February 4-5th, 2017 - Our SPECIAL "NEHAN-E" 4-hour ZAZENKAI!

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  • Jundo
    Treeleaf Founder and Priest
    • Apr 2006
    • 40396

    February 4-5th, 2017 - Our SPECIAL "NEHAN-E" 4-hour ZAZENKAI!

    READINGS FOR TODAY'S DHARMA TALK ARE BELOW IN THIS THREAD.


    WELCOME to our Memorial & Celebration of NEHAN-E, (Pari-Nirvana) the traditional day to mark the historical Buddha's death and passing from this visible world. This is also a day for each of us to remember in our homes those family and friends who have gone before. As well, we particularly mark the passing of Nishijima Gudo Wafu and Rempo Niwa Zenji ...


    During this Zazenkai, we will commence with SPECIAL CHANTS & a CEREMONY to recall our parents, grand-parents, siblings, our relatives near and distant, all our ancestors reaching back through the generations, and our dear friends and other cherished ones who have passed.

    This Zazenkai will be 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 ...

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

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




    Dharma talk audio / podcast episode:
    WELCOME to our Memorial & Celebration of NEHAN-E, (Pari-Nirvana) the traditional day to mark the historical Buddha's death and passing from this visible world. This is also a day for each of us to remember in our homes those family and friends who have gone before. As well, we particularly mark the passing of Nishijima Gudo Wafu and Rempo Niwa Zenji. Our reading for today's Nehan-e Zazenkai is a passage that Dogen wrote late in life, showing his seemingly very traditional views on Rebirth at that time: Dogen’s Shobogenzo Doshin, "Mind of the Way" (translated by Peter Levitt & Kazuaki Tanahashi) Further reading and discussion for this talk are available on the Treeleaf forum:February 4-5th, 2017 - Our SPECIAL "NEHAN-E" 4-hour ZAZENKAI! »


    To mark this time, our Ceremony at the start of the Zazenkai will include a chanting of “The Verse of Homage to Buddha's Relics, Shariraimon” and Heart Sutra in Chinese-Japanese (to mark our "roots"). Words and details are HERE, please print out if you wish.

    Our sitting schedule for the 4-hour gathering will be as follows ...

    00:00 - 00:50 CEREMONY (SHARIRAIMON in ENGLISH 3x / HEART SUTRA in JAPANESE) & ZAZEN
    00:50 - 01:00 KINHIN
    01:00 - 01:30 ZAZEN
    01:30 - 01:40 KINHIN

    01:40 - 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


    For this special Zazenkai, a statue of the reclining ‘Buddha Entering Parinirvana’, and a Plaque dedicated to all past Generations of Zen Ancestors, will be given special prominence.

    As always, we close with the 'Metta Chant', followed at the end with the 'Verse of Atonement' and 'The Four Vows'.


    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
    Last edited by Sekishi; 02-12-2017, 04:38 AM. Reason: Added podcast link.
    ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE
  • Jundo
    Treeleaf Founder and Priest
    • Apr 2006
    • 40396

    #2
    Our reading for today's Nehan-e Zazenkai was changed to this passage that Dogen wrote late in life, showing his seemingly very traditional views on Rebirth at that time:

    Eihei Dogen’s Shobogenzo Doshin, “Mind of the Way” (translated by Peter Levitt & Kazuaki Tanahashi)
    “When you leave this life, and before you enter the next life, there is a place called an intermediary realm. You
    stay there for seven days. You should resolve to keep chanting the names of the three treasures without ceasing
    while you are there. After seven days you die in the intermediary realm and remain there for no more than seven
    days. At this time you can see and hear without hindrance, like having a celestial eye. Resolve to encourage
    yourself to keep chanting the names of the three treasures without ceasing: ‘I take refuge in the Buddha. I take
    refuge in the Dharma. I take refuge in the Sangha.’ After passing through the intermediary realm, when you
    approach your parents to be conceived, resolve to maintain authentic wisdom. Keep chanting refuge in the three
    treasures in your mother’s womb. Do not neglect chanting while you are given birth. Resolve deeply to dedicate
    yourself to chant and take refuge in the three treasures through the six sense roots. When your life ends, your
    eye sight will suddenly become dark. Know that this is the end of your life and be determined to chant, ‘I take
    refuge in the buddha.’ Then, all buddhas in the ten directions will show compassion to you. Even if due to
    conditions you are bound to an unwholesome realm, you will be able to be born in the deva realm or in the
    presence of the Buddha. Bow and listen to the Buddha.”
    ===================

    ... and also these readings on ceremonies for the deceased in Soto Zen (perhaps a surprise to some). I ask about their place in our Practice and modern times ...

