July 2017 Zazenkai Talk ("Practice-Enlightenment" for Practical People)

Buddhist meditation has commonly been considered an instrumental technique aimed at obtaining a heightened mental or spiritual state, or even as a method for inducing some dramatic "enlightenment" experience. But in some branches of the Zen tradition, Zazen (Zen seated meditation) has been seen not as a means to attaining some result, but as a ritual enactment and expression of awakened awareness. This alternate, historically significant approach to Zen meditation and practice has been as a ceremonial, ritual expression whose transformative quality is not based on stages of attainment or meditative prowess.
Further reading and discussion for this talk are available on the Treeleaf forum:June 31st-July 1st, 2017 - OUR MONTHLY 4-hour ZAZENKAI! »

June 2017 Zazenkai Talk (Dogen's Instructions to the Ino)

Our Talk this Month is "What I Know about the Ino" (the Supervisor of Monks) ... a monastic office, but not that far from our own lives, jobs and family duties ... It is from Master Dogen's "Pure Standards for the Temple Administrators (Chiji Shingi)" for Eiheiji Monastery (translated by Taigen Leighton and Shohaku Okumura)
Further reading and discussion for this talk are available on the Treeleaf forum:June 2nd-3rd, 2017 - OUR MONTHLY 4-hour ZAZENKAI! »

May 2017 Zazenkai Talk (May 5th-6th, 2017 - OUR MONTHLY 4-hour ZAZENKAI!)

Our Talk this month digests the Chants for Formal Meals ... not bread alone, these Chants guide us for all our Practice and Life ... The talk covers the Formal Meal Verses (Gyôhatsu nenju 行鉢念誦):
Verse upon Hearing the Meal Signal (Montsui no ge 聞槌之偈)
Verse for Setting Out Bowls (Tenpatsu no ge 展鉢之偈）)
Verse of Buddha Names (Butsumyô 十仏名)
Food Offering Verses (Sejiki ge 施食偈)
Verse of Five Contemplations (Gokan no ge 五観之偈)
Verse of Food Offering (Saba ge 生飯偈)
Bowl Raising Verse (Keihatsu no ge 擎鉢之偈)
Meal End (Sessui no ge 折水之偈)
Verse of Purity While Abiding in the World (shose kaibon no ge 処世界梵之偈)
Further reading and discussion for this talk are available on the Treeleaf forum:May 5th-6th, 2017 - OUR MONTHLY 4-hour ZAZENKAI! »

April 2017 Guest Zazenkai Talk (David Loy and A New Buddhist Path)

A special Zazenkay and talk by guest speaker David Loy. David Robert Loy is a professor, writer, and Zen teacher in the Sanbo Kyodan tradition of Japanese Zen Buddhism. He is a prolific author, whose essays and books have been translated into many languages. His articles appear regularly in the pages of major journals such as Tikkun and Buddhist magazines including Tricycle, Turning Wheel, Shambhala Sun and Buddhadharma, as well as in a variety of scholarly journals. David lectures nationally and internationally on various topics, focusing primarily on the encounter between Buddhism and modernity: what each can learn from the other. He is especially concerned about social and ecological issues. ... David Loy is one of the founding members of the new Rocky Mountain Ecodharma Retreat Center, near Boulder, Colorado.
Further reading and discussion for this talk are available on the Treeleaf forum:ATTENTION: Special Zazenkai SUNDAY April 30th with DAVID LOY »

April 2017 Zazenkai Talk (The Heart of the Heart of the Heart Sutra)

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. 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.
Further reading and discussion for this talk are available on the Treeleaf forum:March 31st-April 1st, 2017 - OUR MONTHLY 4-hour ZAZENKAI! (NOT APRIL FOOLS!) »

March 2017 Zazenkai Talk (The zen poems of Ryokan Taigu)

Our talk is about the zen poems of the Great Fool: Ryōkan Taigu (1758–1831).
This famous hermit monk lived a simple life but rich in practice and reverence for the present moment. After leaving the monastery he spent his life helping people in villages, begging, playing with kids and writing poems. More about Ryōkan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ry%C5%8Dkan
Further reading and discussion for this talk are available on the Treeleaf forum:OUR MONTHLY 4-hour ZAZENKAI! The zen poems of Ryokan Taigu »

February 2017 Zazenkai Talk (Our SPECIAL "NEHAN-E" 4-hour ZAZENKAI)

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! »

January 2017 Zazenkai Talk (Reflections on Jukai)

This talk looks at aspects of the wording and content of our upcoming Jukai "Undertaking The Precepts" Ceremony, to be held next week ...
Further reading and discussion for this talk are available on the Treeleaf forum:January 6th-7th, 2016 - OUR MONTHLY 4-hour ZAZENKAI! Reflections on Jukai! »