Dainen-ji, February 26th, photograph by Ven. Anzan Hoshin roshi

 

eMirror Vol. 12, No. 9

Friday, February 29th, 2008

Edited by Ven. Jinmyo Renge osho


 

Quotes from teisho are run sequentially in the eMirror

 

 Dogen zenji only uses the first part of Master Changsha's Teaching. We will consider all of this in a little while. However I thought we could perhaps briefly pick up the rest of the story and see what is going on there.

 

            Changsha says, "Throughout all worlds in the ten directions there is no one that is not you. This is what I have been Teaching you when I say that all of the Buddhas, dharmas, all sentient beings of the three worlds are the great luminosity of perfect knowing.

            "But before this light shined, where were you? Before this light shined, before Buddhas and before sentient beings, from where did mountains, rivers, the great earth come?"

 

            Luminosity is utterly ungraspable although it is right here as the five fingers and palm of your own hand and as the ten directions which spring from every point of space. Still, Changsha knows it must be pointed out for the liberation of beings. But when something is said about this luminosity it can be as if weeds fill the Hatto, the Dharma Hall, as students become entangled in thinking about luminosity, telling themselves stories about luminosity, instead of opening into what recognition might have stirred within them together with Changsha's words. And so Changsha cancels out the idea of luminosity and asks: What is before all of this? What is before not only the idea of luminosity but primordially before Buddhas and sentient beings, before the mountains and rivers, before worlds, before anything at all? What is it, nakedly?

 

A monk asked, "What is this monk's eye?"

 

            The monk was still stuck on what Changsha had said earlier. "This monk's eye? Which monk? My eye? Your eye? Do you mean the actual eyeball? Or perhaps you mean the way that you can see your face reflected in the pupil and iris of someone else's eye when you look real close? What do you mean?"

 

Changsha said, "So vast and wide you can never leave it.' Then Changsha also said, "Those who become Buddhas and Ancestors cannot leave it. The six realms cannot leave it."

 

            The eyes, seeing, the fact of experiencing, of Knowing is so vast and wide you can never leave it, so what are you looking for? Even the Buddhas and Ancestors, the six realms of the wheel of birth and death arise within it. It is the context in which all contexts arise, the space in which all spaces and the forms of space come and go.

 

The monk said, "I don't understand what it is that they can't leave."

Changsha said, "Throughout the day, see the sun. Throughout the night, see the moon."

            There is always luminosity. Look up at the sun. There it is. Look up at the moon. There it is. It is the looking, the seeing.

The monk said, "I don't understand."

Changsha said, "The high mountains are piled blue upon blue."

 

            It extends everywhere. It looms like ranges of high mountains, blue with the blue of the sky, the bright sunlight, the haze of clouds.

 

-Ven. Anzan Hoshin roshi, continuing teisho 5: "Sun and Moon, Hands and Eyes" in the the teisho series "Five Fingers, Ten Directions: Commentaries on Eihei Dogen zenji's text 'Jippo'", presented Tuesday, May 15, 2001.

 

Upcoming Events

 

Fusatsu and the Vow of Samantabhadra

Chanting of the Precepts will take place on March 5th and March 19th. The Vow of Samantabhadra will be chanted on March 12th and March 26th.

 

Hermitage

The Roshi began a period of hermitage on Wednesday, February 27th, which will end at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday, March 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, March 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.  

 

March Two-day Sesshin

The March two-day sesshin will begin at 8:00 p.m. on Friday, March 7th and will end at 6:00 p.m. on Sunday, March 9th. On Saturday March 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, March 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.

 

Keizan-ki

March 21st is the memorial for Keizan Jokin zenji.

 

Dharma Assembly

On Saturday, March 22nd, Ven. Jinmyo Renge osho will lead a Dharma Assembly entitled "the Dragon in His Waters,

 the Tiger in Her Mountains" 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.

 

Recorded Teisho Schedule

Saturday, March 1st general sitting - Turning the Wheel of the Way: Zen Master Anzan Hoshin's commentaries on Eihei Dogen zenji's "Gyoji: Continuous Practice": "This Intimate Place" (teisho 19 of 44).

Sunday, March 2nd formal sitting – SAkN: Tathagatagarbha: "The Flash of Knowing" (teisho 2 of 4).

Monday, March 3rd general sitting - The Landscape of Reality: "Flowers Fall" (teisho 3 of 12).

Tuesday, March 4th formal sitting - Being Between-Being: Zen Master Anzan Hoshin's Teachings on practicing throughout the process of death: "Full Moon Fades" (teisho 1 of 5).

Saturday, March 7th associate sittings - Immo: Suchness: Zen Master Anzan Hoshin's commentaries on Eihei Dogen zenji's Immo: "People of Suchness" (teisho 8 of 18).

 

Current Dharma Talk

On Thursday, February 28th, Ven. Shikai Zuiko osho presented the 13th Dharma Talk in the series "Every Breath You Take". The Dharma Talk was entitled "Being Without Struggle."

 

Retreats and Training Sessions

Nathan Comeau sat a two-day retreat on Wednesday and Thursday. Neil Porter sat a partial retreat on Thursday. Isshin sat a one-day retreat on Thursday. John McCaffrey began a two-day retreat this morning (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 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

For Students Living in Ottawa:

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.

For Public Students:

            This requires making a commitment to a one-week, month-long, or three-month period during which public students sit zazen according to the following schedule:

Monday morning: 6:00 a.m. to 7:25 a.m.; Monday evening: 7:30 to 9:10 p.m.

Tuesday morning: 6:00 a.m. to 7:25 a.m.

Wednesday morning: 6:00 a.m. to 7:25 a.m.