    Zen Buddhist Ceremonies for the Dead (most of which originated in tenth-century China, before Dogen)
    Funeral ceremonies performed by the living can help the intermediate realm being (stream of consciousness) to
    realize complete awakening, birth in a pure land, or at least rebirth in the upper realms of gods or humans. In
    Soto Zen, the funeral for laypeople begins with ordaining the deceased as a Zen priest (shukke tokudo)—
    receiving the bodhisattva precepts (jukai), initiation into awakening (abhisheka/kancho), and the blood lineage
    document (kechimyaku) as a blessed talisman. Then there are words of guidance and encouragement (insho) for
    the deceased, recitation of the ten names of buddha (nenju), and dedication of merit to adorn the deceased’s
    place of destination (whatever it may be). Incense is offered as nourishment for the intermediate realm scenteater
    (gandharva). Since nobody can know the destination of the deceased person’s stream of consciousness, the
    living just encourage and assist it toward awakening. It is taught that the intermediate realm beings, and other
    non-physical beings such as hungry spirits, can “hear” speech, perceive thoughts and intentions, and meet the
    living in various ways imperceptible on the gross level, with their subtle immaterial bodies and sense faculties.

    Memorial ceremonies are performed every 7 days after death, calling on different buddhas and bodhisattvas to
    help the deceased realize awakening or birth in a pure land, for each of the 7 weeks of the intermediate realm up
    to 49 days—when the intermediate being has either realized complete awakening, been born in a pure land,
    been born into one of the six realms as a bodhisattva, or been born into one of the (hopefully upper) six realms
    as an ordinary being. Annual memorials in Japan are traditionally performed up to 33 years, the maximum time
    (in human years) it takes for a bodhisattva in a pure land to realize complete awakening (buddha).

    Ceremonies for feeding the hungry spirits (sejiki/segaki) are performed every evening in Zen monasteries, and a
    few times a year on a larger scale for any deceased who may have been born in the hungry spirit or hell realms,
    as well as for nature spirits and all one’s deceased relatives (whether or not they are in the hungry spirit realm).
    This ceremony gives them nourishment, human food transformed and made edible through the powerful
    intention expressed by mantras and mudras, and encourages them to be born in a pure land and become
    awakened ones to benefit all beings. Hungry spirits look for nourishment particularly in the evening, and during
    the Ullambana (Obon) festival in mid-July or August. Ceremonies for liberating animals (hojo-e) are performed
    occasionally for freeing animals from being killed, but also to encourage them to be born in their next life in the
    pure land of Ratnashikin Buddha (as taught in the Golden Light Sutra), or at least in the upper realms.

    Daily services in Zen temples involve making offerings, chanting, and dedication of the merit generated from
    these. Morning service is generally dedicated to awakened ones (buddhas), awakening beings (bodhisattvas)
    including Dharma protectors, and deceased Zen ancestors who have now become awakened ones or awakening
    beings in a pure land. In this case the intention is to make offerings to them out of gratitude and to ask for their
    assistance on our path to awakening. Evening service is generally dedicated to deceased relatives and friends,
    hungry spirits, and all ordinary sentient beings. In this case the intention is to make offerings to them to assist
    them on their path to awakening—they may be still in the intermediate realm, or have been born in one of the
    non-physical realms such as gods, hungry spirits, or hell, or be practicing in a pure land.

