“Hossho: Dharmata”, sho by Ven. Anzan Hoshin roshi

 

eMirror Vol. 11, No. 4

Friday, January 26th, 2007

Edited by Ven. Jinmyo Renge osho

 

 


Quotes from teisho are run sequentially in the eMirror

 

When we first encounter the practice of Dogen’s Lineage of Zen we can recognize the simple and yet profound truth of it. Those of us who follow through on that recognition by continuing to do the practice will find that we might have had many other motivations and ideas and stories when we first began but that recognition is what brings us again and again to zazen. As our practice continues and deepens and opens we learn numberless things about ourselves and this world of numberless things, including that there is no self and that there are no things.

At first we simply practice mindfulness to what simply is. We sit and see how clouded our seeing becomes, our hearing becomes, our lives become when our attention folds into a nattering nest of discursiveness and feeling-tones. We begin to realize how much of our lives become lost when attention becomes lost through narrowing and focussing. We learn more and more how to open past this habit of narrowing attention and find that there is a freshness and sanity and beauty in just feeling the tips of the thumbs in contact, the belly and chest moving gently with the breath, the sound of a bird’s wing snapping or snow tumbling from a branch or a car’s tires spinning against the snow. We begin to see that the world is not the world that we thought it was. It is not a world that can be captured by thought. We begin to see that the world is not about us. This can sometimes seem to us to be very frightening and alien. We had really thought the world was about what’s on television tonight and spending the holidays with our family and telling old stories and listening to new versions of old stories. But we can begin to see that everything in the world is not about us at all. Our shoe is not about us. It is just there. It just is. The sound of the wind is not about us. It is just there. It just is. Even our parents’ faces and our children’s’ faces and our lovers’ faces are not about us. Even our thoughts are not really about us even though we are the topic of their stories. They are just thoughts. Everything just is; everything is just there. We just are; we are just there. We might react to this with more of our usual fear and our denials and hopes. In fact, when this is recognized outside of the context of the practice of the Dharma it is either immediately covered over, or becomes a nervous breakdown, or reinterpreted as a kind of mystical experience given a series of interpretations from whatever our religious background is. However, if we continue to practise at such a time we begin to recognize that it is not a matter of something being there, over there somewhere. Everything is here, arising within experience. Everything is together and every thing is intimate in a way that is so vast and subtle and yet dynamic that it is too intimate to be personal. Then we begin to realize for ourselves what the Buddha and the Awakened Ancestors have always said about sunyata or ku or emptiness and tathata or immo or Suchness.

 

-Zen Master Anzan Hoshin, beginning teisho 1: “Meeting Natural Wisdom”

Friday, December 3, 2004, in the series “Essentially Real, commentaries on Eihei Dogen zenji’s Hossho: Dharmata”

 

 

 

Upcoming Events

 

Fusatsu and the Vow of Samantabhadra

Chanting of the Precepts will take place on February 14th and February 28th. The Vow of Samantabhadra will be chanted on January 31st and on February 7th and 21st.

 

Dharma Assembly

The next Dharma Assembly will take place on January 27th and will be led by Ven. Jinmyo Renge osho who will present a Dharma Talk on the theme of “Freefall”. The Dharma Assembly will begin at 9:30 a.m. (please arrive by 9:15, in time for first Bell) and will end at 9:10 p.m. Dana is $40.00, which includes two meals: lunch and supper. Participants are asked to bring clothing and shoes appropriate for samu practice. To register, please send an email to schedule@wwzc.org or leave a message on the office answering machine at 562-1568. Dharma Assemblies are open to all students.

          The general sitting that would ordinarily take place from 9:30 to 11:40 on Saturday morning will be cancelled due to the Dharma Assembly.

 

Hermitage

The Roshi will begin a period of hermitage on Wednesday, January 31st, which will end on Sunday, February 4th at 10:00 a.m. when he leads monastics in Acalanatha Sadhana.

