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photograph by Ven. Shaikai Zuiko osho
eMirror Vol. 11, No. 51 Friday, December 21st, 2007 Edited by Ven. Jinmyo Renge osho
Quotes from teisho are run sequentially in the eMirror
Dogen zenji says,
The eye opens out onto an ocean of colours and forms but the colours and forms swirl within it. When we open out into space then space opens within us as well. Moving a fist, opening a hand, the standing of a post or a stone lantern are all activities of coming and going, are all forms of space, are all activities of space, are all the luminosity which is radiant as all spaces. Physical space, pockets of enclosed mental spaces, the space of here and now, the space of the field of experiencing, the space of the Total Field are all arising within Aware Space. Aware Space is moving as these, as all spaces and all motion. Awakening as Aware Space, although you sit here in this specific room in this specific building at this specific address, you are uncontained.
Upcoming Events
Fusatsu and the Vow of Samantabhadra Chanting of the Precepts will take place on December 26th, January 9th and January 23rd. The Vow of Samantabhadra will be chanted on January 2nd, 16th and 30th.
Joya (New Year's Celebration) On Monday, December 31st at 10 p.m. until Tuesday, January 1st at 12:00 a.m. we will celebrate Joya or New Year's. Join Zen Master Anzan Hoshin, Ven. Shikai osho and Ven. Jinmyo osho and the monastics of the Northern Mountain Order in ringing in the New Year with 108 recitations of the Mahaprajnaparamita Hridaya sutra mantra. Following the sitting there will be an array of shojin-ryori (Zen vegetarian cuisine) dishes for an informal feast. There is no better way to begin the year. Dana is $25. Please register by sending an email to or telephone the Zen Centre office (613) 562-1568. The Tuesday 6:00 a.m. formal sitting is cancelled.
Hermitage The Roshi will begin a period of hermitage on Wednesday, January 2nd, which will end at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday, January 6th, 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, January 5th. 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.
January Two-day Sesshin The January two-day sesshin will begin at 8:00 p.m. on Friday, January 11th and will end at 6:00 p.m. on Sunday, January 13th. On Saturday, January 12th, 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, January 19th, 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.
Daiji-ki January 22nd is Daiji-ki, the anniversary of Daiji Tenku daiosho's death. Daiji Tenku daiosho was the Teacher of Joshu Dainen roshi, who was Anzan Hoshin roshi's Teacher. Anzan roshi also had the opportunity to study with Daiji Tenku daiosho.
Dharma Assembly On Saturday, January 26th, Ven. Jinmyo Renge osho will lead a Dharma Assembly 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 canceled due to the Dharma Assembly.
Hermitage The Roshi will begin a period of hermitage on January 30th, which will end on February 3rd at 10:00 a.m. when he leads monastics in Acalanatha Sadhana.
Recorded Teisho Schedule Saturday, December 22nd general sitting - Turning the Wheel of the Way: Zen Master Anzan Hoshin's commentaries on Eihei Dogen zenji's "Gyoji: Continuous Practice": "Giving and Receiving Tracelessness" (teisho 12 of 44). Sunday, December 23rd formal sitting – SAkN: Presencing the Open Body: "The Paradox of Absence and Contraction" (teisho 1 of 5). Monday, December 24th general sitting - Bright Right Through: Zen Master Anzan Hoshin's Commentaries on Dogen zenji's "Muchu Setsumu": "The Pole" (teisho 5 of 11). Saturday, December 29nd general sitting - Turning the Wheel of the Way: Zen Master Anzan Hoshin's commentaries on Eihei Dogen zenji's "Gyoji: Continuous Practice": "The Old Buddhas" (teisho 13 of 44).
