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

[Sekishi]

Thank you all for coming together to sit. Apologies for my part in the technical snafus getting us started today.

Smiling to bloom the flowers,
Sekishi #sat

[Science Abbot]

Thank you for another Zazenkai; always plum blossoms here.

Gassho,
Mui
Sat/LAH

[Onkai]

Thank you, Jundo, Kyonin, Sekishi, and everyone. The talk addressed what is happening with me now. Have a great weekend!

Gassho,
Onkai
Sat/LAH

[Tai Do]

Thank you, Jundo, Kyonin, Sekishi, Doyu, Onkai, Shokai and everyone else for today's Zazenkai.
This was the first time I manage to sit with you all two ways.
Gassho,
Mateus
Sat/LAH

[Shonin Risa Bear]

gassho
doyu sat/lah today

[Shokai]

Thank you Jundo, Kyonin and all, If spring is here where should lall this snow be. Have an awesome week.

gassho, Shokai
stlah

[Jundo]

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.

Thank you, Kotei. This is him, in front of a plum tree I think ...



Gassho, J

STLah

[Tai Shi]

This week, and from now on, even if I can't do everything, or be everything, I vow to try to view each Zazenkai, and when I feel up to it, practice one way. When I was a boy, we had prune plumb trees, one or two, can't remember, and in the summer my dad would make prunes from the plumbs, and now my wife buys a different kind of plumb, maybe several kinds similar. She loves the sweet, sour taste, black or purple outside, orange, yellow, red inside. Is this at the end of summer. She buys me nectarines for me, and the ones I like are freestone so I can down half a fruit with one bite. It's very early here to be thinking of plumb blossoms, or any kind of fruit. Snow remains in small piles either side of our drive, but temperature here today was above 41 F. Probably well below freezing tonight. I sat for 15 minutes, and then for about 7 min, and with these old bones, I miss a lot, but will always try to sit Shikantaza. Zazenkai remains an excellent experience, so when I can, I intend to sit with the shorter version, 3 hours, and this after my next change of arthritis med. Jundo is right about those of us growing older each day. The bones are like an old car, but the body keeps me getting from place to place. I have made a new friend in my 12th step program and he drives which I do not. He picks me up for meetings, and we go out for lunch in the afternoon. On Tuesday matinee day, we drive into town and see a great film. Last week we saw Call of the Wild, based on a book I read as a boy about a magnificent dog who in the end heads back to the wild. I highly recommend the book by Jack London, himself an old prospector in California. My life is good, better than a 68 year old guy lets on.
Tai Shi
sat/lah
Gassho

[Yokai]

Deepest bows to all for today's Zazenkai, including Master Dōgen and Master Tendō Nyojō. May this profound and beautiful message blossom in our lives.

Gassho, Chris
satlah

[Jundo]

Here is a surprising fact that l mention during today's talk ...

Ancient Viruses Are Buried in Your DNA

ur DNA contains roughly 100,000 pieces of viral DNA. Altogether, they make up about 8 percent of the human genome. And scientists are only starting to figure out what this viral DNA is doing to us.

Aris Katzourakis, a virologist at the University of Oxford, and his colleagues recently published a commentary in the journal Trends in Microbiology in which they explored the possibility that viral genes that produce proteins like Hemo are affecting our health in a variety of unexpected ways.
Some of our ancient viruses may be protecting us from disease; others may be raising our risks for cancer, among other conditions. “It’s not an either-or — are these things good or bad? It’s a lot more complicated than that,” Dr. Katzourakis said in an interview. “We’re barely at the beginning of this research.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/04/s...na-genome.html

Gassho, J

STLah

[Shoki]

Thank you Jundo for the plum tree writings. The plum tree in front of my house was severely damaged by a storm two years ago. It had to be drastically pruned. It survived but is not so well shaped. During this winter I have gone out with a pole saw a few times and tried to shape it to make it look like something nice. It's not so pretty anymore and I've considered cutting it down but decided to try to keep her going. No blossoms yet but the little purple buds are starting.

Gassho
STlah
James

[Doshin]

Here is a surprising fact that l mention during today's talk ...



Gassho, J

STLah

And that is why scientists will never run out of questions because it is what it is...marvelously complex.

Doshin
St

PS Jundo you keep up more with biology current research than I do and I used to be one. Appreciate that

[Jundo]

Thank you Jundo for the plum tree writings. The plum tree in front of my house was severely damaged by a storm two years ago. It had to be drastically pruned. It survived but is not so well shaped. During this winter I have gone out with a pole saw a few times and tried to shape it to make it look like something nice. It's not so pretty anymore and I've considered cutting it down but decided to try to keep her going. No blossoms yet but the little purple buds are starting.

Gassho
STlah
James

The gnarled and storm scarred tree is what it is, beautiful in its way. Like many of us.

Gassho, J

stlah

[Tokan]

Hey all

Sorry missed this one live - the kids needed out of the house so that is where my 'attention' went on Saturday. I will sit this during the week, always with you.

Gassho, Tokan

Satlah

[Kokuu]

Beautiful sit.
Beautiful plum blossoms.

Thank you.

Gassho
Kokuu
-sattoday/lah-