 

Introduction to Zen Workshop

Ven. Jinmyo Renge osho will present the next Introduction to Zen Workshop at Dainen-ji on Saturday, February 3rd. For more information please see:

http://www.wwzc.org/programs/Introduction_To_Zen_Workshop_Ottawa.htm.

            For information concerning our Long-distance Training Program, please visit this Web Page:

http://www.wwzc.org/programs/longDistance.htm.

 

Nehan O-sesshin

The Nehan O-sesshin will begin at 8:00 p.m. on Friday, February 9th and will end on Friday, February 16th at noon. Formal students are reminded to send their schedules to schedule@wwzc.org as soon as is possible.

During the O-sesshin, there will be two sittings held in the Zendo on Saturday, February 10th, which associate and general students may attend. The first sitting begins at 9:30 a.m. (please arrive by 9:15 in time for first Bell); the sitting ends at 11:30. The second sitting begins at 3:00 (please arrive by 2:45 in time for first Bell); the sitting ends at 5:00. Students attending either of these sittings are reminded to remain on the first floor.

 

A Note to Preliminary and Public Students Concerning O-sesshin

During an O-sesshin the schedule is such that there is no time to meet face to face with preliminary students or to reply to email correspondence sent by public students. Public students are asked to send their weekly practice journals, as they will be reviewed. But unless there is something that needs an immediate reply, you will not receive an email reply until the week following the O-sesshin.

 

Oryoki for General Students

On Saturday, February 17th, general students who attend the 6:00 a.m. formal sitting may participate in oryoki practice led by Jinmyo osho. Associate or visiting public students who are in retreat at the monastery on that day may also participate in oryoki. Dana is $10.00. You do not need previous experience of oryoki to attend. For more information or to register please send an email to schedule@wwzc.org.

 

Samu Weekend

The first samu weekend of 2007 is scheduled to take place on the 24th and 25th of February. Work over these two days will include the continuation of the project to improve the insulation in the west side of the attic and also insulating the ceiling of the workshop. We shall also work to find other areas of the building which can use extra insulation, expandable foam sealer, caulking or draft stop in an effort to minimize heat loss and thus help reduce our extremely high heating costs. Please keep this weekend clear in your calendar so that you will be able to attend some or all of the two days of work practice. Students may register by sending an email to schedule@wwzc.org or by telephoning the Zen Centre office at 613-562-1568.

 

Hermitage

The Roshi will begin a period of hermitage on Wednesday, February 28th which will end on Sunday, March 4th at 10:00 a.m., when he leads monastics in Acalanatha Sadhana.

 

Recorded Teisho Schedule

Sunday, January 27th formal sitting - SAkN: Root Cycle Three: “Entering Aware Space” (teisho 1 of 8).

Monday, January 28th general sitting – Without Difficulty: Zen Master Anzan Hoshin’s commentaries on “Xinxin Ming: Words on Trusting Awareness” by Jianzhi Sengcan: “Don’t Swerve” (teisho 6 of 25).

Tuesday, January 29th formal sitting – Being Between-Being: Zen Master Anzan Hoshin’s Teachings on practising throughout the process of death: “The Corpses, the Komyo Shingon and the Crescent Moon” (teisho 6 of 6).

Thursday, February 1st associate sitting – This World of Ten Directions: “Early Morning Shines” (teisho 5 of 10).

Saturday, February 3rd general sitting – Sitting Up Straight: Zen Master Anzan Hoshin’s commentaries on Keizan Jokin zenji’s “Zazen Yojinki”: “Say Cheese” (teisho 12 of 17).

 

 

Jinmyo osho’s Notes on the Forms

Which Way to Turn at the Back of the Practice Room

There has been some confusion about the direction students should be facing while doing the forms at the back of the Hatto or Zendo. All forms in practice rooms are done in a clockwise direction relative to the rest of the room. So in both practice rooms, students should turn to face the window when they are taking their seats or getting up from their seats. If there is a large number of students in the room, those standing along the back wall should just face forward while doing Great Bows or bowing to the Sangha.