Current Teisho Series During the 2007 Sogaku-ki O-sesshin in May, 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 so far: 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) Teisho 4: The Brahmajala (September 8th, 2007) Teisho 5: The Precept of the Life of Buddha (October 6, 2007) Teisho 6: The Gate of Liberation Stands Open (October 7, 2007) Teisho 7: The Three Wheels Are Traceless (October 8, 2007) Teisho 8: Something is Needed (October 9, 2007) Teisho 9: Nothing to be Deluded About (October 11, 2007) Teisho 10: All Things Are Truth (November 10, 2007) Teisho 11: Our True Body is Every Body (December 2, 2007) Teisho 12: "What Can Be Held?" (December 4, 2007) Teisho 13: A Brilliant Sea of Clouds (December 5, 2007) Teisho 14: Act Freely, Without Fabrication (December 6, 2007) Teisho 15: Just Receive It And Bow (December 7, 2007) Current Dharma Talks In October 2007, Ven. Shikai Zuiko osho began presenting the series "Every Breath You Take: Comments on 'The Practice of Purity' at Thursday evening associate sittings. These are comments on Book Eleven of the Avatamsaka Sutra, translated by Ven. Anzan Hoshin roshi and Ven. Shikai osho. Reading of "The Practice of Purity" (October 18, 2007) Reading continued (October 25, 2007) Dharma Talk 1: At Home (November 1, 2007) Dharma Talk 2: Parents (November 8, 2007) Dharma Talk 3: Spouses and Children (November 22, 2007) Dharma Talk 4: Goals (December 13, 2007) Dharma Talk 5: Amusement (December 20, 2007) On October 27, 2007, Ven. Jinmyo Renge osho led a Dharma Assembly during which she presented a Dharma Talk entitled "The Dragon in His Waters, the Tiger in Her Mountains", Part One of Three. Ven. Jinmyo Renge osho's Commentaries on Dogen zenji's "Fukanzazengi". On December 8, 2007, Ven. Chunen ino presented a Dharma Talk entitled "Don't Waste Time" at Shukke Tokudo, when he was recognized as a taiko or monastic senior.
Congratulations Congratulations and deep gassho to Elizabeth Eve on being accepted as an associate student by the Roshi. Elizabeth is a resident of Ottawa.
Retreats Nicole Lewis began a retreat on Saturday morning which ended on Sunday at 6:00 p.m. Jennifer Comeau sat a one-day retreat on Monday. Henry Dawe sat a one-day retreat on Wednesday. Jennifer Comeau sat a partial retreat on 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.
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. The following meals were prepared on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday evenings, prior to the sittings.
Monday Yakuseki: Ploughman's Lunch Pies: mashed potatoes atop onions sauteed in extra virgin olive oil and butter, mixed with Dijon mustard, and in one case chevre and fennel seeds, in the other cheddar with Greek sage, both baked with a panko (Japanese bread crumb) crust; bok choy sum and Shanghai bok choy with butter and lime; cotton and silken tofu and baby white mushrooms roasted with a sweet chile barbecue sauce. Tuesday Yakuseki: Brown rice with butter; chile con carne with San Marzano tomatoes, plum tomatoes, red bell peppers, cubanelle and poblano and Anaheim peppers, Spanish onions, elephant garlic, habanero and jalapeno and chipotle and red and green chiles, red wine, passata, ground beef, chickpeas and white kidney and black beans, cumin seeds and epazote; fennel and white onion slaw with lime and mayonnaise. Thursday Yakuseki: Mixed grain (Lundberg Farm short-grain brown rice, pearled barley, Korean white and brown sticky rice, Thai rice, gohan, quinoa, millet, sorghum, toasted kasha, arborio rice, white and brown basmati rice) green cabbage, red bell peppers, and puffed tofu in a tamarind soup with coriander leaves; Mexican asparagus with memmi and Chinese black vinegar; thickly sliced shitake and torn chanterelle mushrooms in a Thai red curry gravy; salad of Granny Smith apple, Lebanese cucumbers, pickled burdock root and gari marinated in lime juice and ginger pickling liquid.
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, but be sure to type "eMirror" in the subject line.
From Mishin tando: Thank you to the Roshi for the extensive collection of books, music CDs, and DVDs from many different genre that he makes available to monastics and formal students; to Shikai osho for presenting the ongoing series of Dharma Talks, "Every Breath You Take: Comments on "The Practice of Purity"; to Jinmyo osho for editing the eMirror each week together with the many other things that she does; to Senbo shuso for data entry of dana contributions into the accounting program; to Jane Brown and Francois Fournier for assisting with dana processing; to students who are making themselves available to assist with soji (preparation of the practice halls) before sittings and samu such as archiving, cleaning, and snow shoveling to help maintain the practice environment. From Saigyo chiden: Thank you to the Roshi, Shikai osho and Jinmyo osho for their ceaseless efforts to make this practice available to anyone willing to learn. Thank you to Shikai osho for "Amusement", the latest Dharma Talk in the "Every Breath You Take" series and for re-finishing the side door wooden boot rack. Thank you to Jinmyo osho for her unfailing good humour; to Muryo for assistance in organising and scheduling the activities of the Caretaking Council. Thank you to Jido anagarika for donating a dust extraction system to be used in the workshop and to Nathan Comeau and Cesar Aloe for samu to assist in installing it; to Nathan Krahn for coming to the monastery to help residents shovel snow after the huge snow fall on Sunday. Thank you to those students who make themselves available to help the monastics with archiving activities.
Ongoing
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.
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. Many hundreds of dollars has been collected so far both in loose change and Canadian tire money which has been put towards the building maintenance fund. If anyone would like to contribute to this fund, each penny will be appreciated.
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