TREELEAF ZENDO PODCAST

March 4-5, 2011- OUR MONTHLY 4-hour ZAZENKAI!

PLEASE NOTE THAT SOME KINHIN TIMES HAVE BEEN LENGTHENED IN COMPASSION FOR NEW SITTERS JOINING US ...
Dear All,
Please 'sit-a-long' with our MONTHLY 4-hour ZAZENKAI,netcast LIVE 8am to noon Japan time Saturday morning (1/1) (that is New York 6pm to 10pm, Los Angeles 3pm to 7pm (Friday night 12/31), London 11pm to 3am and Paris midnight to 4am (early Saturday morning)) ... and visible at the following link during those times ...
LIVE ZAZENKAI NETCAST at USTREAM:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/sit-a-long-with-jundo
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 blue 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:
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/13089563
01:50 - 02:30 DHARMA TALK & ZAZEN
02:30 - 02:40 KINHIN
02:40 - 03:15 ZAZEN
TALK & ZAZEN PART 2 LINK:
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/13091980
03:15 - 03:30 KINHIN
03:30 - 04:00 METTA CHANT & ZAZEN, VERSE OF ATONEMENT, FOUR VOWS, & CLOSING
ZAZENKAI PART 3 LINK:
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/13094120
 
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
Visit the forum thread here!

Whattsa Who'sa Bodhisattva? - Manjushri

 Each of the Bodhisattvas may be seen as an archetype for a vital aspect of Buddhist Practice ... Manjushri Bodhisattva for Wisdom. Taigen Dan Leighton writes in FACES OF COMPASSION ...
Manjushri is the bodhisattva of wisdom and insight, penetrating into the fundamental emptiness, universal sameness, and true nature of all things. Manjushri ... sees into the essence of each phenomenal event. This essential nature is that not a thing has any fixed existence separate in itself, independent from the whole world around it. The work of wisdom is to see through the illusory self-other dichotomy, our imagined estrangement from our world. Studying the self in this light, Manjushri's flashing awareness realizes the deeper, vast quality of self, liberated from all our commonly unquestioned, fabricated characteristics.
... Manjushri cuts through our conventional conceptions of and attachments to abiding, increase and decrease, ordinary and holy, nirvana and samsara, arising and ceasing, aspiring, and grasping. Experiencing personally and clearly the perfection of wisdom that Manjushri expounds is about seeing through, and being liberated from, all limited views about these common snares of consciousness. (Bodhisattva Archetypes, p. 93 & 116)
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.
Click here to visit the forum thread!

Whattsa Who'sa Bodhisattva? - Shakyamuni

We continue our series looking at THE GREATS AMONG THE GREAT BODHISATTVAS, inspired by the wonderful book FACES OF COMPASSION by Taigen Dan Leighton, highly recommended ...
http://www.wisdompubs.org/pages/display.lasso?-KeyValue=32820&-Token.Action=&image=1
... today looking at Shakyamuni ... the man who became "THE BUDDHA".
Now, most folks usually think of Shakyamuni as "THE BUDDHA" ... but before he was "THE BUDDHA" Shakyamuni was a young seeker, in search of the key to human suffering to benefit all sentient beings, not himself alone. That seeking, that "Vow to Save All Sentient Beings" is precisely what makes a Bodhisattva a "Bodhisattva".
There are legendary tales as well, the hundreds of "Jataka Tales" and others, of past lives of the Buddha ... past lives as man, woman, fish and animals too, in which he gave of himself time and again to benefit others ... often sacrificing his very life to save others. These tales, merely legend or not, show how Shakyamuni came to symbolize selfless, compassionate giving as a Bodhisattva.
But I would insist that, even after becoming "THE BUDDHA", Shakyamuni as "THE BODHISATTVA" still remained ... for Gautama Buddha did not remain sitting under that Bodhi Tree complacent in his own peace and discovery ... nor did he vanish immediately from this world ... but rose up to walk across India, teaching, serving and helping others for the next 40 years ... helping others even now.
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.
Click here to visit the forum thread!

Koku 5

Dogen writes the following:
The migrating bird leaves no trace behind and does not need a guide
This freedom from form and attachment, from past ( trace) and future (guide), this complete action, absolute and yet transitory is our practice. Koku is found in this wondrous life, in this body-mind. Totally experienced, it is forgotten. Once forgotten, it is realized.
gassho
Taigu
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Living Devil

For the next few "sit-a-longs", I'm going to revive a series from awhile back on WHATSA BODHISATTVA, looking a some of the greats ... Avalokiteśvara (Kannon), Samantabhadra and others. Before, we looked at each of the traditional Virtues, the 'Perfections' of a Bodhisattva ...
http://www.treeleaf.org/cgi-bin/mt/mt-search.cgi?search=whattsa+who'sa+bodhisattva&IncludeBlogs=2&limit=20
Today, though, let's talk about the Devil, Satan, Mara, Evil ...
Oh, I believe in the Devil! Bodhisattvas too.
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.
Visit the forum thread here!

