TREELEAF ZENDO PODCAST

SIT-A-LONG with Taigu: Okesa 3

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SIT-A-LONG with Taigu: the guru thing

Sorry guys, had to get up and answer because somebody was knocking on my door...Anyway, just my take on gurus.
gassho
Taigu
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August 6th, 2011- OUR MONTHLY 4-hour ZAZENKAI!

Dear All,
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 ...
LIVE ZAZENKAI NETCAST at JUSTIN.TV:
REMEMBER TO CLICK ON "FULL SCREEN" VERSION!
Watch live video from treeleafzen on www.justin.tv
But FEAR NOT if not possible for you to join 'live' in your location at those times, as the entire sitting is recorded in 'REAL TIME' and available for full participation 'ON DEMAND' at ANY TIME after that, no different from the 'live' sitting . Just click then on the links below:
THE 'REAL TIME, ANY TIME' recorded version is divided into 3 parts as follows (click on the links) :
00:00 - 00:50 CEREMONY (HEART SUTRA / SANDOKAI IN ENGLISH) & ZAZEN
00:50 - 01:00 KINHIN
01:00 - 01:30 ZAZEN
01:30 - 01:50 KINHIN
ZAZENKAI PART I LINK:
LINK TO BE POSTED HERE AFTER LIVE NETCAST
01:50 - 02:30 DHARMA TALK & ZAZEN
02:30 - 02:40 KINHIN
TALK & ZAZEN PART 2 LINK:
LINK TO BE POSTED HERE AFTER LIVE NETCAST
02:40 - 03:15 ZAZEN
03:15 - 03:30 KINHIN
03:30 - 04:00 METTA CHANT & ZAZEN, VERSE OF ATONEMENT, FOUR VOWS, & CLOSING
ZAZENKAI PART 3 LINK:
LINK TO BE POSTED HERE AFTER LIVE NETCAST
Our Zazenkai consists of our chanting the 'Heart Sutra' 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 Chant Book (PDF) at the following link:
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=2231
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

SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: HOW TO CLEAN THE KITCHEN

A member of our Sangha asked whether cleaning the kitchen while listening to music is not "Zen" enough. He used to believe that "Zen" (whatever that is) means spending one's every waking moment, morning to night, doing one action at one time with total attention and mindfulness.
Hmmm. Well, there are certainly moments when we practice in such way ... when drinking tea, just drinking tea ... when walking, just walking ... when seeing a sunset, just experiencing/being this. But not every moment need be so.
So, please sometimes clean while listening to music and drinking iced tea too ... or sometimes clean while watching t.v. or phoning a friend.
Please also sometimes clean while not listening to music etc. etc., just being present with the cleaning, one action at one time with total awareness.
Both fine ways to clean ... try each from time to time.
Ya see, some might think that cleaning while doing something else is not being "present in the moment" enough. But when are we not "present right in this moment"?
What makes you think that that cleaning while music listening and thinking about overdue bills to pay or your pesky boyfriend is not your complete present too? Just be present and totally aware of that! It is your instant "in the kitchen listening to 'tunes while thinking about bills and the boyfriend" just this present! How did you want to be more in the present? Why were you rejecting this "kitchen-music-bills-boyfriend" present to try to be somewhere else, perhaps in some other "more present than my present" present?
Oh, I am not saying that it is good to be always multi-tasking, swept up in a mix of activities and busy thoughts. I am just saying that it is lovely and very human to be like that much of our day, perfectly fine and natural. At other times, drop all that ... find simplicity, awareness of this present moment, one action at one time, and just do that! Live each way, each in its proper moment.
There is a time to stop and smell the roses ... there is a time to be totally mindful and "do one thing at one time with total attention" ... and there are times to do ten things at once, and just be totally "present" with that.
This practice is never about "leaving the present to be present with the present" ... but just to be presently present with what the present presents as a gift-wrapped present.
Everything in its proper time. There are times to be in the present experiencing fully just the present, and times to be in the present which is thinking about tomorrow or something that happened last Tuesday. Push none of it away.
Oh, in Zen practice, we come to find a kind of inner switch that we can push to be "IN THE NOW" when appropriate, when we want to be. But it is not a switch to push constantly ... because then the richness of this life can be missed in other ways.
BUT DOES THAT MEAN THAT ONE CAN JUST CLEAN THE KITCHEN ANY OLD WAY ONE WISHES AND IT'S STILL 'ALL GOOD PRACTICE'? ABSOLUTELY NOT! One thing to completely master in cleaning a kitchen the "Zen Way" ... whether just cleaning to clean as the one and only activity in all time and space ... or just cleaning while listening to tunes, drinking tea and chatting on the phone ... is this vital way of being, to wit:
In all cases, clean diligently to attain making the room clean, while simultaneously dropping all thought of "clean vs. dirty" and anything to attain.
Also, even though part of your heart may wish to be on a sunny beach on a tropical island instead of spending one's precious time cleaning a dirty kitchen, simultaneously drop any thought of somewhere else to be or where you need/can be.
Such truly being "one with the moment just as it is" is much more vital to our practice than whether one is listening to tunes, talking on the phone or not ... than being totally focused on the moment.
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!

