TREELEAF ZENDO PODCAST

SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: An URGENT ANGO CAUTION!

I would like to offer an important reminder and CAUTION to ALL THOSE UNDERTAKING ANGO, RAKUSU SEWING FOR JUKAI and such at Treeleaf ...
... both those who say "it is all going well" ... and those who say "it is not going well" ...
... those who say that "all has been smooth as silk" ... and those who have encountered bumps and places to trip ...
... those who say they have met every goal they set for themselves ... and those who have not.
Do not forget about "Goalless Goals", about having no place to fall even when we trip and fall! There is no place not the "place for Ango" when lived as such!
BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU SAY!
Today’s Sit-A-Long video follows at this link. Remember: recording ends soon after the beginning bells; a sitting time of 15 to 35 minutes is recommended.

SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Xin Xin Ming - (III) - AT THE MALL!

The town next to ours here in Ibaraki, Japan, is known for two attractions: Its Giant Buddha Statue, over 100 meters tall (never too big!)... and the new "Outlet Mall" looking like it could be transplanted right from Southern California, each clearly seen from the other.
What better place than the mall to look at today's passage from the Xin Xin Ming?
The Way is perfect like vast space
where nothing is lacking and nothing is in excess.
Indeed, it is due to our choosing to accept or reject
that we do not see the true nature of things.
Nevertheless, we run to the mall, credit cards in hand, to fill temporarily the "lacking" and boredom we feel. Here are the perfect cards to bring!

The advertisements on TV show us that there can be "no excess", that one can never have a big enough house or new enough car, never enough money in the bank. But that is not quite what the Buddha had in mind by "nothing is in excess". Rather, nothing is ever lacking ... nothing is ever in excess ... so live with moderation, simplicity. Sure, there is no need for lay folks to live like monks ... but know what one truly needs for life, appreciate the simple and small, do not be a slave to wants and material things.
In fact, in the Buddha's Mall, nothing is ever lacking or overstocked, there's is always an open parking space ... and the best stuff is totally free!
Today’s Sit-A-Long video follows at this link. Remember: recording ends soon after the beginning bells; a sitting time of 15 to 35 minutes is recommended.

SIT-A-LONG with Taigu: No views, please

Koun Ejo's text is here:
http://www.abuddhistlibrary.com/Buddhism/C%20-%20Zen/Ancestors/Zen%20Master%20Ejo/Absorption%20in%20the%20Treasury%20of%20Light.pdf
gassho to all
Taigu

SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: WHOLENESS

Today's talk was offered during our September ZAZENKAI to make the start of our annual JUKAI (Undertaking the Precepts) season of Rakusus sewing, sitting and Precepts study, as well as the continuation of our ongoing ANGO (90-Day Special Practice Period) at Treeleaf Sangha ...
If I were pressed to describe the heart of all our Practices in one word ... Zazen, living by Precepts, all we do from sewing a Rakusu to bowing to chanting a Meal Gatha ... that one word is WHOLENESS.
This way allows us to realize ... and to make real in this life ... that Wholeness that is all things, that is you and me too. It is a Wholeness that sweeps in even the seeming broken pieces, both the happy and sad, the ups and downs, the beautiful and ugly. Somehow, this Way allows us to experience the Wholeness that is each and all, all along ... and to avoid perspectives and behavior that cause us to see and make this world, our lives, as broken into shattered pieces. It is a Wholeness often hidden in the divisions and frictions of the ugly mind, yet never truly hidden to a Buddha's Eye.
................ WHOLENESS
TODAY'S TALK (ABOUT 20 MINUTES) WAS PART OF OUR MONTHLY ZAZENKAI, AND IS FOLLOWED BY A SHORT PERIOD OF ZAZEN and KINHIN
Please visit the forum thread here!

SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Xin Xin Ming - (II)

Last year I spoke about the little girl that my wife and I have been trying to adopt from China for five years to no avail, caught in red tape and creeping bureaucracy. She is just a name to us, a shadow, an empty child's room that has gathered dust. Our little son always asks for his absent sister, year after year. Now, after much pushing through obstacles, wrangling with regulations, negotiating, simple waiting (there are so many families in like position, and we did not want to push ahead of others, so waited our turn like everyone else), procedures and endless forms, this year's earthquake and adventures, adoption and immigration lawyers and legal fees to fix the tangled legal snafu, there is a good chance (too soon to be sure yet) that she will come to us by the end of this year!!   :)
If all goes forward (we'll see), 51 year old me is gonna be daddy to a 1 year old!
Some things in life are WORTH PROTESTING FOR, SHOUTING FOR, FIGHTING FOR ... WITHOUT VIOLENCE OR ANGER, OF COURSE! Be it a wrong to right, a war to stop, an injustice to prevent, a disease to cure ... it is okay to take to the streets (like those monks in Burma did), fight the good fight ... if peacefully.
Yet today's passage from the Xin Xin Ming tells us:
If you wish to see the truth
then hold no opinions for or against anything.
To set up what you like against what you dislike is the disease of the mind.
When the deep meaning of things is not understood
the mind's essential peace is disturbed to no avail.
Having no opinions, no for or against ... yet standing up for what's right? Sounds like a great contradiction! These need not be in the least! Opinions with equanimity, pushing forward with no place to get, protest hand-in-hand with total acceptance!
Seen with a Buddha's eye ... there is no contradiction at all.
Today’s Sit-A-Long video follows at this link. Remember: recording ends soon after the beginning bells; a sitting time of 15 to 35 minutes is recommended.
Please visit the forum thread here!

Santoka's genjokoan

Please visit the forum thread here!

Genjo Koan 12 - Fanning Space

Dogen writes: Do not suppose that what you realize becomes your knowledge and is grasped by your consciousness. Although actualized immediately, the inconceivable may not be apparent. Its appearance is beyond your knowledge. Zen master Baoche of Mt. Mayu was fanning himself. A monk approached and said, "Master, the nature of wind is permanent and there is no place it does not reach. When, then, do you fan yourself?" "Although you understand that the nature of the wind is permanent," Baoche replied, "you do not understand the meaning of its reaching everywhere." "What is the meaning of its reaching everywhere?" asked the monk again. The master just kept fanning himself. The monk bowed deeply. Taigu comments ...
In this video, we look at Dogen's take on practice (fanning) as the only way to manifest awakening (air). Even this little corner of the big Universe is reached and touched by reality itself. No need to take this too far, to travel far, the simple actions of our life, the daily moves we make, the ten thousand activities we display are unfolding this awakening. The simple and bare practice is the Dharma gate. It also shows that tradition matters, we are not asked to get rid of the fan but to pick it up.
Today’s Sit-A-Long video follows at this link. Remember: recording ends soon after the beginning bells; a sitting time of 20 to 35 minutes is recommended.
Please visit the forum thread here!

Genjo Koan 11

Please visit the forum thread here!