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The Lotus sutra
eMirror Vol. 12, No. 1 Friday, January 4th, 2008 Edited by Ven. Jinmyo Renge osho
Beginning year 12 of weekly issues Quotes from teisho are run sequentially in the eMirror
Dogen zenji goes on, The Awakened One Sakyamuni said, "I alone know the true form of all experiences and this can be said of all the Awakened Ones throughout the ten directions." This is another quotation drawn from the Skilful Means chapter of the Lotus Discourse. The "I alone" in this phrase is tied to another phrase from the Lotus that Dogen often used: "Only a Buddha and a Buddha." Only a Buddha can understand what a Buddha has realized and all Buddhas have the same understanding and realization. So the Buddha's statement that "I alone know the true form of experiences" does not mean that you cannot know it too. It means that in order for you to know it, you must become intimate with it. You must Wake Up as it.
Upcoming Events
Fusatsu and the Vow of Samantabhadra Chanting of the Precepts will take place on January 9th and January 23rd. The Vow of Samantabhadra will be chanted on January 16th and 30th.
Hermitage The Roshi began 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.
Samu Weekend The first Samu Weekend of 2008 will be held on February 23rd and 24th. The activities for the weekend are yet to be finalized. Please pencil these dates into your calender. To register, please send an email to Saigyo chiden at saigyo at telecomottawa dot net or telephone the office answering machine at 613-562-1568 to leave a message.
Practice Calendar January-June 2008 The January - June 2008 Practice Calendar has been posted on the Home Page of the White Wind Zen Community Website (http://www.wwzc.org/) in PDF format. The direct link to download the Calendar is: http://www.wwzc.org/documents/2008-1.pdf
Recorded Teisho Schedule Saturday, January 5th general sitting - Turning the Wheel of the Way: Zen Master Anzan Hoshin's commentaries on Eihei Dogen zenji's "Gyoji: Continuous Practice": "The Old Nest" (teisho 14 of 44).
Monday, January 7th general sitting - Bright Right Through: Zen Master Anzan Hoshin's Commentaries on Dogen zenji's "Muchu Setsumu": "Bow" (teisho 7 of 11).
Saturday, January 12th associate sitting - Immo: Suchness: Zen Master Anzan Hoshin's commentaries on Eihei Dogen zenji's Immo: "Only Silence" (teisho 6 of 18).
Joya Teisho On Monday, December 31st, 2007, Ven. Anzan Hoshin roshi presented a teisho entitled "Odd" during Joya (New Year's celebration).
Dharma Talk On Thursday, January 3rd, Ven. Shikai Zuiko osho presented a Dharma Talk entitled "Adornments". This is the seventh Dharma Talk in the series "Every Breath you Take: Comments on 'The Practice of Purity': Book Eleven of the Avatamsaka Sutra", translated by Ven. Anzan Hoshin roshi and Ven. Shikai osho.
Training Session Gillian Higenbottam finished a two-week training session on Friday, during which she attended all scheduled sittings open to associate and general students.
Maitri Bhavana On Monday Charles Enman completed two weeks of daily Maitri Bhavana practice under the guidance of Jinmyo osho.
Retreats Andrew Campbell began a retreat on Friday, December 28th, which ended on the morning of Sunday, the 30th. Jennifer Comeau sat a one-day retreat on Saturday. Samantha Drouin sat a one-day retreat on Saturday. Neil Porter sat a partial retreat on Thursday. Francois Fournier sat a one-day retreat on Thursday.