    Memorial tablets (ihai) and gravesite markers (stupa/toba) with the deceased’s name are a dwelling place in the
    human realm for the deceased person who has now potentially become an awakened reality body (dharmakaya
    buddha) or an awakening being (bodhisattva) in a pure land. Since the maximum time in a pure land before
    becoming a buddha is 33 years, memorial tablets can be burned after that time has passed—or kept as tablets for
    the new buddha, as is the case with those of Zen ancestors and teachers. There are also memorial tablets for the
    myriad hungry spirits, used as a place to offer food to hungry spirits. If the deceased was reborn as a human or
    animal, they would have a physical body and would not need a tablet as their physical dwelling place. Memorial
    tablets and gravesite markers are the location in the human realm for making offerings to non-physical beings—
    in the form of incense, flowers, light, water, food, and chanting—to assist them in their ongoing path to
    awakening, or to ask them as awakened ones to assist us in our path. A home buddha-altar (butsudan),
    especially if it holds memorial tablets, can be understood as a miniature representation of a pure land where the
    deceased ones now dwell. Of course non-physical beings are not limited to that particular dwelling place, but
    that is where humans can meet them, make offerings to them, or receive their blessings.

    From: What Happens After Death According to Buddhas and Zen Ancestors
    (and Zen Buddhist Ceremonies for the Dead Based on this Understanding)
    by Kokyo Henkel


    =============

    Today's Talk closes with a brief look at some words from one of Dogen Zenji's most powerful statements on living and dying: Shobogenzo-Shōji (Life and Death), translated by Nishijima Roshi and Chodo Cross.

    * * *

    This life and death is just the sacred life of buddha. If we hate it
    and want to get rid of it, that is just wanting to lose the sacred life of buddha.
    If we stick in it, if we attach to life and death, this also is to lose the sacred
    life of buddha. We confine ourselves to the condition of buddha. When we
    are without dislike and without longing, then for the first time we enter the
    mind of buddha. But do not consider it with mind and do not say it with
    words! When we just let go of our own body and our own mind and throw
    them into the house of buddha, they are set into action from the side of
    buddha; then when we continue to obey this, without exerting any force and
    without expending any mind, we get free from life and death and become
    buddha. Who would wish to linger in mind?
    Last edited by Jundo; 02-04-2017, 10:13 AM.
    ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

    Comment

    • Getchi
      Member
      • May 2015
      • 612

      #3
      Thank you, very much looking forward to this.


      Thank you,
      Ge off.

      Sat today.
      Nothing to do? Why not Sit?

      Comment

      • Kokuu
        Treeleaf Priest
        • Nov 2012
        • 6844

        #4
        Thank you, Jundo.

        I wonder if mention could be made of the fact we lost a sangha member in the last year - Lee/Fugu?

        Gassho
        Kokuu
        -sattoday-

        Comment

        • Jundo
          Treeleaf Founder and Priest
          • Apr 2006
          • 40396

          #5
          Originally posted by Kokuu
          Thank you, Jundo.

          I wonder if mention could be made of the fact we lost a sangha member in the last year - Lee/Fugu?

          Gassho
          Kokuu
          -sattoday-
          Of course. We will include Lee, and all our friends and loved ones named and unnamed.

          Gassho, J

          SatToday
          ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

          Comment

          • Rich
            Member
            • Apr 2009
            • 2614

            #6
            Very nice
            SAT today

            Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk
            _/_
            Rich
            MUHYO
            無 (MU, Emptiness) and 氷 (HYO, Ice) ... Emptiness Ice ...

            https://instagram.com/notmovingmind

            Comment

            • Mp

              #7
              Lovely Jundo, I will be there live ... Looking forward to it. =)

              Gassho
              Shingen

              s@today

              Comment

              • Jakuden
                Member
                • Jun 2015
                • 6141

                #8
                Will be there one-way as soon as I can get out of work.

                Jundo, is Nishijima pronounced as it looks? I'm sure I must have heard you and others say it but I can't remember.

                Gassho
                Jakuden
                SatToday


                Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

                Comment

                • Jundo
                  Treeleaf Founder and Priest
                  • Apr 2006
                  • 40396

                  #9
                  Originally posted by Jakuden

                  Jundo, is Nishijima pronounced as it looks?
                  Oh, I could say something really Koany here!

                  But actually, the best way is to wait until the Zazenkai, and you will hear me say his name again.

                  Gassho, Jundo

                  SatToday

                  PS -

                  I also posted a link to a film documentary made about him, and to his book which I translated ...