Thursday morning: 6:00 a.m. to 7:25 a.m.; Tuesday evening: 7:30 to 9:10 p.m.

Friday morning 6:00 a.m. to 7:25 a.m. (Friday is Hossan and there are no scheduled sittings at the monastery, but students are expected to sit at home).

Saturday morning: 6:00 a.m. to 7:25 a.m.

Sunday morning: 6:00 a.m. to 7:25 a.m.

            Public students who wish to do a Training Session should send an email to schedule at wwzc dot org to state their intention and specify the duration and schedule of their Training Session. After completing the Training Session, please send an email to Jinmyo osho at rengezo at gmail dot com to confirm that you have fulfilled your commitment and notice of it will be included in the eMirror.

 

Address Updates for Charitable Tax Receipts

 

Tax receipts for dana contributions made between January-December 2007 will be ready before the end of February. If you have moved in the past year, or are not certain that we have your current address on file, please email your address information to me at mishin at trytel dot com. Thank you to the Sangha for your generosity with dana contribution. - Gassho, Mishin tando, treasurer.

 


photograph by Ven. Shikai Zuiko osho

 

February Samu Weekend Report

The first Samu Weekend of 2008 took place on February 23rd and 24th, with 27 students attending over the two days. Amongst the many tasks being worked on, the main project over the two days was to re-paint the front hallway. On the Thursday and Friday prior to the weekend, Saigyo chiden and other students offering samu spent time cleaning, patching, repairing, filling and sanding so that the walls and trim were ready for painting by the Saturday morning. With up to eight students working together at any one time, we managed to apply three coats of paint over the two days as well as taking care of numerous small details such as completely removing old paint from the door and window hardware. The front hallway now looks wonderful. 

            Other projects which were done over the weekend included painting the floor of the 2nd floor washroom; installing new shoji style mac-tac on the glass doors of the Shuryo cupboards; cleaning the walls of the Hatto and of the kitchen; cleaning the high shelves in the kitchen; a great deal of work on the computer systems in the building; overhauling the venting for the dryer; and extensive amounts of administrative samu.

            Thank you to the Roshi and Jinmyo osho for designing and preparing the excellent meals and refreshments enjoyed by the participants over the two days.  Thank you to the following students who attended the samu weekend:

            Chunen ino, Mishin tando, Senbo shuso, Jido anagarika, Muryo, Jennifer Comeau, Gillian Higenbottam, Philip Martel, Sophia Stevenson, Elizabeth Katz, Samantha Drouin, Micheal Lifshitz, Graham Mayeda, Jack Deyirmendjian, John McCaffrey, Francois Fournier, Roger Clark, Paul Kadziora, Doug Somers, Jan Elliot, Caroline Kadziora, Elizabeth Eve, Carys Carrington, Neil Porter, Charles Enman and Alexis Fiset.     

-Gassho, Saigyo chiden, shiussi.  

 


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, prior to evening sittings:

 

Monday Yakuseki

Mixed grain (Lundberg Farms short-grain brown rice, Korean and Thai white sticky rice, Korean brown sticky rice, barley, gohan, white Thai rice, barley, arborio rice, pearled wheat, kasha and Chinese white rice) seasoned with salt, pepper and roasted chili oil; roasted chopped fennel with Xiaoxing wine; atsuage tofu squares and chopped yellow bell peppers roasted with shoyu and sesame oil; chile miso soup with black trumpet and oyster mushrooms.

 

Tueday Yakuseki

Chili with San Marzano tomatoes, white onions, red and yellow bell peppers, cubanelle peppers, red bird chiles, green chiles, chipotle and adobo, ground beef, red and white kidney beans, black beans, chick peas, toasted cumin and black mustard seeds, oregano, sage, red wine, lime; fresh buttered wheat and corn tortilla chips with chipotle and jalapeno seasoning; roasted hedgehog, black trumpet, and quartered white mushrooms with chorizo sausage thinly sliced on the bias and extra virgin olive oil; slaw of red cabbage and Spanish onion dressed with balsamic vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, and dried pomegranate seeds; mixed grain.

 

Thursday Yakuseki

Kishimen noodles with strips of caramelized onion, seasoned with gojuchang sauce, shoyu and ginger threads; scrambled eggs with chunks of seared red bell pepper; carrot noodle salad dressed with lime juice, salt, pepper and roasted chili oil; stir-fried kale and baby shanghai bok choy seasoned with lime juice, salt and pepper.

 

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 and Jinmyo osho for the excellent meals presented during Samu Weekend; to Shikai osho for making a Wednesday evening treat of a spicy pizza on filo crust; to Jinmyo osho for editing the eMirror each week and exploring software options to simplify the process of posting on the web site; to Saigyo chiden for organizing the Samu Weekend and to the students who came to the Samu Weekend, resulted in a re-painted and much-brightened front hallway and the accomplishment of many other projects around the building that contribute to maintaining and improving the practice environment.

From Saigyo chiden: Thank you to Shikai osho for keeping a thorough photographic record of the activities of White Wind Zen Community through the years. Thank you to Mishin tando for the huge amount of work over the last weeks as administrator to "close the books" for 2007. Thank you to Neil Porter and Gillian Higenbottam for continued work on new trim for the main stairs. To Curtis Cheslock for weekly samu and to Guillaume Albert, Sophia Stevenson, Samantha Drouin and Carys Carrington for regular archiving work.

From Graham Mayeda: Thank you to the Roshi and all the monastics who chanted the Komyo Shingon in the forty-nine days following the death of my grandmother in early January.

 


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 in 2007, was again delayed due to the necessity of a urgent roof repair to the west side of the roof. This repair 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 fund raise 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 spring and the improved facilities will be available in early 2008. 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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