Hi Guys,
I would like to ask two questions of our regular Friday/Saturday Zazenkai participants and others who might participate (I WISH EVERYONE WOULD SIT OUR ZAZENKAIs!!!!) ...
-1- We will be changing the time of our 90 minute Zazenkais to one (1) hour later commencing from our next 90 minute Zazenkai ... on April 10th-11th. The new start times would be: 90 minutes commencing from 10am Japan time Saturday morning (that is New York 9pm, Los Angeles 6pm (Friday night), London 2am and Paris 3am (early Saturday morning). Unfortunately, this will not make it any easier for Europeans to join live (they will need to continue to sit with the recordings), but it may help some in North America, especially on the West Coast, who are coming home from work. (The times for the monthly 4 hour Zazenkai will not change).
Question: Does the change make your ability to participate more or less convenient, or no difference?
-2- Although I am very much of the "there are no distractions, birds are just birds, helicopters are just helicopters" school ... generally it is nice to keep the distracting background noise low if possible, as it facilitates a settled mind. For the future, I may mute my microphone during Zazen (until now it has always been open, allowing others to hear all the noise and backgrounds sounds from Japan). My plan is to ring the bell to start Zazen, mute the mike, unmute the bike just before ringing the bell to end Zazen. Some folks find the noise rather distracting, others actually seem to like the passing trucks and birds.
Question: Do you support muting the microphone, or would it really not bother you either way?
Thank you! We are always trying to make the Zazenkai environment better for everyone.
Gassho, Jundo
I would like to ask two questions of our regular Friday/Saturday Zazenkai participants and others who might participate (I WISH EVERYONE WOULD SIT OUR ZAZENKAIs!!!!) ...
-1- We will be changing the time of our 90 minute Zazenkais to one (1) hour later commencing from our next 90 minute Zazenkai ... on April 10th-11th. The new start times would be: 90 minutes commencing from 10am Japan time Saturday morning (that is New York 9pm, Los Angeles 6pm (Friday night), London 2am and Paris 3am (early Saturday morning). Unfortunately, this will not make it any easier for Europeans to join live (they will need to continue to sit with the recordings), but it may help some in North America, especially on the West Coast, who are coming home from work. (The times for the monthly 4 hour Zazenkai will not change).
Question: Does the change make your ability to participate more or less convenient, or no difference?
-2- Although I am very much of the "there are no distractions, birds are just birds, helicopters are just helicopters" school ... generally it is nice to keep the distracting background noise low if possible, as it facilitates a settled mind. For the future, I may mute my microphone during Zazen (until now it has always been open, allowing others to hear all the noise and backgrounds sounds from Japan). My plan is to ring the bell to start Zazen, mute the mike, unmute the bike just before ringing the bell to end Zazen. Some folks find the noise rather distracting, others actually seem to like the passing trucks and birds.
Question: Do you support muting the microphone, or would it really not bother you either way?
Thank you! We are always trying to make the Zazenkai environment better for everyone.
Gassho, Jundo
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