 

Freezing at Fourth Bell

When fourth bell is struck indicating that the sitting is about to begin, students stop walking in kinhin and move to where they should be standing in the room. At least, that is what is supposed to happen. Instead, many students are “freezing” at the back of the room, giving right of way to monastics or formal students. Please don’t do this. Just start walking to where you think you should be. There’s no need to rush and no need to freeze. Just fall into an open space in the line of students walking around the room. There is no “seniority” in this; it is not a “form”. You are just walking. If you freeze, this just slows everything down and makes matters much more complicated. If you don’t know where to stand, just take a place and don’t worry about it as the Ino will tell you if you need to be elsewhere.

 

Forms for Leaving the Practice Room

When the Roshi and Dharma Teachers leave a practice room, students should stand facing into the room and wait until they leave. When practice advisors begin to move towards the door, the rest of the students in the room should immediately fall into line behind them. There is no delay between practice advisors and other students leaving the room even if a practice advisor is acting as doshi (leading the sitting).

 

The Forms for Striking the Densho for Daisan or Practice Interviews

Rooms used for daisan or practice interviews have a densho (bell) hanging outside the door. The only exception to this is the Undo which is not often used for that purpose. The form for striking the densho is to bring your left hand to gassho without bowing. With your right hand, pick up the striker and strike the densho once. Return the striker to its original position (be mindful about this and don’t place it askew), bring both hands to gassho and do a standing bow. Wait for the answering strike on the gong from within the room and then proceed to open the door.

 

And a Reminder

Please avoid the use of perfumes, scented aftershave and other pungent preparations as many people are sensitive to them. And they might smell nice to you, but they don’t necessarily smell nice to anyone else.

 

Media Site

The media site has been unavailable recently. It is expected that the problems will be fixed by the end of this week.

 

 

New Publication

“Freedom and Tyranny: A series of Dharma Talks and Zen Mondo presented by Ven. Shikai Zuiko osho” is now available in Myomaku, the monastery’s library, and will soon be available for purchase on the Great Matter web page (http://www.wwzc.org/gm.htm) as a perfect bound, 215 pages, 5.5” by 8.5” paperback or PDF ebook version.

 

 

Retreats

Visiting public student Johanne Bourbonnais sat a half-day retreats at Dainen-ji on Friday and Saturday. Jennifer Comeau sat a two-day retreat on Saturday and Sunday. Nathan Comeau sat a two-day retreat on Saturday and Sunday and ended following the formal sitting on Monday morning. On Sunday, deshi Vicki Robichaud sat a one-day retreat in her home on Gabriola Island.

 

To Schedule a Retreat

Please email schedules@wwzc.org to schedule a retreat, even if you have made verbal arrangements with a practice advisor or a Dharma Teacher. Emails sent to that address are routed to all members of the Practice Council who will need this information for the purposes of meal planning, preparing tapes for your retreat and planning samu assignments. Retreats are defined in the following way:

 

Half-day Retreat (you would need to arrive 15 minutes before the actual starting time) Begin at 6:00 a.m., end at noon. Or begin at 9:30 a.m., end at 6:00. Or begin at 3:00 p.m., end at 9:10.

Partial Retreat (You would need to arrive 15 minutes before the actual starting time) Begin at 6:00 a.m., end at 6:00 p.m. Or begin at 9:30 a.m., end at 9:10 p.m.

Full retreat (you would need to arrive by 5:45) Begin at 6:00 a.m., end at 9:10 p.m. Please remember to bring a change of clothes suitable for samu (caretaking practice). If staying overnight, please remember to bring a sleeping bag, a towel and other such necessities. If you have been diagnosed by a medical doctor as having allergies to specific foods, please contact the tenzo, Jinmyo osho at Jinmyo@trytel.com a week in advance of your retreat to inform her of dietary restrictions as this affects food purchases and meal planning. The suggested dana for retreats is $40 a day, which covers the basic cost of food and other materials. Donations above this figure are very welcome and all donations are tax deductible. There is also a retreat schedule for public students posted on our Website at:

http://www.wwzc.org/Resources/Public.student.retreat.schedule.htm

Public Students’ Retreats

For retreats to be mentioned in the eMirror, public students are asked to send an email to schedule@wwzc.org mentioning the date of their retreat and whether it is a partial, half-day or full retreat.  

