“Joshu Dainen daiosho” by Rev. Mudo Slota anagarika

 

eMirror Vol. 11, No. 30

Friday, July 27th, 2007

Edited by Ven. Jinmyo Renge osho


 

 

Quotes from teisho are run sequentially in the eMirror

 

Those who have not realized what is essentially real may hear what the Buddhas and Awakened Ancestors say but just do not believe it. They live in the ghostly realm of their ideas about reality, preferring their words and categories, their stories of self and other, their pretences that there is an unchanging essence to themselves and that permanence is meaningful. We have the words “permanent” and “impermanent”. We place a prefix before the word “permanence” and modify it to indicate its opposite. But only the word “impermanent” is actually coherent. Only impermanence is possible. Impermanence has no opposite. “Permanence” is nonsense and cannot be found anywhere throughout the ten directions and three times and the numberless realms of the Dharmadhatu.
           Usual people have heard the word “Dharmadhatu” and think that realm of reality that the Buddhas speak of is some other realm, some other place than their own lives. Usual people hear the word “dharmata” and think that there is an essential unchanging essence that can be attained by turning away from their lives. They hear of the realization of emptiness and believe it refers to dwelling in an abstract void where they can no longer by bothered by the inconveniences of laundry and illness, eating and sweeping, aging and fevers and responsibilities and gravity and the sharpness of thorns and the hardness of stones. They hear of “komyo” or “luminosity” and close their eyes and look for an inner light.  
           The Buddhas call sentient beings to turn towards their lives as they actually are and to realize the Suchness and luminosity of the essentially real. Your life is open all around your ideas of it. Nothing that you can think about anything is what it is, including a thought. A thought, like a flower or a leaf or a pattern of frost are all beyond concepts about them and are all the open luminosity of reality.

-Ven. Anzan Hoshin roshi, continuing teisho 6: “Coming Thus As Us” in the series “Essentially Real, commentaries on Eihei Dogen zenji’s Hossho: Dharmata”. Presented on Saturday, January 22, 2005.

 

Upcoming Events

 

Fusatsu and the Vow of Samantabhadra

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

 

Dharma Assembly

On Saturday, July 28th, Ven. Jinmyo Renge osho will lead a Dharma Assembly entitled “Dealing With the Demon” which 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 at wwzc dot 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, August 1st, which will end on Sunday, August 12th, 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, August 4th. 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.  

 

August Two-day Sesshin

The August two-day sesshin will begin at 8:00 p.m. on Friday, August 10th and will end at 6:00 p.m. on Sunday, August 12th. On Saturday, August 111th, associate and general students may attend a sitting held in the Zendo. Arrival time is 9:15 a.m. (in time for First Bell). The sitting ends at 11:30 a.m. Students attending are reminded to remain on the first floor.

 

Oryoki for General Students

On Saturday, August 18th, 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.

 

Samu Weekend

The third samu weekend of 2007 will be taking place on August 25th and 26th. Although the schedule of work for the two days has not yet been finalized we hope to be working on the following projects: the insulation of large portion of the attic floor needs to be completed before winter, the small chimney at the rear of the building (the one not rebuilt) requires scraping and repainting, the front steps require a coat of paint and more work can be done to further improve the grounds. Please pencil these dates into your schedule so that you can attend some or all of the samu weekend and so help to maintain and improve the environment of practice.

 

Hermitage

The Roshi will begin a period of hermitage on August 29th which will end on Sunday, September 2nd, when he leads monastics in Acalanatha Sadhana.

 

Recorded Teisho Schedule

Sunday, July 29th formal sitting - SAkN: The Anatomy of Awakening: “The Anatomy of Awakening” (teisho 1 of 7).

Monday, July 30th general sitting – Studying the Mystery: Zen Master Anzan Hoshin’s commentaries on Shitou Xiqian’s Sandokai: “The Root of Your Life” (teisho 4 of 4).

Tuesday, July 31st formal sitting – Mikkyo-zo: Monastic Jishu: “Chu-u” (Class 4 of 15).

Thursday, August 2nd associate sitting – The Wheel of Becoming: “The Dawn of Understanding”(Teisho 1 of 4).

Saturday, August 4th general sitting – This World of Ten Directions: “Receiving It and Offering It” (teisho 8 of 10).