                  Dear All, A few years back, some of our Sangha members requested a day to remember those who had passed from this world among family and friends ... February is a time of Memorial & Celebration for NEHAN-E (Parinirvana Gathering), the traditional day to mark the historical Buddha's death and passing from this visible
                  Last edited by Jundo; 02-02-2017, 01:44 AM.
                  ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

                  Comment

                  • Kyonin
                    Treeleaf Priest / Engineer
                    • Oct 2010
                    • 6749

                    #10
                    I'll be there with bell ready.

                    Gassho,

                    Kyonin
                    #SatToday
                    Hondō Kyōnin
                    奔道 協忍

                    Comment

                    • Washin
                      Treeleaf Unsui
                      • Dec 2014
                      • 3797

                      #11
                      is Nishijima pronounced as it looks?
                      Here people pronounce it as "Nisidzima".
                      I wonder if it's close to the original spelling

                      Gassho
                      Washin
                      sattoday
                      Kaidō (皆道) Every Way
                      Washin (和信) Harmony Trust
                      ----
                      I am a novice priest-in-training. Anything that I say must not be considered as teaching
                      and should be taken with a 'grain of salt'.

                      Comment

                      • Jundo
                        Treeleaf Founder and Priest
                        • Apr 2006
                        • 40396

                        #12
                        I also added to our reading for this week's Talk this passage that Dogen wrote late in life, showing his seemingly very traditional views on Rebirth at that time:

                        Eihei Dogen’s Shobogenzo Doshin, “Mind of the Way” (translated by Peter Levitt & Kazuaki Tanahashi)
                        “When you leave this life, and before you enter the next life, there is a place called an intermediary realm. You
                        stay there for seven days. You should resolve to keep chanting the names of the three treasures without ceasing
                        while you are there. After seven days you die in the intermediary realm and remain there for no more than seven
                        days. At this time you can see and hear without hindrance, like having a celestial eye. Resolve to encourage
                        yourself to keep chanting the names of the three treasures without ceasing: ‘I take refuge in the Buddha. I take
                        refuge in the Dharma. I take refuge in the Sangha.’ After passing through the intermediary realm, when you
                        approach your parents to be conceived, resolve to maintain authentic wisdom. Keep chanting refuge in the three
                        treasures in your mother’s womb. Do not neglect chanting while you are given birth. Resolve deeply to dedicate
                        yourself to chant and take refuge in the three treasures through the six sense roots. When your life ends, your
                        eye sight will suddenly become dark. Know that this is the end of your life and be determined to chant, ‘I take
                        refuge in the buddha.’ Then, all buddhas in the ten directions will show compassion to you. Even if due to
                        conditions you are bound to an unwholesome realm, you will be able to be born in the deva realm or in the
                        presence of the Buddha. Bow and listen to the Buddha.”
                        Gassho, J

                        SatToday
                        ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

                        Comment

                        • Byokan
                          Treeleaf Unsui
                          • Apr 2014
                          • 4289

                          #13
                          Thank you Jundo
                          I'm on the road today so will celebrate this on the weekend.

                          Gassho
                          Byōkan
                          sat today
                          展道 渺寛 Tendō Byōkan
                          Please take my words with a big grain of salt. I know nothing. Wisdom is only found in our whole-hearted practice together.

                          Comment

                          • RichardH
                            Member
                            • Nov 2011
                            • 2800

                            #14
                            I'll be here /there.

                            Gassho
                            Daizan

                            Comment

                            • Jundo
                              Treeleaf Founder and Priest
                              • Apr 2006
                              • 40396

                              #15
                              Dear All,

                              Another a late substitution on readings for the Talk today ... (It may be a bit surprising for folks who assume that Soto Zen is not really about such ways) ...

                              Zen Buddhist Ceremonies for the Dead (most of which originated in tenth-century China, before Dogen)
                              Funeral ceremonies performed by the living can help the intermediate realm being (stream of consciousness) to
                              realize complete awakening, birth in a pure land, or at least rebirth in the upper realms of gods or humans. In
                              Soto Zen, the funeral for laypeople begins with ordaining the deceased as a Zen priest (shukke tokudo)—
                              receiving the bodhisattva precepts (jukai), initiation into awakening (abhisheka/kancho), and the blood lineage
                              document (kechimyaku) as a blessed talisman. Then there are words of guidance and encouragement (insho) for
                              the deceased, recitation of the ten names of buddha (nenju), and dedication of merit to adorn the deceased’s
                              place of destination (whatever it may be). Incense is offered as nourishment for the intermediate realm scenteater
                              (gandharva). Since nobody can know the destination of the deceased person’s stream of consciousness, the
                              living just encourage and assist it toward awakening. It is taught that the intermediate realm beings, and other
                              non-physical beings such as hungry spirits, can “hear” speech, perceive thoughts and intentions, and meet the
                              living in various ways imperceptible on the gross level, with their subtle immaterial bodies and sense faculties.

