April 1st-2nd, 2016 - OUR MONTHLY 4-hour ZAZENKAI for TREELEAF'S 10th ANNIVERSARY!

[Jundo]

TODAY'S SITTING MARKS OUR CELEBRATION OF TREELEAF'S 10th ANNIVERSARY!

PLEASE PRINT OUT THE PORTION OF SHOBOGENZO-IKKA-NO-MYOJI (ONE BRIGHT PEARL) BY MASTER DOGEN, POSTED BELOW.

reMINDer: DAYLIGHT SAVINGS has changed, please confirm current start times below!

Please 'sit-a-long' with our MONTHLY 4-hour ZAZENKAI, netcast LIVE 8am to noon Japan time Saturday morning (that is New York 7pm to 11pm, Los Angeles 4pm to 8pm (Friday night), London midnight to 4am and Paris 1am to 5am (early Saturday morning)) ... and visible at the following link during those times ...

... to be visible on the below screen during those times and any time thereafter ...

LIVE ZAZENKAI NETCAST at GOOGLE+ IS HERE:
CLICK ON THE TAB ON LOWER RIGHT FOR 'FULL SCREEN

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkHeutfV7-I

EVENT PAGE:

https://plus.google.com/events/cck46f4cg0dmasd072eqi2b8tu4

Dharma talk audio / podcast episode:

http://treeleaf.podbean.com/e/april-2016-zazenkai-talk-treeleafs-10th-anniversary/

FOR THOSE NOT ALREADY MEMBERS OF THE CIRCLE WHO WISH TO JOIN TO SIT LIVE WITH A CAMERA, INSTRUCTIONS are posted AT THIS LINK. WE ARE NOW LIMITED TO 10 INDIVIDUALS WITH CAMERAS, BUT ANY NUMBER 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

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)

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

[Jundo]

Shōbōgenzō Ikka-no-myōju by Master Dogen
One Bright Pearl

In [this] sahā world, in the great kingdom of Song [China, there lived] Great Master [Gensha]. One day [while still a young monk, a student of Master Seppo], in order to explore widely the surrounding districts, he leaves the mountain, carrying a [traveling] bag. But as he does so, he stubs his toe on a stone. Bleeding and in great pain, [Gensha] all at once seriously reflects as follows: “[They say] this body is not real existence. Where does the pain come from?” He thereupon returns to Seppō. Seppō asks him, “What is it, [tough guy]?” Gensha says, “In the end I just cannot be deceived by others.” Seppō, loving these words very much, says, “Is there anyone who does not have these words [inside them]? [But] is there anyone who can speak these words?” Seppō asks further, “Why do you not go exploring?” [Gensha] says, “Bodhidharma did not come to the Eastern Lands [of China]; the Second Patriarch did not go to the Western Heavens [of India].” Seppō praised this very much.

,,, After he had attained the truth at last, Gensha taught people with the words that the whole universe in ten directions is one bright pearl. One day a monk asks him, “I have heard the master’s words that the whole universe in ten directions is one bright pearl. How should the student understand [this]?” The master [Gensha] says, “The whole universe in ten directions is one bright pearl. What use is understanding?” On a later day the master asks the question back to the monk, “The whole universe in ten directions is one bright pearl. How do you understand [this]?” The monk says, “The whole universe in ten directions is one bright pearl. What use is understanding?” The master says, “I see that you are struggling to get inside a demon’s cave in a black mountain.”

The present expression “the whole universe in ten directions is one bright pearl” originates with Gensha. The point is that the whole universe in ten directions is not vast and great, not meager and small, not square or round, not centered or straight, not in a state of vigorous activity, and not disclosed in perfect clarity. Because it is utterly beyond living-and-dying, going-and-coming, it is living-and-dying, going-and-coming. And because it is like this, the past has gone from this place, and the present comes from this place. When we are pursuing the ultimate, who can see it utterly as separate moments? And who can hold it up for examination as a state of total stillness?