Koku 4

The Nishijima Cross translation goes as follows:
Daibutsu would like to tell Shakkyō the fol- lowing: “Before, when you grabbed Seidō’s nostrils, if you wanted to grasp space, you should have grabbed the nostrils of yourself, Shakkyō, and you should have understood how to grasp the fingertips with the fingertips.” Even so, Shakkyō does know a bit about the dignified behavior of grasping space. Even a good player at grasping space needs to research the interior and exte- rior of space, needs to research the deadening and vitalization of space, and needs to know the lightness and weight of space. We should maintain and rely upon [the teaching] that the effort in pursuit of the truth, the establish- ment of the mind, the practice and experience, and the assertions and ques- tions of buddhas and of patriarchs are just the grasping of space. My late master, Tendō Nyojō, the eternal buddha, says: “The whole body like a mouth, hanging in space.” Clearly, the whole body of space is suspended in space.
Grasping space is extra. This reality in this reality, this space in this space practice, teach and preach the Dharma. Like the empty mouth of a bell, space moves in space.
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February 4-5, 2011- OUR MONTHLY 4-hour ZAZENKAI!

*Note* - This Audiocast contains a 30 minute dharma talk followed by 8 minutes of zazen.  For the full zazenkai, please visit the links below.
PLEASE NOTE THAT SOME KINHIN TIMES HAVE BEEN LENGTHENED IN COMPASSION FOR NEW SITTERS JOINING US ...
Dear All,
Please 'sit-a-long' with our MONTHLY 4-hour ZAZENKAI,netcast LIVE 8am to noon Japan time Saturday morning (1/1) (that is New York 6pm to 10pm, Los Angeles 3pm to 7pm (Friday night 12/31), London 11pm to 3am and Paris midnight to 4am (early Saturday morning)) ... and visible at the following link during those times ...
LIVE ZAZENKAI NETCAST at USTREAM:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/sit-a-long-with-jundo
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 2 parts as follows (click on the blue 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: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/12462420
01:50 - 02:30 DHARMA TALK & ZAZEN TALK & ZAZEN LINK: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/12464630
02:30 - 02:40 KINHIN 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 2 LINK: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/12465668
 
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
Click here to visit the forum topic!

Masterpeace

In our Soto Way, this Life-Practice-Enlightenment is the constant painting of a picture ... a masterpiece ever created and simultaneously complete in each stroke by stroke by stroke.
The goal is not to strip away the surface image in search of blank canvas.
Nor is it a finished masterpiece, done once and for all, then hung in a museum to gather dust.
It is not something one sees outside oneself, as if one merely need see the painting hanging on a gallery wall and is thus done.
It is not simply a matter of realizing that the image on the canvas is a fiction, or real as real can be, or something in between (although all of those). It may be a dream, a dream within a dream ... yet even a painted rice cake can fill all hunger, says Master Dogen.
Rather, it is the art of creation, mastery of the brushwork ... whereby, one is free in life to paint a master stroke, or an ugly stroke, in each here and now instant stroke ... free to create the life-self-world work of art one chooses by one's words, thoughts and acts, one stroke building on the last. It is an ongoing opus, a total composition, paint drop by paint drop, continuing so long as we live.
Nevertheless, while painting onward ... each stroke by stroke is already Whole and Complete, the totality of every painting ever painted contained in each drop.
The 'master artist' is not the mere 'beginner'. Although each stroke is ever new, a new beginning, the true "master" tends to the masterful stokes and compositions, rather than the hack or low or damaging.
All time and space and history painted us into this painting of a world ... and thus we were born as part of its scene, part of this world. Now, alive, we find ourselves with brush in hand ... ready to continue the making of the total composition ongoing from this point forward ... a painted being in a picture, and a being painting the picture, all just the painting all along. Maybe we cannot change the vast, total composition as just one person (the world is a big and complicated place), but we can change so much ... repaint the ugly into something balanced, beautiful, serene. The brushstrokes of our actions, Karma, will be seen far into the future.
The timeless achievement of Enlightenment is A Treasure beyond Measure, a Priceless Painting we realize was (as was the jewel in the Lotus Sutra) hidden in plain view all along! Looking for the painting from inside the painting, we cannot find it. Or, better said, it is a Priceless Painting that we realize was never hidden nor bound by any frame, just who we have been all along, and we that ... for we are the work of art, all of life a work of art.
What is more, the Vast, Powerful composition ... filled with happy faces and crying faces, images of peace and of war, growth and death, majestic mountains and scrawled graffiti on city walls ... is embraced for Totality, rejecting none of it. All painted right in, making the Whole.
All the Master Peace.
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.
Visit the Forum for this topic!