To Schedule a Retreat Please email schedule at wwzc dot org to schedule a retreat, even if you have made verbal arrangements with a practice advisor or a Dharma Teacher. Emails sent to that address are routed to all members of the Practice Council who will need this information for the purposes of meal planning, preparing tapes for your retreat and planning samu assignments. Retreats are defined in the following way:
Half-day Retreat (you would need to arrive 15 minutes before the actual starting time) Begin at 6:00 a.m., end at noon. Or begin at 9:30 a.m., end at 6:00. Or begin at 3:00 p.m., end at 9:10. Partial Retreat (You would need to arrive 15 minutes before the actual starting time) Begin at 6:00 a.m., end at 6:00 p.m. Or begin at 9:30 a.m., end at 9:10 p.m. Full retreat (you would need to arrive by 5:45) Begin at 6:00 a.m., end at 9:10 p.m. Please remember to bring a change of clothes suitable for samu (caretaking practice). If staying overnight, please remember to bring a sleeping bag, a towel and other such necessities. If you have been diagnosed by a medical doctor as having allergies to specific foods, please contact the tenzo, Jinmyo osho at 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: Sa ho (rice "river" noodles) in soup with Chinese celery, shitake mushrooms, and chopped Korean cabbage; roasted grape tomatoes and yellow zucchini with Sichuan peppercorns; sliced maka atsuage tofu squares roasted with shoyu, sesame oil, and gomasio.
Tuesday Joya meal:
Festive meals:
Lunch at 12:30 in Dining Hall:
Camp stoves at either end the table for Sukiyaki (Mongolian hotpot) and bulgogi (Korean grilled beef) with thinly sliced Alberta beef, cubed sirloin caps, thinly sliced chicken breast, and eryingi mushrooms both marinated for grilling or plain for the simmering tong ho (chrysanthemum greens) and ginger broth (which becomes a soup at the conclusion of the meal); tong ho greens with lime and mirin; baechu, baek, kkakdugi, and dong chimi kimchi; an array of junmai and other sake.
Light meal at 7:30 in Common Room:
Olive bread and kimchi bread with assorted cheeses and pates, plum tomatoes roasted with green chiles, wine etc.
Thursday Yakuseki: "Macaroni and cheese" (cavatapi pasta, caramelized onions, extra-old goat cheese and havarti, topped with panko and baked); tomato-bean soup made with San Marzano tomatoes and red and white kidney beans; warm salad of sauteed fennel, blanched sugar snap peas, cubanelle and red bell pepper, seasoned with salt, pepper, and white balsamic vinegar.
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 Jinmyo osho, Thank you to the Roshi for shaking off proprietary locked-in formats that have limited our ability to provide the Dharma to coming generations or even our ability to use documents from only a decade ago. Shifting our computing into Linux, FOSS, and sustainable formats means that corporations cannot dictate what we can and cannot do in presenting and maintaining the Dharma. Thank you to Chunen ino for the many hours he spends learning about everything from Mac/Window/Linux computers, to wiring, networks, printers, telephones, to ensure that monastery equipment is working; to Mishin tando for overseeing all tasks associated with the Office of the Treaurer (and doing most of them herself), as well as keeping the very large teisho database accurate and up-to-date; to Saigyo chiden for his willingness to do what needs to be done to keep the monastery in the best state of repair it has been in decades; to Senbo shuso for following through with learning how to do what we used to do in closed locked-in systems with the many FOSS (Free and Open Source Software)that Roshi has recommended in order to produce our Practice Calendar. Thank you to students who arrive early or stay after sittings to do samu tasks such as cleaning practice rooms, cleaning other areas of the building and snow shoveling. From Mishin tando: Thank you to the Roshi for the celebration of Joya, the presentation of the teisho "Odd", and the midnight chanting of 108 recitations of "Gate Gate Paragate Parasamgate Bodhisvaha" from the Mahaprajnaparamita Hridaya Sutra; to the Roshi, Shikai osho, and Jinmyo osho for the very enjoyable mid-day and evening meals on New Year's Day; to Jinmyo osho for Thursday evening's delicious cavatappi and goat cheese pasticcio. From Saigyo chiden: Thank you to Senbo shuso for creating the new practice calender for the first half of 2008 and for work to create templates for labelling the recorded teisho which will enable us to use open source software. Thank you to Nathan Comeau for making the teisho poster each week and to Neil Porter for samu to insulate the windows in the Undo (Cloud Hall).
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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