                              Memorial ceremonies are performed every 7 days after death, calling on different buddhas and bodhisattvas to
                              help the deceased realize awakening or birth in a pure land, for each of the 7 weeks of the intermediate realm up
                              to 49 days—when the intermediate being has either realized complete awakening, been born in a pure land,
                              been born into one of the six realms as a bodhisattva, or been born into one of the (hopefully upper) six realms
                              as an ordinary being. Annual memorials in Japan are traditionally performed up to 33 years, the maximum time
                              (in human years) it takes for a bodhisattva in a pure land to realize complete awakening (buddha).

                              Ceremonies for feeding the hungry spirits (sejiki/segaki) are performed every evening in Zen monasteries, and a
                              few times a year on a larger scale for any deceased who may have been born in the hungry spirit or hell realms,
                              as well as for nature spirits and all one’s deceased relatives (whether or not they are in the hungry spirit realm).
                              This ceremony gives them nourishment, human food transformed and made edible through the powerful
                              intention expressed by mantras and mudras, and encourages them to be born in a pure land and become
                              awakened ones to benefit all beings. Hungry spirits look for nourishment particularly in the evening, and during
                              the Ullambana (Obon) festival in mid-July or August. Ceremonies for liberating animals (hojo-e) are performed
                              occasionally for freeing animals from being killed, but also to encourage them to be born in their next life in the
                              pure land of Ratnashikin Buddha (as taught in the Golden Light Sutra), or at least in the upper realms.

                              Daily services in Zen temples involve making offerings, chanting, and dedication of the merit generated from
                              these. Morning service is generally dedicated to awakened ones (buddhas), awakening beings (bodhisattvas)
                              including Dharma protectors, and deceased Zen ancestors who have now become awakened ones or awakening
                              beings in a pure land. In this case the intention is to make offerings to them out of gratitude and to ask for their
                              assistance on our path to awakening. Evening service is generally dedicated to deceased relatives and friends,
                              hungry spirits, and all ordinary sentient beings. In this case the intention is to make offerings to them to assist
                              them on their path to awakening—they may be still in the intermediate realm, or have been born in one of the
                              non-physical realms such as gods, hungry spirits, or hell, or be practicing in a pure land.

                              Memorial tablets (ihai) and gravesite markers (stupa/toba) with the deceased’s name are a dwelling place in the
                              human realm for the deceased person who has now potentially become an awakened reality body (dharmakaya
                              buddha) or an awakening being (bodhisattva) in a pure land. Since the maximum time in a pure land before
                              becoming a buddha is 33 years, memorial tablets can be burned after that time has passed—or kept as tablets for
                              the new buddha, as is the case with those of Zen ancestors and teachers. There are also memorial tablets for the
                              myriad hungry spirits, used as a place to offer food to hungry spirits. If the deceased was reborn as a human or
                              animal, they would have a physical body and would not need a tablet as their physical dwelling place. Memorial
                              tablets and gravesite markers are the location in the human realm for making offerings to non-physical beings—
                              in the form of incense, flowers, light, water, food, and chanting—to assist them in their ongoing path to
                              awakening, or to ask them as awakened ones to assist us in our path. A home buddha-altar (butsudan),
                              especially if it holds memorial tablets, can be understood as a miniature representation of a pure land where the
                              deceased ones now dwell. Of course non-physical beings are not limited to that particular dwelling place, but
                              that is where humans can meet them, make offerings to them, or receive their blessings.

                              From: What Happens After Death According to Buddhas and Zen Ancestors
                              (and Zen Buddhist Ceremonies for the Dead Based on this Understanding)
                              by Kokyo Henkel
                              ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

                              Comment

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