photograph by Michael Landay

 

eMirror Vol. 11, No. 33

Friday, August 17th, 2007

Edited by Ven. Jinmyo Renge osho

 


 

Quotes from teisho are run sequentially in the eMirror

 

Dogen says that Mazu’s expression of what is realized is wonderful and that at least 80 or 90 percent of it is there. But there is more that can be expressed about dharmata because dharmata itself is an expression that describes what is essentially true of what is always expressing itself everywhere as everything. Sentient beings are it. Leaving is it. Entering is it. Not leaving is it. All is it. Part is it. Half is it. Whatever is, that is it. And there is no “it”. That is just an artefact of language. And dharmata is just a word, a description. The essential reality of everything is beyond words and is indescribable. But it is also words and sounds and tones.

 

-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 29th, September 12th and 26th. The Vow of Samantabhadra will be chanted on August 22nd, September 5th, and September 19th.

 

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.

 

Introduction to Zen Workshop

Ven. Jinmyo Renge osho will present the next Introduction to Zen Workshop at Dainen-ji on Saturday, September 1st. 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.

 

September Two-day Sesshin

The September two-day sesshin will begin at 8:00 p.m. on Friday, September 7th and will end at 6:00 p.m. on Sunday, the 9th. On Saturday, September 8th, 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, September 15th, 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, September 26th, which will end on Sunday the 30th, at 10:00 a.m., when he leads monastics in Acalanatha Sadhana. (Please note that these dates were not included in the Practice Calendar).

 

 

 

Jinmyo osho's Notes on the Forms: Bowing

In an early essay from 1986, “Bowing the Body of the Way,” Ven. Anzan Hoshin roshi says,

 

Why do we bow? We do not bow to curry favour with invisible Buddhas or the Lineage of Ancestors who have transmitted this Way through their own lives. Although the more that we practice, the more our gratitude for being able to practice is awakened towards the Teacher and the Lineage of Teachers, this is not why we bow. We don’t bow to make ourselves humble or devotional, or blissful, or holy, or cute. We don’t bow because of culture, although culture may influence the style with which we bow.

We bow because this body is nothing other than the Way itself, and bowing can show us parts of this Way.”

 

It is difficult to write about physical movement when we can't see each other, but recently a number of students have asked me questions concerning bows in hallways and other areas of the monastery and so I will do my best to clarify a few points.

 

Gassho monjin When Entering Practice Rooms

Gassho monjin is done when entering formal practice rooms or rooms that are being used for daisan or interviews. When you bow, breathe with the bow. The bodymind naturally wants to breathe out as it bows forward and breathe in as it straightens. At the end of the bow, return your hands to shashu and allow a brief pause so that you fully complete the bow before beginning to turn or walk away.

 

Also, a new meme has sprung up which apparently entails angling towards the Butsudan to bow when entering or leaving through the rear door of the Hatto. Please just bow into the space of the room rather than turning to bow at an angle.

 

Shashu Bows

In place of the more formal gassho-monjin, we often bow in shashu (hands held on top of the diaphragm, right hand formed into a circle, left thumb tucked into the circle) when we meet one another, but they're not a substitute for a “greeting”, not a fancy way of saying “Hi, how are you?” Bowing, as it is taught by the Lineage of Ven. Anzan Hoshin roshi is not about bowing to some "one" or some "thing". When we bow, we bow to the space in which we arise and which we each arise as. A bow is therefore all-inclusive, but not directed towards anyone, though of course it includes them.

 

When holding your hands in shashu, as a point of mindfulness the thumb knuckle of the right hand should contact the solar plexis rather than resting your hands on your belly. Resting your hands on your belly might seem more comfortable to you, but the forms are not about getting comfortable.

 

Shashu Bows in Hallways

There are many kinds of situations that can come up with hallways in the monastery. In some areas, there are a number of doorways that converge onto small spaces and when there are many students coming and going before or after sittings, these areas can become quite congested. In such a situation, monastics will often give a signal indicating that there should be no bow because to do so would be far too complex. At other times, monastics will give you a clear indication that there is to be a bow, by coming to a stop with both feet together, hands held in shashu. When you see this, it is an indication that you should follow suit - come to a full stop, put your feet together and turn bodily to face the monastic. When you bow with a monastic, turn towards them. The turn is not done because you are bowing to them, but because you need to be able to see their timing and align with it. They have been bowing much longer than you have and so aligning with their timing provides an opportunity to learn the form in greater detail.

 

If you have been bustling down a hallway, looking this way and that, the monastic will often pause before beginning the bow as they are waiting for you to let go of the quality of rushing and make yourself available to the bow. So when this happens, don't add to the rushing by beginning the bow without them. Let go of the rushing and align yourself with the timing of the monastic.

 

If you encounter several monastics you will find that everyone in the group will turn towards the most senior monastic as they will lead the timing for the bow. You should turn with them.

