TREELEAF ZENDO PODCAST
Episodes
Thursday Aug 04, 2016
SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: ENGAGED ENERGY
Thursday Aug 04, 2016
Thursday Aug 04, 2016
We continue a series of talks on the Buddhist "Paramitas" (Virtues) which aid in our engaged and charitable work in the world. Today ... Verve, Vigor, Energy! ...
In Sanscrit, this is called the Virya Paramita ... which comes from the same root as vim and virile! And that energy is not only of use for all our social and political efforts to fix this world, clean up our country or town ... it is energy for whatever we need to "get er done" in life. And like all the "Perfections", it recognizes that we are only human, not perfect. Even superman needs to get his rest sometime.
Further reading and discussion for this talk are available on the Treeleaf forum:SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: ENGAGED ENERGY »
Thursday Jul 28, 2016
July 2016 SIT-A-LONG with Jundo: Who Is a Priest?
Thursday Jul 28, 2016
Thursday Jul 28, 2016
Who is a Zen Priest ... and how to nurture their Training? And who perhaps is not? These are difficult questions, especially in our little Sangha.
Further reading and discussion for this talk are available on the Treeleaf forum:SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Who Is a Priest ... »
Saturday May 28, 2016
May 2016 SIT-A-LONG with Jundo: Engaged Patience
Saturday May 28, 2016
Saturday May 28, 2016
We continue a series of talks on the Buddhist "Paramitas" (Virtues) which aid in our engaged and charitable work in the world. Today ... PATIENCE ...We can be diligent and energetic in our efforts, seeking a good outcome ... yet not be attached to the desired outcome.
We can do what can be done, trying for good results ... yet filled with patience at the slow progress.
We can try for success ... yet also know equanimity with regard to success or failure.
Further reading and discussion for this talk are available on the Treeleaf forum:
SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: ENGAGED PATIENCE »
Monday Mar 28, 2016
Monday Mar 28, 2016
First, I would like to point everyone to our upcoming ZENATHON, for 10 days starting April 1st (March 31 in some places) through April 10th, marking the 10th Anniversary of Treeleaf Sangha. Sangha members and friends will be sitting somewhere in the world, in all time zones, to mark the event. We are also very fortunate to be able to celebrate together with the traditional day marking Buddha's Birthday in Japan, April 8th (details on that soon). In our Community, we have people sitting all over, in all times, dropping away all thought of "here and there". If you are available to sit with us, here is information on how you can note your times to sit (or if your schedule requires, you can also just pull up a Zafu when you can).
... And on to today's topic:
As part of our focus on Treeleaf's Engaged and Charitable Projects Center, I have been looking at how the traditional Virtues (Paramitas) of a Bodhisattva aid and guide us in our volunteer, charitable and socially engaged activities in the world. This time, we look at how ethics and the Precepts are a vital foundation for our activities.
Truly, they open the heart. An appreciation of the importance of life, of not taking what has not been given, of not using others, of honesty and like virtues all help us along.
Further reading and discussion for this talk are available on the Treeleaf forum:
SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Engaged Ethics (& Zenathon for Treeleaf's 10th Anniversary) »
Monday Feb 15, 2016
February 2016 SIT-A-LONG with Jundo: GIVING, GENEROSITY and ENGAGEMENT
Monday Feb 15, 2016
Monday Feb 15, 2016
As one of a series of talks putting the spotlight on Treeleaf's ENGAGED & CHARITABLE PROJECTS CENTER, I would like to speak of the traditional Buddhist Paramita (Virtue) of Dana ... Generosity, Charity, Giving.
To give and be charitable takes us out of our selfish concerns for our own well-being alone. There are hungry mouths to feed in this world, and we can all do something. There are none of us so impoverished or wanting that we cannot give something to someone in need ... money, food, kindness, comfort, encouragement, teachings of wisdom ... especially for so many of us in relatively wealthy Western society.
However, there is also something special about giving from a Zen Buddhist point of view ... namely, that even as we give, there is nothing in need of giving or lacking ... there is truly no giver, receiver or gift ... nothing in need of giving, no giver or hungry mouths to feed ... yet we give nonetheless, for there are hungry mouths to feed! All True At Once, As One.
Perhaps we might say that, transcending giver-receiver-gift, only the naked generosity remains which holds and sweeps in all of us in the world's embrace. As you breathe every breath of air, bite a sweet apple and drink the refreshing water that the earth provides, as the sunlight shines down, know all this as just the world's generosity. We must pay it back.
Further reading and discussion for this talk are available on the Treeleaf forum:SIT-A-LONG with Jundo: GIVING, GENEROSITY and ENGAGEMENT »
Saturday Jan 23, 2016
January 2016 SIT-A-LONG with Jundo: TOTALLY ENGAGED
Saturday Jan 23, 2016
Saturday Jan 23, 2016
As this is just the New Year, it is a good time to stir the pot at Treeleaf's ENGAGED & CHARITABLE PROJECTS CENTER ...
We want to activate the place, and believe that it should be front and center in our Practice right with Zazen ... in fact, charity and volunteer activities --are-- Zazen "off the cushion."
Every couple of weeks or so, we will be presenting projects that anybody can ... should ... dig into, and we would like to make this a Community Team Effort! There will be many options available, something for anybody, even folks who have mobility or other health issues. There are always ways to reach out wherever you find yourself, always someone who you can help a bit no matter how much you are struggling in your own life (maybe just pick up a phone or computer and reach out to someone else who is also housebound, for example).
