud of its purity. not proud of its fragrance.
They spread out to create the look of spring and to fan the grass and trees.
Balding the heads of patch-robed monks.
Instantly changing are the raging wind and the hard rain,
Falling snow, all over the earth.
The old plum tree is boundless.
The freezing cold rubs the nostrils, and they sting.

“The old plum tree” that has been revealed now is boundless; it suddenly flowers, and naturally bears fruit. Sometimes it makes the spring, and sometimes it makes the winter. Sometimes it makes a raging wind, and sometimes it makes a hard rain. … When the old plum tree suddenly flowers, “The opening of flowers is the occurrence of the world.” … The time of this one flower is able to include three flowers, four flowers, and five flowers; it includes hundreds of flowers, thousands of flowers, myriads of flowers, and koṭis of flowers; and it includes countless flowers. …

…

My late master [] preaches to the assembly:

It is the time when Gautama got rid of the Eye,
In the snow, a single twig of plum blossoms
Now every place has become a thorn [of hard circumstances]
Yet [ I ] laugh at the swirling of the spring wind.

How often does it recur in everyday life that, while looking at the right Dharma-eye treasury of our Buddha Tathāgata, we pass over the winking of an eye and do not break into a smile?
… [We realize] that plum blossoms in the snow are the very eye of the Tathāgata. Picking up this [realization], we make it into the eye on the forehead, and we make it into the eyeballs in the eyes. … Just this is the eye of “In the heavens above and under the heavens I alone am the Honored One.”… Because the whole universe is a scene of flowers, the whole universe is plum blossoms. And because the whole universe is plum blossoms, the whole universe is Gautama’s Eye. … The state in which the realization of now is like this, is described as realizing “thorns.”

…

My late master Tendō [] says:

If even a single word accords [between the Buddha’s state and your state],
The ten thousand ages do not move [endless time stands still].
Willow eyes are popping out on new twigs.
Plum blossoms are filling up old branches.

That is to say, a hundred major kalpas of pursuing the Way are—from beginning to end—“a single word according with [the Buddha’s state].” And the effort in Practice of one instant of thought is—both before and after—“the ten thousand ages not moving.”

…

My late master [] says:

The original face is without life and death.
Spring is in the plum blossoms, and has entered a painting.

In picturing spring we should not picture willows, apricot trees, peach trees, and plum trees; we should just picture spring.To picture willows, apricot trees, peach trees, and plum trees is to picture willows, apricot trees, peach trees, and plum trees; it is never to have pictured spring.

…

It is patently clear.　Stop searching back and forth for something behind the semblance of the plum blossom.　In the becoming of rain and the becoming of clouds the past-and present is naturally there.　The past-and-present being empty, what end-point could there be?

[Kotei]

Thank you, will sit with you all and the recording.

I was just reading about Master Rempo Niwa Zenji.
Plum blossoms seems the theme of our predecessor's pen names.
老梅 Rōbai (“the old plum tree”), 梅庵 Baian (“the plum tree hermitage”), 雪梅 Setsubai (“Snow Plum”).
His book was called "The Plum Flower Opens – My Life Until Now 梅華開－わが半生"
and he even passed away in the Abbot's Residence, called 'The Plum Viewing Pavillion' at Tokei-in Temple.
More plum in our lineage?
The dharma grandfather of Niwa Zenji, Bukkan Myokoku, planted more than six hundred plum trees in the fields near Tokei-in Temple.

The first plum blossoms open in my garden, too. Indeed, beautiful and a overly sweet and pleasing scent.
When there is enough sun, the first bees risk a short flight to the plums and early cherries.
The cycle starts anew.

Gassho,
Kotei sat/lah today.

[Kyonin]

Thank you Jundo.

I'll be there live

Gassho,

Kyonin
Sat/LAH

[Kyonin]

Thank you Jundo.

I'll be there live

Gassho,

Kyonin
Sat/LAH

[Jundo]

Thank you Jundo.

I'll be there live

Gassho,

Kyonin
Sat/LAH

Thank you Jundo.

I'll be there live

Gassho,

Kyonin
Sat/LAH

Thanks to both of you, Kyonin Twins!

Gassho, J

STLah

[Amelia]

I will be joining upon my return from camping. See you all next week.

Gassho
Sat today, lah

[Yokai]

With you sit-a-long/netcast...middle way = happy family

Gassho
Sat notlahyet!

[Jakuden]

I’m going to have to sit this one later. Enjoy everyone! [emoji868]

Gassho
Jakuden
SatToday/LAH right now


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Onka]

I see no link this morning???
Gassho
Onka
st

[Sekishi]

Sorry everyone, the computer in my practice space will NOT run Zoom today. So I am streaming it from my work computer.

Thank you Kyonin for jumping in as Ino. I'm going to see if I can get the issue fixed during the first sitting. Hopefully I'll see you all soon.

Gassho,
Sekishi

[Science Abbot]

Very happy to join Zazenkai today one-way.

Gassho,
Mui
Sat/LAH

[Ippo]

I guess no link today . I tried looking for some time.

I am listening one way.

Gassho,

Ippo

Sitting Now

[Sekishi]

I guess no link today . I tried looking for some time.

I am listening one way.

Apologies. The link is the same as previous weeks. If you still want to join Ippo, just go to last week, or use Treeleaf NOW and go to "Scheduled meeting room".

Gassho,
Sekishi #sitting

[Doshin]

2F87E09B-0DE3-495B-A576-1CF67E46D729.jpeg

Unable to crack the puzzle to Zoom Two Way. Nothing worked tonight, including link at calendar. But I could not get in last night either Sekishi. However I was there one way for awhile. Since I was not in a Zoom box I thought I would share a photo of Spring here an hour before Zazenkai began.

Doshin
St