 

 

Office of the Tenzo

Dogen zenji taught that the work of preparing and serving meals was "a matter for realized monks who have the mind of the Way or by senior disciples who have roused the Way-seeking mind." In alignment with this, part of Zen Master Anzan Hoshin's samu for the Community involves personally overseeing the activities of the ancient office of tenzo. The following is a list of meals prepared on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, prior to the evening sittings.

 

Monday yakuseki

Pea greens and sliced green beans in chile-miso soup; roasted colossal white mushrooms with bulgogi sauce; atsuage tofu rectangles with roasted chile oil; mixed grain (Lundberg Farm short grain brown rice, Korean white and brown sticky rice, barley, gohan, wild rice).

 

Tuesday yakuseki

Mixed grain congee with lemongrass, ginger, kefir lime leaf, and coconut milk stock with fresh coriander; crunchy panko-crusted centre-cut pork loin chops with Thai red curry seasoning; roasted colossal cremini mushrooms with tandoori seasoning; stir-fried baby bok choy with fried lentils; roasted sliced plum tomatoes with black onion seeds, white mustard seeds, basil, and dried chiles; salad of baby cucumber biased sliced and labneh balls (pressed yogurt cheese) with Meyer lemon, lime, and ngoc mam.

 

Thursday Yakuseki

Cantonese noodles dressed with a peanut sate sauce with Meyer lemon juice and lime juice with crushed peanut garnish; tong ho (chrysanthemum greens), whole cremini mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, and sliced porcini braised in shoyu, ginger, and mushroom stock with mung bean sprouts; atsuage tofu triangles, red bell peppers, and cubanelle peppers with a sweet chile and hoisin sauce; large cut kkukduji kimchi (daikon). 

 

Monastery Breadbasket

2 loaves pain de Pepin; 4 loaves “very good basic white bread”; 6 dozen feta biscuits

 

Students attending sittings on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday evenings may make arrangements to join residents for meals prepared by the Office of the Tenzo. Please email schedule@wwzc.org at least one day in advance; Contribution is $10.

 

Thank You

If you would like to thank someone for a contribution they have made, please feel free to send an email to Jinmyo osho at jinmyo@trytel.com. (Owing to the volume of mail I receive, please note that an email sent to me containing a thank you intended for the eMirror should specify that it is to be included. Otherwise I will likely assume that you are just sending me an email, will think, "Thank you very much," and that will be the end of it).

 

From Mishin tando, “Thank you to the Roshi for the loan of numerous books, DVDs, and CDs and for the teisho series ‘Being Between-Being’ for monastics and formal students; to Senbo shramon, Jane Brown, and Francois Fournier for assistance with various aspects of dana processing.  

From Saigyo chiden, “Thank you Shikai osho for gifts for Shiro (a monastery cat) and to Zantui Rose for a gift of a woodworking book. Thank you to Neil Porter for archiving samu and to Gillian Higenbottam for regular weekly samu. Thank you to Charles Enman for regularly joining the monastics for early morning soji and samu before the morning sittings.”

From Nathan Comeau, “Thank you to Zen Master Anzan Hoshin for the opportunity to practice at Dainen-ji and for overseeing the practice environment. Thank you to Ven. Jinmyo Osho for daisan and for leading oryoki practice. Thank you to Ven. Chunen Ino, Ven. Mishin Tando, Ven. Saigyo Chiden for assisting with oryoki and for practice interviews. Thank you to Ven. Saigyo Chiden for leading samu. Thank you to the Practice Counsel for rearranging their schedules to allow me to sit a retreat.”