Further reading and discussion for this talk are available on the Treeleaf forum:SIT-A-LONG with Jundo: TOTALLY ENGAGED »
Wednesday Dec 02, 2015
SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Rohatsu, Retreat and Family
Wednesday Dec 02, 2015
Wednesday Dec 02, 2015
This week we celebrate ROHATSU, remembering the Enlightenment of the Buddha who sat under the Bodhi Tree, realizing the end of his long search as he saw the light of the Morning Star. If you cannot travel to a Rohatsu Retreat, we invite you to sit in "retreat" just where you are, with our Treeleaf Sangha Annual 'ALWAYS AT HOME' Two Day 'ALL ONLINE' ROHATSU RETREAT, to be live netcast this coming Saturday and Sunday (or available for sitting any later time when you can arrange).
The two days will include Zazen sitting, Kinhin, Chanting, Zazen sitting, Oryoki, Zazen sitting, Bowing, Talks, 'Samu' Work Practice, and More Zazen Sitting, as in any Soto Zen Retreat, all in celebration of the Buddha's days of Zazen and Enlightenment. Folks will be sitting with us from places as far and wide as Sweden, Mexico, the US, UK, Australia, Canada, Japan, Indonesia, the Ukraine and other places ... all together as a Community, forgetting distance. The retreat is designed to be sat in any time zone around the world through a combination of 'live-live' and 'live though recorded' segments, and one may still join the Retreat and sit-a-long at ANY AND ALL TIME after, by the real time recorded version (no different from the original!). For further details, please have a look here.
Further reading and discussion for this talk are available on the Treeleaf forum:SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Rohatsu, Retreat and Family »
Friday Aug 30, 2013
SIT-A-LONG with Jundo: gratitude & Great Gratitude
Friday Aug 30, 2013
Friday Aug 30, 2013
This "Buddha quote", however nice it sounds, is not something the Buddha likely said at all (turns out to be from the cheery 70's writer on love, Leo Buscaglia). Oh, the Buddha certainly taught us to be grateful for this precious life, but also to be Grateful (Big "G") in a way that puts down the balance sheet and any need even to hunt for the "silver lining". What is the difference between gratitude and Great Gratitude seen in a Buddha's Eye? Daido Loori once recommended this elegant, simple practice on daily gratitude. I will second the recommendation:Expressing gratitude is transformative, just as transformative as expressing complaint. Imagine an experiment involving two people. One is asked to spend ten minutes each morning and evening expressing gratitude (there is always something to be grateful for), while the other is asked to spend the same amount of time practicing complaining (there is, after all, always something to complain about). One of the subjects is saying things like, "I hate my job. I can't stand this apartment. Why can't I make enough money? My spouse doesn't get along with me. That dog next door never stops barking and I just can't stand this neighborhood." The other is saying things like, "I'm really grateful for the opportunity to work; there are so many people these days who can't even find a job. And I'm sure grateful for my health. What a gorgeous day; I really like this fall breeze." They do this experiment for a year. Guaranteed, at the end of that year the person practicing complaining will have deeply reaffirmed all his negative "stuff" rather than having let it go, while the one practicing gratitude will be a very grateful person. . . Expressing gratitude can, indeed, change our way of seeing ourselves and the world.This is a lovely, transformative practice. Yet, Daido would also remind us, there is a greater, transcendent, boundless Gratitude in the Buddha's Teachings that does not even need the subtle "see the bright side" "find the positive to counter the negative" or "personal pay-off of what's ultimately nice for 'me'" in the above sense of ordinary gratitude. Rather, there's an even Greater "Non-Pay-off" than that! A Jewel so precious, it shines as both earthly jewels and life's thrown bricks and stones in our shoe.Ordinary human gratitude is what we are encouraged to feel in the above exercise, and it is fine. In fact, it is wise, healthy and important. Yet there is a "Buddha's Gratitude" which is not dependent on what we "like" that momentarily pleases the selfish-self, that is not based simply on "looking out for the good side" or experiencing the "gorgeous" day. This Emptiness that is all Fullness -is- both the glass "half full" and "half empty!"A Buddha's Gratitude is Vast and Unlimited ... a Gratitude both for that which we love and that which we may not, a Treasure beyond yet holding mere "silver linings" "brass rings" and "lumps of coal". It is a Peace and Wholeness which transcends "pro vs. con", a Beauty which sees even the ugly times as "gorgeous day". We are grateful for life, for death, for health, for sickness .. each and all as Sacred. It is a Gratitude in the face of a cancer diagnosis, Gratitude that dances all disappointments, a Gratitude which comfortably holds even the tragedy of Syria or any other bloody field (a Gratitude that is Grateful, even as we seek to stop such tragedies in the world). This last point is vital too, for while such is a Gratitude ever Grateful for this world of both peace and war, health and disease, nonetheless we may seek for peace, fight the disease. While Grateful for this garden of both flowers and weeds, each a Jewel in Indra's Net, we may seek to water the flowers and pluck the weeds we can. Yes, it is a lovely Practice to not complain, and to learn to see the "bright side" of life's ups and downs. But I also recommend to sit Zazen, sit as Gratitude sitting, sit as this Light which holds light and dark and all shades in between.Yes, please practice daily the expressing of gratitude, and complain less and see the "negatives" less. Simultaneously, please let us work to make this world nicer, more peaceful, to end the wars, feed the hungry, nurse the sick. Yet let us also Sit a Buddha's Gratitude for ALL OF IT. Please visit the forum thread here!