Whattsa Who'sa Bodhisattva - Vimalakīrti

That's an image of the lay master Vimalakīrti in his sick bed where, amid his physical illness and infirmity (or the appearance thereof), he expounds the teachings of Emptiness to the Great Arhats and Bodhisattvas, giving each a run for their money in his powerful expression of Dharma.
And money is something that Vimalakīrti has loads of, though he uses it for good and to aid those in need. He does not hide from the world, but rather is described as practicing and realizing enlightenment right at home with wife and kids, and through his business ownership. He'd go anywhere to teach, from the government offices of the great ministers to schools to shops to bar rooms and brothels. While in the world "although he had a wife and children, yet he was chaste in action ... although he ate and drank like others, what he truly savored was the joy of mediation."
For obviously reason, the story of Vimalakīrti has been popular with those espousing the power of lay practice through the centuries.
Taigen Dan Leighton writes, in his wonderful book Faces of Compassion: Classic Bodhisattva Archetypes and their Modern Expression ...
Vimalakirti practiced as a layman amid the delusions of the world, without being ensnared by them. ... Vimalakirti in all his activities embodies the Mahayana view of being in the world but not of it [and in fact] a central point of the Vimalakirty Sutra is that the bodhisattva can only awaken in the context of intimate contact and involvement with the follies and passions of the world and its beings. ... Bodhisattvas can develop only through fully entering, before transcending, the turbulent seas of passions and delusions.
Vimalakirti even denies the necessity of "home leaving" or retreat to a monastery (a subject of some discussion these days) in order to truly "leave home" ...
Vimalakirti's critiques express his special commitment to lay practice as a bodhisattva model. Many of his comments and admonitions involve the tendency of the disciples to withdraw from engagement with the ordinary world. He criticizes priestly roles and religious trappings for masking inauthenticity of practice or interfering with the full development of spiritual potential of common people.
Home/office/factory/nursery/jail or city streets are each our "monastery" when perceived as such.
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: Okesa 2

In Kesa Kudoku Dogen writes the following:
This being so, we should make [the kaṣāya] properly, according to the method for making the kaṣāyathat has been authentically transmitted by the Buddhist patriarchs. This alone is the authentic tradition, and so it has long been expe- rienced and recognized by all common and sacred beings, human beings and gods, and dragons and spirits. Having been born to meet the spread of this Dharma, if we cover our body with the kaṣāyaonly once, receiving it and retaining it for just a kṣāṇaor a muhūrta,31that [experience] will surely serve as a talisman to protect us32in the realization of the supreme state of bodhi. When we dye the body and mind with a single phrase or a single verse, it becomes a seed of everlasting brightness which finally leads us to the supreme state of bodhi.When we dye the body and mind with one real dharma or one good deed, it may be also like this. Mental images arise and vanish instanta- neously; they are without an abode. The physical body also arises and van- ishes instantaneously; it too is without an abode. Nevertheless, the merit that we practice always has its time of ripening and shedding. The kaṣāya,simi- larly, is beyond elaboration and beyond non-elaboration, it is beyond having an abode and beyond having no abode: it is that which “buddhas alone, together with buddhas, perfectly realize.”(Nishijima Cross)
Let's see what is the kesa made of. Rags. Just rags.

SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: The Dangers of Talkin' Religion

