April 30th, 2011 Treeleaf Weekly Zazenkai

[Jundo]

Hello All,

Please 'sit-a-long' with our weekly FRIDAY/SATURDAY 'LIVE FROM TREELEAF' 90 minute ZAZENKAI, netcast LIVE from 9am Japan time Saturday morning (that is New York 8pm, Los Angeles 5pm (Friday night), London 1am and Paris 2am (early Saturday morning))

... and to be visible at the following link during those times ...

LIVE ZAZENKAI NETCAST at USTREAM:

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/sit-a-long-with-jundo

But FEAR NOT if not possible for you to join 'live' in your location at those times, as the entire sitting is recorded in 'REAL TIME' and available for full participation 'on demand' at any time after that, no different from the 'live' sitting :

'REAL TIME' recorded 'ANY TIME' version link is here:



OUR 90 MINUTE SITTING SCHEDULE IS AS FOLLOWS:

00:00 – 00:15 CEREMONY (HEART SUTRA in English ONLY) and Dedication
00:15 – 00:45 ZAZEN
00:45 – 00:55 KINHIN
00:55 – 01:25 ZAZEN
01:25 – 01:30 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'.

Please download and print out the words of the Chants we will recite at the following link:

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=2231

So, please join us as soon as you can, and we will keep a Zafu open for you.

Remember, when we drop all thought of 'here' 'there' 'now' 'then' ... we are sitting all together!


Gassho, Jundo

[Saijun]

Re: April 30th, 2011 Treeleaf Weekly Zazenkai

Hello friends,

I'll be there Sunday afternoon with you all.

Metta,

Saijun

[Hoyu]

Re: April 30th, 2011 Treeleaf Weekly Zazenkai

Saturday morning for me

Gassho,
John

[Dosho]

Re: April 30th, 2011 Treeleaf Weekly Zazenkai

Thanks to all who have sat, are sitting, or will sit...deep bows.

Gassho,
Dosho

[Myoku]

Re: April 30th, 2011 Treeleaf Weekly Zazenkai

Thank you Jundo and everyone chanting the heart Sutra so wonderfull,
thank you to the workmen, thank you to everybody sitting, whatever time,
_()_
Peter

[Onshin]

Re: April 30th, 2011 Treeleaf Weekly Zazenkai

Thank you Jundo, a good zazenkai with a nice turn out ( you have the quietist roofers I have ever known! :wink: )

Gassho to all who sat (sit) with me

[Heisoku]

Re: April 30th, 2011 Treeleaf Weekly Zazenkai

Thank you Jundo and all those sitting.

[Hoyu]

Re: April 30th, 2011 Treeleaf Weekly Zazenkai

Thank you to Jundo Sensei, all fellow sitters, and to the roofers who lend their skills so that we all can stay dry.

The talk during the second zazen was wonderful. I learned of this 49 day pricnipal from Kyoko a few years ago when our dog Rikyu passed away. Being as though he died form the same disease(cancer) that her father died from over a decade ago it brought back many memories for her. She opened up about things that she rarely talkes about. She went through everything in detail and explained the whole process. How her family washed her father's body and dressed it in kimono. They brought the body home and burned incense day and night. After a few days they took him to be cremated. The family had to push her father's body in and close the door to the oven. She talked about watching the flames through the window once the furnace was turned on. After the body has been reduced to fragments they pick through them and put them in a container. They bring the ashes home for 49 days and then take them to the cemetery to be buried. And they do memorial, as you said, in slowly longer increments of time.
We followed this tradition as closly as we could with our dog. The night before cremation we brought him home from the vet(they had to keep him in the cooler) and washed him up. The crematory wouldnt let us put him into the fire or pick his cremated bones ourselves but we did ask. What i took away from the whole experience was that the mourning process was done in easier to handle stages. It is hard to let a loved one go but with this method there was always a way to stay connected to them all the while slowly seperating yourself from them at the same time.
The beauty in this i thought was that everything is done in increments. From a phscological perspective it much better for you emmotionally than how it is done here.

On a more positive note
My mother in law has been in town. She has a bedroom downsatirs next to the one i have been using for Zazenkai. I get up extra early to do it and have worried whether i was disturbing her. So i had an idea. I used my wireless headphones and chanted quietly. Let me tell you with the headphones on it was like being there in high definition! I could hear everything someone who is actually sitting there in Japan could. The experience felt more "real". like the sound of the roofers going up and down the ladder, or the pings of their metal tools, and I never knew you had a highway nearby Jundo sensei! It was great and really felt like i was there!

Now i have one question on this. It was so much like being there, which one part of me thought was great, but another part wondered if it was wrong to be more aware things there than of the reality of the here and now. Where i truely am. To give an example: This is the first day i have done Zazenkai where it hasnt either been snowing or had snow on the ground! It was actually raining. All of life is flowing around me to wich i took less notice of. Does indulging in the sounds of what is true of for you and less for me detract from what im supposed to be doing with my practice? Sorry i don't know if this explains my conundrum well?

Gassho,
John

[Jundo]

Re: April 30th, 2011 Treeleaf Weekly Zazenkai

Now i have one question on this. It was so much like being there, which one part of me thought was great, but another part wondered if it was wrong to be more aware things there than of the reality of the here and now. Where i truely am. To give an example: This is the first day i have done Zazenkai where it hasnt either been snowing or had snow on the ground! It was actually raining. All of life is flowing around me to wich i took less notice of. Does indulging in the sounds of what is true of for you and less for me detract from what im supposed to be doing with my practice? Sorry i don't know if this explains my conundrum well?

Gassho,
John

Just sit, and hear what is to be heard.

[Hoyu]

Re: April 30th, 2011 Treeleaf Weekly Zazenkai

Keep it simple, got it. Thank you.

Gassho,
John

[Risho]

Re: April 30th, 2011 Treeleaf Weekly Zazenkai

Gassho,

Risho

[Nenka]

Re: April 30th, 2011 Treeleaf Weekly Zazenkai

Ah, the subtle sounds of rebuilding! Nice.

Had some travel last week that screwed my schedule all up, so I sat today. And so, with last night's news:

We dedicate our hopes and aspirations:
To all victims of war and terrorism and natural events
To the injured and to all families touched by these tragedies
To the healing of hatred in all countries and among all peoples
To the wisdom and compassion of our world leaders
To the peace of the world and harmony of all beings.

Thanks to Treeleaf for continuing to provide these sittings. I just realized how helpful they can be.

Gassho,

Jennifer

[Jinyu]

Re: April 30th, 2011 Treeleaf Weekly Zazenkai

Hi everyone!

I had the chance to sit with the recorded version yesterday!
It was great because I was sitting with the version I downloaded like a month ago these last weeks...

Anyway, thank you everyone!

deep gassho,
Jinyu

[Hoyu]

Re: April 30th, 2011 Treeleaf Weekly Zazenkai

Hi Jinyu,

I know you have been very busy with the new job. Glad you were able to get enough time for yourself to sit with us for this Zazenkai

Gassho,
John