 

Shashu Bows when Entering the Dining Hall

We bow when entering the Dining Hall because this is a “high traffic” area. Because there is so much activity in this room, it provides us with an opportunity to practise environmental mindfulness. And with students entering and leaving through one doorway, carrying trays, bowls of food, cups of tea and whatnot, stopping at the doorway is immensely practical.

 

When you are entering the Dining Hall, if there are other students behind you who are also waiting to enter the room, don't block the doorway. Move into the room to make space for them so that you can all bow together. There is a portrait of Eihei Dogen zenji above a small Butsudan on the wall opposite the door, so bow in this direction. Again, you're not bowing to some “one” or some “thing”. Bowing in the direction of the portrait removes the complexity of having us all bow in different directions and Dogen zenji represents for us the Lineage of Awakened Ancestors. Open to peripheral vision and if there is a senior monastic in the room, they will bow with you, also facing Dogen zenji, and will lead the timing. If there is no monastic present, simply bow in unison when everyone has come to a full stop and are balanced and ready to bow.

 

If there are other students in the room, perhaps standing in the coffee area alcove, they would bow with those entering or leaving the room, but if turning to face the portrait of Dogen zenji would mean having to pirouette at high speed, just bow in the direction you are facing. There may also be times when they are positioned such that it is difficult to see that someone is entering or leaving. If you don't see someone coming in until the last moment and they have already begun to bow, it is not necessary to suddenly lurch into a bow, trying to catch up. Just continue to do what you were doing. If you are in the middle of doing a samu task such as sweeping the floor when someone comes into the Dining Hall it isn't necessary to try to bow with a broom in one hand and a dustpan in the other as that would be too awkward.

Shashu Bows when Seated at the Dining Hall Table

If you are seated at the table, in the midst of eating with a spoon halfway to your mouth, you are not expected to bow if someone comes to the doorway and bows. If you are just sitting there and bowing would not be awkward you can do a seated bow if you wish to. Sometimes the bodymind responds to seeing another person bowing by bowing with them. And that's fine. It's situational and you can decide whether to bow or not, in accordance with what is actually going on.

 

Other Situations

During samu periods before sittings or after sittings, and during Samu Weekends, we limit bowing in doorways or hallways because we are carrying buckets and mops and whatnot. If there is a monastic present, please look to them for an indication of what is appropriate.

 

We do not bow on staircases as we don't want you to fall down the stairs. And we don't bow on small landings as there is not enough space.

 

A Note Concerning Standing up when a Monastic Enters

If you are sitting down on the front or side porches, in the Shuryo, in the Undo or one of the other rooms in the monastery and you see a monastic approaching, it is appropriate to stand up. If the monastic gives you a clear signal to remain seated (extended hand, palm down or something of that nature), then you can remain seated. But your first response should be to stand up and this is what you should do if no signal is given.

If you are seated at the Dining Hall table, eating or drinking, you are not expected to stand if a Dharma Teacher or a practice advisor comes into the room as we are frequently in and out of the Dining Hall and things would become much too complex if everyone had to stand every time one of us entered the room. But if the Roshi comes into the room, which he would usually not do if someone is scheduled to be there so as to not interrupt, you should stand unless given a signal to remain seated. By standing, you have an opportunity to align with him in a bow to the Lineage and so you should make yourself available for this regardless of whatever you are doing - eating, doing samu, or anything else. Or he might use this meeting to provide you with some instruction (which although often said humorously, is not “just kidding”). Again, he will give you a clear signal indicating that you should just continue with what you are doing if that is what he decides is appropriate. But you should not assume that this will be the case and should be ready to stand as soon as you see him.

 

Neither Tight Nor Loose

Sometimes how we use the forms can become too tight; sometimes things can become too loose. The forms need to be clear and relaxed. Clear isn't the same as rigid; relaxed isn't the same as slackness.

 

 

Recorded Teisho Schedule

Saturday, August 18th general sitting - This World of Ten Directions: “Don’t Worry About Not Falling” (teisho 10 of 10).

Monday, August 20th general sitting - Wild Time: Zen Master Anzan Hoshin’s commentaries on Eihei Dogen zenji’s Uji: Being Time: “The Totality of Time” (teisho 2 of 10).

Tuesday, August 21st formal sitting - Mikkyo-zo: Monastic Jishu: “Three Spaces” (Class 5 of 15).

Thursday, August 23rd associate sitting - Freedom and Tyranny: A Series of Three Mondo by Ven. Shikai Zuiko osho: “Overthrowing the Inner Dictator” (Dharma Talk 1 of 3).

