Photograph by Ven. Anzan Hoshin roshi

 

eMirror Vol. 11, No. 39

Friday, September 28th 2007

Edited by Ven. Jinmyo Renge osho

 

 


Quotes from teisho are run sequentially in the eMirror

 

Dogen zenji says,

 

Naked Awareness contains and illuminates the ten directions of the universe because the luminosity of Experiencing is its very bone and marrow.

 

        Dogen zenji uses the term “sekishin” which I have translated as “Naked Awareness”. Literally it means “red mind” in the sense of naked, peeled, or raw. It also has certain meanings in the context of the Mikkyo-zo Teachings.

        Many traditions of Buddhist practice have fallen under the weight of the strategies and misunderstandings of self-image that people have brought to them. Self-image continually tries to apply its kind of simple-minded complexity to the Dharma, to capture and restrain it in the categories and assumptions that make sense to it. As a consequence the kind of thinking that is locked into positions of inside and outside, self and other, permanent and impermanent, holy and profane, spiritual and material will eventually distort the Dharma into its own shape unless Teachers and students take great care to speak and listen from the radical reality of the actual practice.

        In many of those traditions the strategies of avoidance and recoil, so intrinsic to self-image, have replaced the practice of attending straightforwardly and openly. This manifests in many ways from attempts to fabricate particular emotional states and to avoid others, to understanding sunya as a blank canvas before any colours have touched it or after it has all been painted over in white or black, to searching for the essence of mind as a particular kind of mind. The balance of samatha and vipasyana becomes thrown to one side or the other. Some traditions try to put them back together again but do so in an unwieldy fashion because the nature and purpose of practice is not understood deeply and intimately. For example, some have advocated spending years upon concentration practices before beginning the process of insight. This involves developing a narrower and narrower range of focus until there is no sense of distraction whatsoever because no experiences of any kind are allowed except for the sensation of the concentration state itself. This is understood as peeling away the outer layers of the mind to reach its core or essence. Reaching and abiding in this state is then interpreted as insight, as Awakening. This kind of misunderstanding distorts the Dharma entirely until it is no more than another form of the spiritual and cosmological distractions that one finds in various kinds of Hinduism, primitive shamanism, neo-Platonism and other such traditions that have been in many ways mainstream within various cultures but are always bogs and backwaters in the context of our actual experience. Others recommend the development of such a concentration state as the basis for then giving rise to a thought about reality such as “everything is empty” and call this the practice of insight and believe that eventually becoming thoroughly convinced by this powerfully held thought is Awakening.

        None of this has anything to do with the realized-practice Transmitted by the Buddhas and Awakened Ancestors of our Lineage.

 

-Ven. Anzan Hoshin roshi, continuing teiso 2: “Naked Awareness” in the the teisho series “Five Fingers, Ten Directions: Commentaries on Eihei Dogen zenji's text 'Jippo'”, presented Saturday, April 14, 2001.

 

 

Upcoming Events

 

Fusatsu and the Vow of Samantabhadra

Chanting of the Precepts will take place on October 10th and October 24th. The Vow of Samantabhadra will be chanted on October 3rd , 17th , and 31st .

 

Hermitage

The Roshi began 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).

 

Daruma-ki O-sesshin

The 7-day Daruma-ki O-sesshin will begin at 8:00 p.m. on Friday, October 5th and will end at noon on Friday, the 12th of October. Deshi and monastics are reminded to send in their schedules as soon as is possible.

  During the week of the O-sesshin there will be two sittings that associate and general students may attend: Saturday, October 6th , beginning at 9:30 a.m. (please arrive by 9:15 for first bell), ending at 11:30. Saturday, October 6th , beginning at 3:00 p.m. (please arrive by 2:45 for first bell), ending at 5:30. 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 a 7-day 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 these 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, October 20 th, 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.

 

Dharma Assembly

The next Dharma Assembly will be led by Ven. Jinmyo Renge osho and will take place on October 27th . 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 at wwzc dot org or leave a message on the office answering machine at 613-562-1568. 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, October 31st , which will end on Sunday, November 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, November 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 .

Recorded Teisho Schedule

Saturday, September 29th general sitting - Turning the Wheel of the Way: Zen Master Anzan Hoshin's commentaries on Eihei Dogen zenji's "Gyoji: Continuous Practice": "Big Kasyapa" (teisho 5 of 44).

Sunday, September 30th formal sitting - SAkN: The Anatomy of Awakening: "The Matter of Consciousness" (teisho 6 of 7).

Monday, October 1st general sitting - Wild Time: Zen Master Anzan Hoshin's commentaries on Eihei Dogen zenji's Uji: Being Time: "Arising Attains Itself" (teisho 7 of 10).

Tuesday, October 2nd formal sitting - Mikkyo-zo: Monastic Jishu: "Komyo Shingon" (class 9 of 15).

Thursday, October 4th associate sitting - Immo: Suchness: Zen Master Anzan Hoshin's commentaries on Eihei Dogen zenji's Immo: "The Thing about 'This Thing of Suchness'" (teisho 2 of 18).

Saturday, October 6th associate sittings - Immo: Suchness: Zen Master Anzan Hoshin's commentaries on Eihei Dogen zenji's Immo: "Radiant Suchness" (teisho 3 of 18).

