Path to the water garden, completed this week by Ven. Saigyo chiden

 

eMirror Vol. 11, No. 23

Friday, June 8th, 2007

Edited by Ven. Jinmyo Renge osho

 


Quotes from teisho are run sequentially in the eMirror

 

Turning to face the wall, we sit. Turning away from the room, we take care of the zafu and zabuton and stand. With each step we might enter dharmata, we might receive dharmata, we might express dharmata; or we might not. With each step the boards of oak of the floor twitter like nightingales, expressing dharmata. The samadhi of dharmata is the essential reality that is continuously the nature of all beings and worlds. Whether we know this or not depends only upon how we know. If we are perched up on our own shoulders, riding behind the eyes of the head, then our feet never really touch the floor. If we step with the whole bodymind, then the floor, the Hatto, the world all take this step together with us. If we try to step with the whole bodymind by trying to manoeuvre the feet with a strategy that we mistake as mindfulness then depending upon our personal style we might slap the soles of the feet on the wood or we might twinkle and glide along the floor but all that we are doing is watching ourselves trying to be mindful.

            With each step, with each breath of zazen, with each spoon of rice, with each grain of rice just return to the source of each moment: the presencing that is dharmata. Just release the mind into the body, release the whole bodymind into the whole moment, release the whole moment into the Total Field, release the Total Field into nehan myoshin, the luminous Awareness that is beyond location. Each step is its radiance, each grain of rice, each and every moment. 

 

-Ven. Anzan Hoshin roshi, beginning teisho 5: “Actualizing the Samadhi of Dharmata” in the series “Essentially Real, commentaries on Eihei Dogen zenji’s Hossho: Dharmata”. Presented on Tuesday, December 7, 2004.

 

Upcoming Events

 

Fusatsu and the Vow of Samantabhadra

Chanting of the Precepts will take place on June 13th and June 27th. The Vow of Samantabhadra will be chanted on June 20th.

 

Dharma Assembly

On Saturday, June 9th, Ven. Jinmyo Renge osho will lead a Dharma Assembly, the theme for which is “Stainless”. 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.

 

June Two-day Sesshin

The June two-day sesshin will begin at 8:00 p.m. on Friday, June 15th, and will end on Sunday, June 17th, at 6:00 p.m. The Roshi will continue the teisho series “Doing Not-Doing: Zen Master Anzan Hoshin's Commentaries on Eihei Dogen zenji's ‘Shoaku Makusa’ and the Three Pure Precepts”.

On Saturday, June 16th, associate and general students may attend a sitting held in the Zendo, which will begin at 9:30 a.m. (please arrive by 9:15 in time for first Bell) and will end at 11:30 a.m.

 

Oryoki for General Students

On Saturday, June 23rd, 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 at wwzc dot org.

 

Hermitage

The Roshi will begin a period of hermitage on Wednesday, June 27th, which will end on Sunday, July 1st 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, June 7th. 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.  

 

 

Recorded Teisho Schedule

Sunday, June 10th formal sitting - SAkN: Root Cycle 5: “The End of All Knowledge” (teisho 1 of 5).

Monday, June 11th general sitting – Without Difficulty: Zen Master Anzan Hoshin’s commentaries on “Xinxin Ming: Words on Trusting Awareness” by Jianzhi Sengcan: “Zhaozhou Does Not Abide” (teisho 23 of 25).

Tuesday, June 12th formal sitting – Mikkyo-zo: Monastic Jishu: “Hakusan” (Class 2 of 15).

Thursday, June 14th associate sitting – Four Great Vows by Ven. Shikai Zuiko osho:  “Limitless Awakening” (Dharma Talk 4 of 4).

Saturday June 16th associate sitting – Hekiganroku Case 14: Yunmen’s “A Right Word” (teisho 1 of 1).

 

Residential Training

Charles Enman began a week of residential training on Monday morning.

