TREELEAF ZENDO PODCAST

November 2017 Zazenkai Talk (Dogen's Hokyoki - Part II)

Our Reading Text for Today's Talk: Hokyoki (Journal of My Study In China) by Master Eihei Dogen - Part II (Pages 8 to 12). We continue this series of talks on a text by Dogen which is not so commonly the topic of Dharma Talks, but which contains a detailed record of Dogen's own lessons and interactions with his Teacher in China, Master Tiāntóng Rújìng (天童如淨; Japanese: Tendō Nyōjo). Dogen was then a young student who went to travel (by boat, across deadly seas, not airliner) seeking an answer to many questions. This is the record of Dogen's remembrances of much of the advice and guidance he received on those questions from his own Teacher.
Further reading and discussion for this talk are available on the Treeleaf forum:November 3rd-4th, 2017 - OUR MONTHLY 4-hour ZAZENKAI! »

October 2017 Zazenkai Talk (Offering Metta to Violent People)

For today's Metta (Loving Kindness) Recital, in the section of offering Metta to people difficult in our lives or in this world, I will be offering in my heart to "people like Stephen Paddock", the man who killed 58 people, and wounded hundreds more, in Las Vegas this week.
I feel I need to explain why, and the meaning of this. Someone might misunderstand or be confused. I am sorry that it is a little complicated.
Our Metta chant states:
May he be free of suffering; may he feel safe and still.
May he be free of enmity; may he be loving, grateful and kind.
May he be healthy and at ease in all his ills.
May he be at peace, embracing all conditions of life.
We must somehow not turn away, not forget ... yet see the real culprit as the "greed anger and ignorance" that infects human beings. Perhaps it is too hard to ask people to forgive, but at least, let us strive not to meet anger with further anger of our own. The best response to hate is ... peace.
Hostilities aren't stilled through hostility, regardless. Hostilities are stilled through non-hostility: this, an unending truth.(Dharmapada 3-5)
Further reading and discussion for this talk are available on the Treeleaf forum:October 6th-7th, 2017 - OUR MONTHLY 4-hour ZAZENKAI! »

October 2017 SIT-A-LONG with Jundo: Sailing, Shikantaza

I feel that 80% of Shikantaza teachers these days are teaching only 80% of Shikantaza ("Just Sitting" Zazen). The wind is often left out of Shikantaza's sails. The point of Shikantaza is an action done for such action's sake, with the action itself as Total Fulfillment beyond judgment or measure. This is a rarity in our never resting, never satisfied, always running and chasing lives. Sitting is Sacred, Whole and Complete just in Sitting alone.
Further reading and discussion for this talk are available on the Treeleaf forum:SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Sailing, Shikantaza »

September 2017 SIT-A-LONG with Jundo: Enter in Spring, Exit in Fall

In Japan today, it is O-Higan (お彼岸), a holiday in Japanese Buddhism celebrated at the Spring and Fall Equinox. It is said that the etymology of the name, the "other shore", is from "the other shore of the Sanzu River" which river traditionally is said to separate this life from the world of the afterlife, much as the River Hades. The "other shore" can mean as well the world of Enlightenment, which transcends the life and death of this world, this shore. On this day, when the seasons change, the spirits of the dead ancestors are said to be close, and it is a time for communion and remembrance. Many Japanese people will return to their hometowns during the holiday season to pay respects to their ancestors, and Japanese Zen and other Buddhist priests are busy visiting the homes of their temple parishioners to chant for the ancestors in front of the family Buddhist altar.
Further reading and discussion for this talk are available on the Treeleaf forum:SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Enter in Spring, Exit in Fall »

September 2017 SIT-A-LONG with Jundo: CHANGING HEART, CHANGING TIRES

A little homework assignment for you, an experiment to help you discover the power of this Practice to change life. It is something to try even if you are new to this Practice, or if you have a lot of miles down the Zen road. It is also a litmus test, a demonstration of the ability of this Practice to work great change in your life right now. Oh, this little act won't fix all the problems in your life, and won't even change a flat tire. You still will have to grab a jack and get to work. But it can completely change how we experience and react to all circumstances, including detours and crashes and obstacles on life's bumpy road. ...
Further reading and discussion for this talk are available on the Treeleaf forum:Sit-A-LONG with JUNDO: CHANGING HEART, CHANGING TIRES »

September 2017 Zazenkai Talk (A SPECIAL TALK to COMMENCE 'ANGO' SEASON)

Today is the Beginingless Beginning of our Jukai and Ango Season. Especially for our Ango participants, and for anyone, a short Talk on the meaning of the 'True Ango' that has 'No Obstacles' and nothing ever to interfere ... and which is precisely the obstacles that interfere!
Further reading and discussion for this talk are available on the Treeleaf forum:A SPECIAL TALK to COMMENCE 'ANGO' SEASON »

September 2017 Zazenkai Talk (Dogen's Hokyoki)

Having returned from my own travels by plane, car and train, I thought to begin a series of talks on a text by Dogen which is not so commonly the topic of Dharma Talks, but which contains a detailed record of Dogen's own lessons and interactions with his Teacher in China, Master Tiāntóng Rújìng (天童如淨; Japanese: Tendō Nyōjo). Dogen was then a young student who went to travel (by boat, across deadly seas, not airliner) seeking an answer to many questions. This is the record of Dogen's remembrances of much of the advice and guidance he received on those questions from his own Teacher.
Further reading and discussion for this talk are available on the Treeleaf forum:September 2nd-3rd, 2017 - OUR MONTHLY 4-hour ZAZENKAI! »

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! »