One thing my mother always used to tell me is "don't discuss religion with people, cause people get too easily defensive and offended about their personal religion.". It's true. Of course, that's a little hard to avoid when one is posting on an internet forum devoted to religion, Zen Buddhism in this case. People tend to take any criticism of their religion ... no matter how couched in "it's just my opinion", and no matter how small and reasonable the criticism ... as an affront. That's especially true when the critic is not an outsider, but someone inside the religion ... and maybe most especially clergy of the religion like Taigu and me.
This recently happened when I posted my last Sit-A-Long talk supportive of "out in the world" practice, and critical of some aspects (emphasis on "some aspects among many good points") of monastic practice entitled Knocking Down Monastery Walls, at ZFI, a sometimes surprisingly conservative place. People began to really jump on me and Taigu (who also added some comments very critical of monasteries and some of the institutionalized religion-ness that often accompanies them), accusing us sometimes as if we really wanted to rent bulldozers and do a sneak attack on helpless monks!
Taigu and I were taking our usual stand about how, for some or many folks (emphasis on "some or many" not "all"), training out in the world to be a priest might be a good path, and monastery life not possible or the wrong soil for that individual (emphasis on "for that individual"). The substance of the attitude of some folks can be symbolized by a typical post ...
There are many life situations which make someone not a proper candidate for ordination. Parents of small children, people in deep financial debt or legal difficulty, pregnant women, people in the armed forces... they have other obligations and are not proper candidates for ordination. They are also not proper candidates for the space program, a traveling circus, etc. This is not about "who is good enough." ... It's called home leaving.
To which I would typically respond with something like ...
Perchance, if one truly knows how to look ... some particularly wise folks can overturn the delusions of life right in the heart of life, shining in/as/right through life. Radical transformation can manifest where we stand. Buddhas can be seen in our small children, and freedom from the shackles of life are in the key of financial debt and legal difficulties. Pregnant women have Buddha Nature too (for one? for two?), and people in the armed forces serve in places where the "rubber meets the road" of the Precepts in action. Is not Enlightenment something even vaster than space, and is not life just a wondrous (sometimes beautiful, sometimes ugly) circus?
And again, my point is that monasteries may be right for some people, but wrong for other people. "Out in the world" training may be right for some people, but wrong for other people. To each his own, and many good paths up the mountain suited to different people and needs.
I also became a bit hot under the collar at one point in one post with one guy, but generally kept my cool. However, I did notice a tendency of folks in such religious discussions to completely ignore how a statement is couched and hear what they want to hear, a kind of Cognitive Dissonance. For example, I pull no punches in my criticisms of certain small aspects of Buddhism and Zen, calling them "superstitious" and the like, or "abusive". But I typically do it in the following way ... in effect, pulling my punches!
In my humble opinion, and that is all it is (for one man's "made up legends" is another man's "sacred stories" that he has full right to believe) ... Buddhism does, among the many many very good things, contain much "superstition, bull-crackers, hocus-pocus and made up legends, baseless claims, funny hats and dusty rituals, institutional church-iness" that we could often do without, in my limited view ... and some situations which, among the many good situations, are sometimes occaisionally abusive, disfunctional, even cult-like
... but which, I fully recognize and respect, may be very beautiful and precious to others, interpreted quite differently by them. Lovely, and many paths up the mountain for different folks (anyway, ultimately, what mountain?) We cherish and honor the right of such folks to practice their religion as they wish in their Sanghas ... just as we cherish and honor the right of Jews, Christians, Muslims, Scientologists, Hari Khrisna's, Atheists, Agnostics of all stripes to practice their beliefs as they wish ... and we will practice as we wish in our little Sangha.
... which some people seem to hear in their minds as ...
You think Zen is bullshit, monasteries are all abusive and Buddhism is like Scientology!
Oy vey.
I'll have more on this topic in a future post ... including how people became very upset when I once turned into Bro. Brad and typed "bullshit" instead of "bull crackers".   That became a more important topic than the monasteries!

Whattsa Who'sa Bodhisattva? - Maitreya

MAITREYA is said to be the future Buddha, the successor to the historic Śākyamuni Buddha. It's said that his 'coming' which will happen in a few thousand (or perhaps millions) of years. In the meantime, he awaits his return, residing in Tuṣita Heaven. Yes, there are some elements to Maitreya rather like the 'Second Coming' of Jesus. Maitreya is taken by some as something like a Buddhist Messiah.
He is often seen seated in a pose somewhat reminiscent of Rodan's "THE THINKER", but with softer shape and expression, sometimes tranquil and sometimes crying, contemplating the suffering of sentient beings. In fact, Maitreya's name may be derived from the Sanskrit word Maitri (Metta in Pali), 'loving-kindness'.
Sometimes he is seen in this form ...

... perhaps from after he let himself go.   However, the origins of this popular "Laughing Buddha" are actually found a figure called Hotei from China, a jolly fat monk who happened to be a devotee of Maitreya, and whose image became mixed into the Maitreya legend over time. In any event, even if not really "Maitreya", the image is very popular in Chinese Buddhist temples ... and Chinese restaurants. One popular belief is that if one rubs his fat belly on the 1st day of the Lunar Year, it will bring forth wealth, good luck and prosperity.
(In my case, I typically think of the Laughing Buddha when I break my diet ... often at a Chinese restaurant.)
Maitreya was frequently taken as a cult symbol driving peasant rebellions and other mass movements for social change or revolution in China in centuries past.
In so many ways, Maitreya is simply a symbol of future hope and change.
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.
Visit the forum thread here!

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