TREELEAF ZENDO PODCAST

Today's sitting is DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF CHARLOTTE JOKO BECK, who left our visible world this week, and whose ways (and books such as 'Everyday Zen' and 'Nothing Special' ... the titles say it all) have been so important to so many of us.
A couple of quotes:
"Life always gives us
exactly the teacher we need
at every moment.
This includes every mosquito,
every misfortune,
every red light,
every traffic jam,
every obnoxious supervisor (or employee),
every illness, every loss,
every moment of joy or depression,
every addiction,
every piece of garbage,
every breath.
Every moment is the guru."
Zen practice isn’t about a special place or a special peace, or something other than being with our life just as it is. It’s one of the hardest things for people to get: that my very difficulties in this very moment are the perfection...When we are attached to the.way we think we should be or the way we think anyone else should be, we can have very little appreciation of life as it is...whether or not we commit physical suicide, if our attachment to our dream remains unquestioned and untouched, we are killing ourselves, because our true life goes by almost unnoticed.
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!

Please visit the forum thread here!

This will be the last Sit-A-Long by me for a couple of weeks, as I am heading into retreat at Shogoji Zen Monastery in the mountains of Kumamoto, Japan ... no phones, no computers and barely any electricity ...
http://www.shogoji.com/
.. but lots and lots of Zazen, Bowing, Zazen, Chanting, Oryoki, Takuhatsu, more Zazen, Samu, more Zazen and all the rest. Shogoji is famous for holding a very traditional Soto Zen Sesshin with the intent of keeping many of the "old ways" and rituals alive, and passing them on to the next generation, particularly western Zen priests.
I will be completely out of touch with Treeleaf for a couple of weeks I think. Mongen, our priest-in-training, is joining me for the retreat, flying all the way from Germany. The retreat is part of a longer, 90 day Ango period, but Mongen and I can only stay for a short part. (I almost did not make it at all due to the earthquakes, nuclear reactors, a typhoon storm last night that did more damage to some of our buildings, wife & child & job, and some health concerns ... and any of that may yet pull me off the mountain a bit early).
But this place keeps going as always, in the lovely hands of Taigu as it always is, assisted by Fugen and Shohei. Taigu will continue the "sit-a-longs", and we also have our monthly 4-hour 'netcast' Zazenkai this weekend, as always, led by Taigu. The Forum will keep jumpin' too!
As well, all of you will be with Mongen and me, in our hearts, as we sit at Shogoji.
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!

Some think of Zazen as their quiet, safe refuge away from it all ...
... But were is not our safe refuge?
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!

Being the open, bright, boundless between the words, thoughts, good and bad things of life.
Being the open, bright boundless that shines through, that enlightens & enlivens the words, thoughts, good and bad things of life.
Once, when the Great Master Hongdao of Yueshan was sitting in Zazen, a monk asked him, "What are you thinking of (shiryô), sitting there so tall and straight? The master answered, "I'm thinking of not thinking (fu shiryô tei)." The monk asked, "How do you think of not thinking?" The Master answered, "Nonthinking (hi shiryô)."
Master Dogen said (Zazengi) ...
Sitting in balance and stillness like a mountain, think of "not-thinking." How can the state of not thinking be thought? Be "Non-Thinking."
This is the essence of zazen. Zazen is not meditation. It is the Dharma Gate of great ease and joy. It is stainless, undivided practice-realization.
PS -Thank you to the many folks who have written to ask how we are doing with the FUKUSHIMA NUCLEAR REACTORS, just 100 miles from here as the crow flies. Well, we are fine, life is surprisingly normal. Of course, waking up each morning to headlines like these can be rather STARTLING!
http://enenews.com/
But fear and worry is a state of mind. I sometimes compare fear in this case, of cancer and radiation and the like, to the fear of flying. Each year, many people are killed and injured in airplane accidents, yet that does not stop most of us from boarding planes. We will likely arrive safely, but even if not ... it is all the trip, man!
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.

The entire world is mind-ground, the entire world is blossom-heart. Because the entire world is blossom-heart, the entire world is plum blossoms.
Dogen points it out. Dogen's finger is also it. Once you cut things into one, it reveals as one big shining thing. The precept of not killing applies fully here, each thing is welcomed and not killed, not labeled, not covered up. Blossom within a blossom, each blossom-thing, blossom-office, blossom-bus, blossom-bag, blossom-shopping is as is. Untouched blossom.
Please visit the forum thread here!

Jizo Bodhisattva is a beloved figure in Japanese Buddhism, and statues of him can often be seen along roads to protect travelers, in temple grounds and cemeteries. He is a figure of Compassion, much as Kannon, who travels anywhere from heaven to hell to help those in need ... especially those who find themselves in a hell of their own making by Greed, Anger and Ignorance.
Jizo has become known over the centuries as a protector of children and women, including expectant mothers. Most of all, he is the protector of deceased children, including stillborn, miscarried or aborted infants. He is thought to protect them in the 'other world', nursing and soothing them, guiding them back for another chance to be born in this world when the time is right. For that reason, he is often seen by the hundreds in cemeteries dressed in children's clothes and a bib, surrounded by toys and dolls.
The Jizo at the top is one who remains standing amid mud and rubble despite the recent earthquakes and Tsunami in northern Japan. So many children where lost in that tragedy.
In my heart, I hope that Jizo is with them somehow...
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!