 

Current Teisho Series

During the 2007 Sogaku-ki O-sesshin, Ven. Anzan Hoshin roshi began a new series of teisho entitled “Doing Not-Doing part two: Zen Master Anzan Hoshin's Commentaries on Eihei Dogen zenji's "Kyojukaimon” and "Fusatsu”. The following teisho have been presented to date:

 

Reading of “Kyojukaimon” and “Daruma Isshin-kai” (May 16th, 2007)

Teisho 1: It's “Inconceivable Luminosity” (May 17th, 2007)

Teisho 2: The Eyes of All Beings (June 16th, 2007)

Teisho 3: Unbroken (August 11th, 2007)

 

 

Website Update

A Dharma Talk presented by Ven. Jinmyo Renge osho during the recent Dharma Assembly entitled “Dealing with the Demon”, has been posted on the White Wind Zen Community Website. The direct link is:

http://www.wwzc.org/Jinmyo_osho/DealingWiththeDemon.htm

 


Retreats

Nathan Krahn sat a two-day retreat on Monday and Tuesday. Gillian Higenbottam sat a half-day retreat on Monday the 13th, a partial retreat on Tuesday the 14th, a partial retreat on Wednesday the 15th and a half-day retreat on Thursday the 16th. Michael Horgan sat a one-day retreat on Wednesday. Michael Landay sat a two-day retreat on Wednesday and Thursday. Jido anagarika sat a two-day retreat on Wednesday and Thursday. Deshi Vicki Robichaud sat a half-day retreat on Thursday in her home on Gabriola Island. John McCaffrey began a two-day retreat on Thursday morning which will end on Friday evening. Francois Fournier began a two-day retreat on Friday morning which will end on Saturday evening. Cesar Aloe began a retreat on Friday morning which will end on Sunday morning. Paul Kadziora is sitting a half-day retreat today (Friday). Neil Cave, visiting from New York will begin a retreat this evening (Friday), which will end at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday.

 

 

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

Cantonese noodles with a chile-miso broth with sliced shitake, oyster, and porcini mushrooms; yellow zucchini, roll-cut, roasted with Korean fermented black beans, shoyu, and sesame oil; pepper and onion fritatta; salad of Napa cabbage and raddichio with enoki mushrooms dressed with ngoc mam, lime juice, and extra virgin olive oil.

 

Tuesday Yakuseki

Mixed grain (Lundberg Farms short-grain brown rice, Korean white and brown sticky rice, Indian barley, pearl barley, kasha, red and white quinoa, gohan, wild rice) cooked in white stock; beef side ribs poached and then slow roasted with panca chile sauce ; slow roasted pork baby back ribs, trimmed, with thyme, oregano, garlic and sambal olek; roasted large cremini and white mushrooms with extra virgin olive oil and sage; salad of chopped and seeded garden cucumbers and tomatoes, with crumbled feta, garlic chives, and parsley dressed with lime juice and extra virgin olive oil.

 

Thursday Yakuseki

Mixed grain congee with leeks, morel and chanterelle and oyster and shitake and cremini mushrooms and radish greens; atsuage tofu triangles and rectangles with a sate sauce with black mustard seeds, cumin seeds, roasted chiles, lime juice, peanuts and curry; stir-fried red and green Swiss chard with cubanelle and yellow bell peppers and red chard stalks; mung bean sprout salad with sesame oil and shoyu and minced celery leaves.

 

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 Shikai osho, “Thank you to Chiso anagarika for tatami; to Francois Fournier for hojicha, a blended green tea from Japan which has a delicate flavour with a slight smoky overtone - good hot or cold (tasted by some students during recent retreats); to Gillian Higenbottam for noticing  the empty bird feeder and taking appropriate action; to Nathan Krahn for a good start on the self-renewing herb garden to the west of the building with compost and stone delineating fences.”

From Jinmyo osho, “Thank you to David Clawson for creating a 'sandbox' mirror of the WWZC Website for the purpose of exploring Web editing with Open Source software; to John McCaffrey for a DVD entitled 'Amongst White Clouds: Buddhist hermit masters of China's Zhongnan Mountains'; thank you to Jane Brown for looking into possible locations for a rural centre.”

From Chunen ino, “Thank you to the Roshi and Jinmyo osho for delightful meals prepared for residents every week; to the Roshi for an excellent book on Ubuntu; to Shikai osho for wonderful breads and an excellent collection of fresh fruits; to Mishin tando for large supplies of fresh baby carrots; to Saigyo chiden for overseeing monastery garden samu; to Senbo shuso for loan of Cds;  to Carl Anderson for creating MP3 files for the media site; to James MacAulay for helping resolve problems with the media site; to Amber McCaffrey for a gift of coffee for the monastery residents.”

From Mishin tando, "Thank you to the Roshi for the crisp and vivid practice environment of sesshin and O-sesshin; to Shikai osho for excellent onion buns; to Nathan Comeau for archiving samu, and for lending me his cell phone when I discovered my phone was not working just before a student was scheduled to call for a telephone practice interview; to James MacAuley for work to improve the web pages for teisho CD sales."

From Saigyo chiden, “Thank you to the Roshi and Jinmyo osho for a superb mixed grain congee enjoyed as part of the Thursday evening residents meal. Thank you to Shikai osho for tending the various herbs on the grounds and for planting lemon balm last year, which has flourished. Thank you to Jinmyo osho for purchasing new pots for the plants in the archiving room. Thank you to Carys Carrington for various samu tasks, James MacAulay for continued work on the CD sales section of the WWZC website and Rob McBride for 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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