 

 

 


 

Ongoing

 

Samu

Request for Assistance, Office of the Treasurer

As part of clarifying and streamlining the financial processes of White Wind Zen Community, we would like to have pairs of students rotate to help process dana contributions on a weekly basis. To date, most of this work has been done by Mishin tando with the assistance of one or two other students, but it is time to restructure the system so that the work of the Office of the Treasurer becomes more manageable and more students are helping with this responsibility. If you would be available on Saturdays prior to the General Sitting for about a hour (from 8:15-9:15 a.m.), your help will be appreciated. Please email mishin@trytel.com. Training will be provided. No special financial skills are needed other than an eye for detail and accuracy.

 

Archiving Samu

Since 2002 the teisho presented by the Roshi and the Dharma Talks given by the Dharma Teachers have been recorded directly onto CD and copies made available to students. Prior to this time all of the recordings were made on cassette tape. Over the last years the monastics, with the help of several students, have worked to transfer the taped material onto CD, not only because cassette tape technology is fast becoming outdated but because the early tape recordings are deteriorating quickly and may soon become unplayable. To lose these teaching would be disastrous. We are presently making direct CD copies of all of the early tapes so that there is a back-up copy available should anything happen to the master tape which makes it unplayable but there is much work to be done. There are still over 100 tapes from the 1980’s and 1990’s that need to be re-mastered, relabeled and copied and this constitutes many hundreds of hours of work. If you are able to commit to a regular weekly schedule of two or three hours samu to continue this vital work, please let us know by writing to tapes@wwzc.org. Full training will be given.

 

Daily Samu

Samu each day to prepare the monastery for the arrival of the students is a very important practice for the monastics. Any help to assist the monks with brightening and clarifying the practice environment is very much appreciated. If you are able to come early before a sitting to do samu, please consult the samu notice board situated between the side entrance doors to find a task which has not been done recently. If you have any questions about the task please ask any monastic.

 

Improvements to the Second Floor Washroom

A project that has been on the high priory list for a number of years is the renovation of the second floor washroom. Even though this is the most frequently used washroom in the building it has never had any substantial improvements apart from being painted last year. Work on this washroom, which was scheduled to be taking place late this year or early next year, will again need to be delayed due to the necessity of a urgent roof repair to the west side of the roof. This repair will cost in the region of $13,000 and as this is considerably higher than our available budget we have had to cut back on other important work. Because of this, we have decided to fundraise in order to gather sufficient money to make the improvements to the washroom. The work to be done will include a new sink and cabinet and a new ceiling light, fan and exhaust. This will cost in the region of $1000 to complete. Students are encouraged to donate towards this project so that it can be scheduled some time in the winter and the improved facilities will be available by 2007. Improvements to this room will benefit every student that comes to the monastery for sittings.

 

CDs Available to the Public

A selection of CDs of teisho and Dharma Talks is available on our web-site. The page is found at http://wwzc.org/CDWebSales/CDWebSales.htm or follow the link for Dharma Texts and CDs on the home page. Over time more teisho and Dharma Talks from the over 2500 presentations made by the Roshi, Shikai osho and Jinmyo osho will be made available for purchase.

 

Ongoing Project: “All is Change”

Dainen-ji, being a 135-year-old building, is continuously in need of maintenance and the costs associated with this can be astronomical when such things as roof repairs or painting are needed. This is something that we cannot afford to do, yet must do and so the “All is Change” project has been created. The “All is Change” project is very simple. Most of us have a bowl or a jar or some other kind of container that we keep somewhere at home and fill up with loose change because it's too heavy to carry around. Several hundred dollars has been collected so far both in loose change and Canadian tire money which has been put towards the building maintenance fund. Most of the collected money was spent on materials for the new front path and we have also been able to purchase several new tools which will help greatly with ongoing renovations. If anyone would like to contribute to this fund, each penny will be appreciated.

 

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