 

Congratulations

Congratulations and deep gassho to Curtis Cheslock on being accepted as an associate student by the Roshi. Curtis is a resident of Gatineau.

 

Retreats

Marcin Matuskeiwicz sat a one-day retreat on Saturday and a partial retreat on Sunday. Nathan Comeau sat a two-day retreat on Saturday and Sunday. Jennifer Comeau sat a two-day retreat on Saturday and Sunday. Jane Brown sat a two-day retreat on Monday and Tuesday. Michael Landay began a seven-day retreat on Monday morning. Cindy Teevens sat a one-day retreat on Wednesday. Neil Porter sat a partial retreat on Thursday.

 

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.

 

Summer Garden Work

During the summer months there is always work to be done in the grounds, including regular watering, weeding, planting, deadheading and tidying. If you can offer some time to help maintain the monastery grounds please contact Saigyo chiden at saigyo@telecomottawa.net or by leaving a message on the office answering machine at 613 562 1568

 


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

Yellow udon noodle salad with blanched sugar snap peas and dai gai choy, dressed with Chinese black vinegar and fermented black wheat paste and shoyu; "General Tso's" meinjin with chopped  red onion and large seeded jalapeno slices; shitake caps roasted with shoyu and sesame oil; large white and cremini mushrooms roasted with Vietnamese roasted chile oil; dai gai choy and celery soup.

 

Tuesday Yakuseki

Salad of Lebanese cucumber batons, sliced fennel, and roasted yellow pepper strips marinated in ngoc mam; green cabbage and white onion slaw dressed with celery seeds, Dijon, and mayonnaise; chili con carne with black beans, white and red kidney beans, red bell peppers, poblano and hot banana peppers, white and Spanish onions, minced elephant garlic, ginger, San Marzano tomatoes, Mexican chile powder, chipotle, Scotch, cumin seeds and black mustard seeds; Lundberg Farm short grain brown rice; corn muffin croutons; a green chile sauce made with blended tomatillos, coriander leaf, green chiles and mirin; labneh.

 

Thursday Yakuseki

Salad of beet greens with slices of roasted yellow beets with walnuts, dressed with Chinese black vinegar and Xiaoxing; salad of blanched baby carrots dressed with lime and Vietnamese roasted chile oil; cotton tofu braised with baechu kimchi; sauteed oyster, shitake and cremini mushrooms and diced bed bell pepper and cubanelle pepper with shoyu and sesame oil; mixed grain (Lundberg Farm short grain brown rice, pearl barley, Korean white and brown sticky rice, kasha, red and white quinoa, gohan, and wild rice).

 

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 Chunen ino, “Thank you to the Roshi for clear explanations on the various ways of learning and doing, thank you to Shikai osho for her directness, to Jinmyo osho for overseeing the transcription of the Roshi's teachings, to Mishin tando for overseeing the activities of the Treasurer's office.”

From Mishin tando, "Thank you to the Roshi for the teisho 'Just This' from the teisho series 'SAkN: Root Cycle Five' for monastics and formal students; to Shikai osho for creating varied iced treats from berries and fruit; to Jinmyo osho for delicious Sunday morning brunches for monastics and formal students following the Sunday morning sitting; to Senbo shuso for a jug of lemonade on the third floor for residents prior to the Thursday evening sitting; to Nathan Comeau for assistance with labeling and teisho mailings."

From Saigyo chiden, “Thank you to the Roshi for establishing and tirelessly maintaining White Wind Zen Community so that the priceless opportunity of practice is available to us all. Thank you to Tettsu and Kumyo for arranging the installation of a new bamboo floor in the Zendo of Harrow Zazenkai. Thank you to Neil Porter for samu to paint a repaired section of the men’s change room wall; to Graham Mayeda for staying on after morning sittings during the week to assist with samu tasks; to Nathan Comeau for regular samu on a variety of tasks.”

From Senbo shuso: "Thank you to Jinmyo osho, Chunen ino, Mishin tando, and Saigyo chiden for spending many hours every week to meet in Daisan and practice interview with preliminary students; to Mishin tando for training and supervising students who do treasurer's work on Saturday mornings; to Saigyo chiden for overseeing the preparation of CDs for web orders."

 

 


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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