“The whole of the ten directions” describes the ceaseless [process] of pursuing things to make them into self, and of pursuing self to make it into something. … Because we pursue self to make it into something, the whole of the ten directions is in the ceaseless state ... it sometimes overflows beyond [our] regulating ability which is the pivot of the moment. [In speaking of ‘throughout all its ten directions’, [Gensha] was referring to our ceaselessly creating a ‘self ’ by chasing after things or creating ‘things’ through our pursuit of a self. … Because we create ‘things’ through the pursuit of a self, the universe is ever restless throughout all its ten directions, unceasing in its arising … its operation is beyond our intellect to control. ]

[This ‘one pearl’ is still not its name, but it can be expressed so, and this has come to be regarded as its name. ]“The one pearl” goes directly through ten thousand years [and is beyond the measurement of years ]: the eternal past has not ended, but the eternal present has arrived. The body exists now, and the mind exists now. Even so, [the whole universe] is a bright pearl. It is not grass and trees there and here, it is not mountains and rivers at all points of the compass; it is a bright pearl ... a yard of the pearl is a yard of brightness.

[This is why this Bright Pearl exists not only without a beginning but also without an end. It is ‘One Bright Pearl as the whole universe throughout all its ten directions’: It is not said to be two or three.] The whole body is one right Dharma-eye, the whole body is real substance ... the whole body is brightness, and the whole body is the whole body itself. When it is the whole body it is free of the hindrance of the whole body; it is perfect roundness, and roundly it rolls along. Just at the moment of the present ... in all cases, is one bright pearl throughout the whole universe in ten directions. … So even though it seems to be continually changing the outward appearance of its turning and not turning, it is just the bright pearl.

[This is why, even though it seems that, on the surface, things are either fluctuating or still, everything is the Bright Pearl. To know that this is precisely how the jewel is, is what the Bright Pearl is. … Because this is the way things can be, even though you may be uncertain about whether or not something is the Bright Pearl, you should have no doubt about whether or not there is the jewel. Whether you actively pursue your doubts, cling to them, or let them go, they are simply momentary observations of little significance, fleeting images of small weight. … Its multifaceted, brilliantly hued sparkling is the merit of the universe throughout all its ten quarters; who can take this from you by force? ]

Those who surmise that “I cannot be the bright pearl,” should not doubt that they are the pearl. Artificial states of surmising and doubting, attaching and rejecting, are just the small view. They are nothing more than trying to make [the bright pearl] match the narrow intellect. [Just turn your light around and return to that which shines within, for how much use is there in trying to understand this through the intellect? ]

How could we not love the bright pearl? Its colors and light, as they are, are endless. Each color and every ray of light at each moment and in every situation is the virtue of the whole universe in ten directions …

Even surmising and worry is not different from the bright pearl. No action nor any thought has ever been caused by anything other than the bright pearl. Therefore, forward steps and backward steps in a demon’s black-mountain cave are just the one bright pearl itself.




Preached to the assembly in 1243

[Mp]

Wonderful, thank you Jundo ... I will be there live. =)

Gassho
Shingen

s@today

[Onkai]

Thank you, Jundo. I will be there two-way, or one-way if I can't do two-way for some reason.

Gassho,
Onkai
SatToday

[Byokan]

Hi All,

If anyone can come early to Zazenkai, there are three 15-minute slots (immediately before the Zazenkai) needing a sitter for the Zazen-a-thon!

Gassho
Byōkan
sat today

[Kyonin]

Hi Jundo!

I will be there ready to party and with my mokugyo and bell ready

Happy birthday Treeleaf!

Gassho,

Kyonin
#SatToday

[Shinzan]

Kudos to Jundo! Good on us!! Wohoo!
I'll be traveling, so I'll have to sit this one recorded.
Happy 10 and do it again!

_/st\_ Shinzan

[Kyotai]

I will try to join towards the end.

Gassho, Kyotai
ST

[Jakuden]

I will be joining mid way through, one-way, and then sitting extra afterwards for my Zazenathon spot [emoji4]
Gassho,
Jakuden
SatToday


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Gokai]

Thank you very much.

I will try to join you.

Gassho,David

Sattoday

[RichardH]

Will sit live

Gassho
Daizan

short sit this morning

[Myosha]

Participating.


Gassho
Myosha sat today

[Jakuden]

Thank you Jundo and everyone!

Gassho,
Jakuden
SatToday

[Onkai]

Thank you, Jundo and everyone. Happy Birthday Treeleaf!

Gassho,
Onkai
SatToday

[Myosha]

Thanks to all.


Gassho
Myosha sat today