March 31st-April 1st, 2017 - OUR MONTHLY 4-hour ZAZENKAI! (NOT APRIL FOOLS!)

[Jundo]

NOTE DAYLIGHT SAVINGS CHANGE TO START TIME IN NORTH AMERICA and EUROPE!

Today's Talk will look at the Heart of the Heart of the Heart Sutra (text 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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zH5tO5MxEW8

Dharma talk audio / podcast episode:

http://treeleaf.podbean.com/e/april-2017-zazenkai-talk-the-heart-of-the-heart-of-the-heart-sutra/

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]

The Talk this time will look at the Heart of the Heart of the Heart Sutra, form and emptiness in a nutshell ...

We will reflect on the wording of the Heart Sutra as we chant for Zazenkai in English most weeks:

http://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showthread.php?7032-Weekly-Monthly-Zazenkai-Chant-Book-is-Here

However, I will touch briefly on the somewhat longer version used by Tibetan Practitioners and some others, with adds a little more at the startless start and endless end (marked in BOLDFACE). The part in the middle is pretty much just the same, although the translation below is phrased a bit differently from ours.

The Sutra of the Heart of Transcendent Knowledge

Thus have I heard. Once the Blessed One was dwelling in Rajagriha at Vulture Peak mountain, together with a great gathering of the sangha of monks and a great gathering of the sangha of bodhisattvas. At that time the Blessed One entered the samadhi that expresses the dharma called "profound illumination," and at the same time noble Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva mahasattva, while practicing the profound prajnaparamita, saw in this way: he saw the five skandhas to be empty of nature. Then, through the power of the Buddha, venerable Shariputra said to noble Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva mahasattva, "How should a son or daughter of noble family train, who wishes to practice the profound prajnaparamita?" Addressed in this way, noble Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva mahasattva, said to venerable Shariputra, "O Shariputra, a son or daughter of noble family who wishes to practice the profound prajnaparamita should see in this way: seeing the five skandhas to be empty of nature. Form is emptiness; emptiness also is form. Emptiness is no other than form; form is no other than emptiness. In the same way, feeling, perception, formation, and consciousness are emptiness. Thus, Shariputra, all dharmas are emptiness. There are no characteristics. There is no birth and no cessation. There is no impurity and no purity. There is no decrease and no increase. Therefore, Shariputra, in emptiness,
there is no form, no feeling, no perception, no formation, no consciousness; no eye, no ear, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind; no appearance, no sound, no smell, no taste, no touch, no dharmas, no eye dhatu up to no mind dhatu, no dhatu of dharmas, no mind consciousness dhatu; no ignorance, no end of ignorance up to no old age and death, no end of old age and death; no suffering, no origin of suffering, no cessation of suffering, no path, no wisdom, no attainment, and no non-attainment. Therefore, Shariputra, since the bodhisattvas have no attainment, they abide by means of prajnaparamita. Since there is no obscuration of mind, there is no fear. They transcend falsity and attain complete nirvana. All the buddhas of the three times, by means of prajnaparamita, fully awaken to unsurpassable, true, complete enlightenment. Therefore, the great mantra of prajnaparamita, the mantra of great insight, the unsurpassed mantra, the unequalled mantra, the mantra that calms all suffering, should be known as truth, since there no deception. The prajnaparamita mantra is said in this way:
TADYATHA OM GATE GATE PARAGATE PARASAMGATE BODHI SVAHA
Thus, Shariputra, the bodhisattva mahasattva should train in the profound prajnaparamita. Then the Blessed One arose from that samadhi and praised noble Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva mahasattva, saying, "Good, good, O son of noble family; thus it is, O son of noble family, thus it is. One should practice the profound prajnaparamita just as you have taught and all the tathagatas will rejoice." When the Blessed One had said this, venerable Shariputra and noble Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva mahasattva, that whole assembly and the world with its gods, humans, asuras, and gandharvas rejoiced and praised the words of the Blessed One.

Thus concludes the Sutra of the Heart of Transcendent Knowledge

Gassho, J

SatToday

[Mp]

Thank you, I will be there live with bell ready. =)

Gassho
Shingen

s@today

[Onkai]

Thank you, Jundo and Shingen. I will be there two-way, tech allowing.

Gassho,
Onkai
SatToday

[Joyo]

This is wonderful. I will try to join in for part of this live, will definitely be sitting with the recording, and be listening to Jundo's talk. Thank you so much, Jundo.

Gassho,
Joyo
sat today

[Marie]

Thank you. I will be there live one-way.

Gassho,
Marie
sattoday

[M.C. Easton]

Looking forward to this. Barring tech issues, I'll be there for the first half live--and sit with the rest tomorrow.
Gassho,
M.C.
SatToday

[Mp]

Hey folks,

Here is the event link to todays monthly zazenkai: https://hangouts.google.com/hangouts...jw6weggdpvq5me

Gassho
Shingen

s@today

[Kyonin]

Hi guys.

Just got home from working at a costumer's office. Will sit over the weekend.

Gassho,

Kyonin

[Shokai]

beautiful, thank you Jundo. Form is not emptiness; Emptiness is not form. However emptiness is form and form is emptiness. Plain to see if one can 'just sit' and get over themselves

gassho,

sat today(in 85 degrees near Tampa)

[Onkai]

Thank you, Jundo and Shingen and everyone. I was dropped from two-way, but one-way worked tonight. The talk was wonderful, especially the metaphor of emptiness being an ocean, and our lives are waves in that ocean. Have a great weekend!

Gassho,
Onkai
SatToday

[Mp]

Thank you Jundo for a lovely talk and thank you everyone for swimming this this vast ocean. =)

Gassho
Shingen

s@today

[Joyo]

Thank you for the wonderful talk, Jundo. I was happy to be able to participate with everyone for awhile.

Gassho,
Joyo
sat today

[M.C. Easton]

Just sat with the last 45 minutes I missed earlier. Thank you so much for the beautiful talk and the illustration with the hokey-pokey, Jundo. I'm so grateful to everyone who helped me build a toolkit for these long sits. It was a a lovely experience, and I can't wait for the next one!

Now to swim in the ocean!
Gassho,
M.C.
SatToday

[RichardH]

Thank you. Hmmmm. I won't hold my breath for the pre-frontal-lobe-but-there-is-no-pre-frontal-lobe... chant to catch on.

Gassho
Daizan

sat today