Quotes from teisho are run sequentially in the eMirror

         Dogen zenji says,


         When you realize the Buddha Dharma, you do not think, "This realization is just as I expected." Even if you have imagined it, realization invariably differs from your imagination. Realization itself is not like your conception of it. And so, realization cannot take place in your ideas of it. When you have realization, you do not consider how realization came about. You should think about this: What you think one way or another before realization is not useful for realization.

         

         Of course there are circumstances that bring about opening to reality. This is what the Lineage of Transmission is for; this is why there are koan and teisho and forms of deportment and standards; this is why there is zazen. But these do not create or fabricate or manufacture realization; they show us all of the ways in which we avoid opening and follow compulsion and also show us how to choose to move past the tendency to contract and allow opening to the primordial openness of our own nature.

         However what people usually do is attempt to imagine what realization is like and then try to insert themselves into that bubble of mental space. When there is a gap or a moment of opening, they step forward and claim that open space as their own territory and so it collapses into their usual world of self and others and things. And then, at a safe distance from the event, they attempt to recreate it on their own terms.

         But you cannot fit a big box into a small box. You cannot fit the vast Treasury of the Eye of the Complete Teachings, the Shobogenzo, into your jewellery box. What you think you are is of no concern to who you truly are.


- Ven. Anzan Hoshin roshi continuing "Seeing Eye to Eye: commentaries on Eihei Dogen zenji's Yuibutsu Yobutsu," teisho 1: Letting Loose the Lotus, Sunday, May 16, 2004


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     The White Wind Zen Community is the Sangha of students practising under the direction of Ven. Anzan Hoshin roshi at the Zen Centre of Ottawa (Honzan Dainen-ji) and its branch practice groups or centres.

     The main purpose of the Community is to provide a context in which the Transmission of the complete teachings, practice and realization of the Way of Dogen's Lineage of Zen can take place. To this end, the Zen Community provides a comprehensive and integral format of practice that is structured so that each student may practise in a manner that is appropriate for him or her.

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  • Fusatsu and The Vow of Samantabhadra
    Chanting of the Precepts will take place on July 8th and July 22nd. The Vow of Samantabhadra will be chanted on July 1st, 15th and 29th.

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  • Oryoki for General Students
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