 

Training Session

Michael Hammond completed a one-week Training Session from September 11th to 18th in his home in Cornwall, Prince Edward Island

 

Retreats

Francois Fournier sat a two-day retreat on Saturday and Sunday. Cesar Aloe sat a one-day retreat on Sunday. Graham Mayeda sat a two-day retreat on Sunday and Monday. Jennifer Comeau began a seven-day retreat on Monday. Curtis Cheslock sat half-day retreats on Monday and Tuesday. Michael Landay sat a two-day retreat on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

 

 

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 rengezo at vianet dot ca, 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.

 

Training Sessions and Short Residential Training Periods for Associate and General Students

There are a number of options available to associate and general students who wish to practice more intensively, such as sitting a full or partial retreat for one or several days, or extending their practice at home to include two or three rounds.

  In addition, associate or general students may register for a “training session”. This requires making a commitment to a one-week, month-long, or three month period during which they would attend all of the formal sittings at the monastery, morning and evening with the exception of Tuesday evening and Sunday morning (which are reserved for formal students and monastics) while continuing to live at home. The training sessions are intended to allow students to experience what it is like to participate in the monastery's full schedule. Formal sittings are led by Roshi and include chanting practice and more extensive use of the forms. Students engaging in a training session would also have more opportunities to meet with Dharma Teachers or practice advisors to discuss their practice. At the end of a training session, students would return to their normal schedule. There would be no extra dana involved in practising a training session.

  With the Undo serving as a dormitory space students can register for periods of residential training at Dainen-ji for anywhere from overnight to several weeks. This involves attending the practice schedule, evening meals, participation in regular soji (cleaning the practice halls) and samu (care-taking). During the days one would go to one's job or could do extra sitting and study outside of a retreat schedule. The dana for this is $40 a day; work scholarships can also be arranged.

  To register for a training session or residential training, please send an email to schedule at wwzc dot org or telephone the Zen Centre office at (613) 562-1568 and leave a message.

  When scheduling a training session, please remember not to include dates that fall within a sesshin or an O-sesshin.

 

Autumn Garden Work

As the summer turns to Autumn, help will be appreciated to keep the grounds of the monastery tidy. If you can offer some time for this please contact Saigyo chiden at saigyo at telecomottawa dot net or by leaving a message on the office answering machine at 613 562 1568


 

Sa ho fun

 

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

Sa ho fun (rice "river" noodles) steamed with thinly sliced green cabbage and white onion; hot and sour soup with large shitake and oyster mushrooms, atsuage tofu triangles, black beans, black fungus, wakame seaweed, Shiwan Miju wine, roasted chile oil and sesame oil, Sichuan peppercorns, lime; salad of blanched sugar snap peas, carrot strips, baby Shanghai bok choy, and dai gai choy dressed with sesame oil, ngoc mam and ponzu.

 

Tuesday Yakuseki

Twelve Mixed grains (Lundberg Farms short-grain brown rice, pearled barley, pearled wheat, sorghum, Korean white and brown sticky rice, millet, kasha, Indian barley, quinoa, gohan, wild rice); colossal shrimp cooked with olive oil, salt, black pepper and togarashi; miso shiru made with baby Shanghai bokchoy and silken tofu; takuan and ginger.

 

Thursday Yakuseki

Mixed grain of roasted sorgum, plain sorgum, and gohan topped with toasted corn; butternut squash soup seasoned with chipotle and adobo, served with a dollop of Mediterranean yogurt and toasted walnuts; roasted tofu with chunks of poblano, red Shepherd bell and yellow bell peppers; sauteed collard greens, dai gai choy, and baby Shanghai bokchoy with lime juice.

 

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 for the loan of many books about the Dharma; to Jinmyo osho for a delicious Thursday evening meal, especially the butternut squash soup garnished with yogurt and walnuts; to Chunen ino for the Senior's Dharma Talk 'It's Worse Than You Realize But Better Than You Think' that he presented on Thursday evening to a completely full Hatto".

From Saigyo chiden , "Thank you to the Roshi for leading Fusatsu on Wednesday even whilst ill with the flu and for reminding us to go out and enjoy the harvest moon on Wednesday evening before he went into hermitage. Thank you to Shikai osho for very fun road trip to explore areas for a possible rural centre and to Jinmyo osho for preparing a most delicious meal for residents on Thursday, which included a superb butternut squash soup. Thank you to Chunen ino for a wonderful Dharma Talk presented on Thursday evening. Thank you to Nathan Comeau for samu to help install a new lock set on the back door, Neil Porter for continued work to repair the front porch pillar bases and to John McCaffrey for a thoughtful gift."

From Francois Fournier , "Thank you to Jinmyo osho, to Saigyo chiden and to Chunen ino for their constant reminders to 'Keep it Simple' during my retreat last weekend. Thank you as well to Shikai osho for the delightfully creative refreshments."

From Gillian Higenbottam:  "Thank you to the Roshi for the opportunity to sit retreats in such a disciplined and supportive practice environment (and also for the improbable Mountain of Rocks in freefall that has appeared on the hatto shelf); to the Dharma teachers and practice advisors for all their help and humour; to the Practice Council for allowing me to adjust my sitting schedule on Sunday afternoon; and to Shikai osho for offering retreatant refreshments that are always interesting and tasty and often include something homebaked as a bonus."


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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