 

Retreats

John McCaffrey began a two-day retreat on Thursday. Deshi Vicki Robichaud is sitting a one-day retreat today in her home on Gabriola Island and will be sitting a half-day retreat on Saturday. Sean Moreland is sitting a one-day retreat today (Friday).

 

To Schedule a Retreat

Please email schedule at wwzc dot 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 at trytel dot 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 at wwzc dot org after they sit a retreat mentioning the date of their retreat and whether it is a partial, half-day or full retreat. Please also include the name of the city in which you live.

 

Spring Garden work

With the arrival of spring much work needs to be done in the grounds. If you are able to offer any time to assist with garden samu please contact Saigyo chiden at saigyo at telecomottawa dot net. Your help will be appreciated. Thank you.

 


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. Jinmyo Renge osho serves as tenzo and Mishin tando and Saigyo chiden offer assistance as tenzo-anja. Meals served on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday evenings, prior to the sitting:

 

Monday Yakuseki

Ziti with a shitake and porcini mushroom sauce with leeks, red wine, sage, oregano and extra virgin olive oil; roasted red bell peppers, poblano and cubanelle peppers with dried chiles; squares of maka atsuage tofu; salad of blanched yu choy tips, plum tomatoes, Lebanese cucumbers, mache, radiccio, frisee with a pesto dressing and toasted walnuts.

 

Tuesday Yakuseki

Mixed grain (Lundberg Farm short grain brown rice, kasha, Korean white and brown sticky  rice, barley, wild rice, Japanese white rice, hulled millet) with peas; cross-rib beef roasts braised with vegetable juices and red wine; chunks of white, red, and Spanish onions roasted with Scotch and extra virgin olive oil and topped with panko; plum tomato discs roasted in extra virgin olive oil and topped with haloumi cheese with lemon; salad of celery and kkudugi kimchi.

 

Thursday Yakuseki

Frittata of mixed grain, peas, scallions, ginger and a crust of mixed grain and fried lentils; roasted Asian purple eggplants and baby zucchini with whole garlic cloves, brown mustard seeds and extra virgin olive oil; chopped fennel roasted in coconut milk with white pepper and dried chiles, garnished with fennel fronds; green and Napa cabbages, oyster mushrooms, atsuage tofu triangles and puffed tofu braised in tamarind and shoyu broth with toasted cumin seeds and black mustard seeds.

 

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 at wwzc dot 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 rengezo at vianet dot ca. (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 and Jinmyo osho for the range of excellent meals that are served to residents and students doing residential training and retreats; to Shikai osho for the potted garden with lettuce and herbs directly out the kitchen door, making easy access for great additions to meals and packed lunches; to Chunen ino for ongoing work to troubleshoot and to keep Dainen-ji's computer systems functioning to maintain connectivity for Practice Council work, and for students' access to the web site and the Media site; to Saigyo chiden for extensive work on the grounds, most recently for planting and laying out a donation of pea gravel; to Senbo shuso for layout of the practice calendar; to Jido anagarika for weekly trips to Costco and other stores for monastery supplies; to Bruce Libman for a donation of pea gravel to improve the side areas of the grounds."

From Saigyo chiden, “Thank you to Paulette Theriault for a donation towards plants for the grounds and a gift of cat food for Shiro (a monastery cat). Thank you to Bruce Libman for a gift of funds towards the Samu Weekend. Thank you to Elizabeth Katz for gardening books and for useful research to help with work in the garden. Thank you to Michael Landay, Doug Somers, Gillian Higenbottam and Melanie Coughlin for samu in the grounds and to Neil Porter for painting the back basement doors. Thank you to Charles Enman, Nathan Comeau, Carys Carrington and Samantha Drouin for archiving samu and Jennifer Comeau for transcription samu.”

 

 


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 at trytel dot 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 at wwzc dot 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.

Thank you for your generosity to help with this project.

Gassho,

Saigyo chiden, shissui.

 

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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