Enso by Ven. Anzan Hoshin roshi

 

eMirror Vol. 12, No. 2

Friday, January 11th, 2008

Edited by Ven. Jinmyo Renge osho

 


 

 

Quotes from teisho are run sequentially in the eMirror

 

Dogen zenji says,

 

You should understand that this form is something like a circle. It means that, "a long bamboo staff is long and a short one is short." That's it and that's all. All of the Awakened Ones throughout the ten directions know this "form" and therefore Sakyamuni knows it also. "I know true form" is the same for all Awakened Ones throughout the universe. It is my form, the form of Knowing, the form of Reality, the form of the ten directions, the form of this realm of Saha, the form of Sakyamuni.

 

        The true form of all experiences or "shoho jisso" is like a circle or enso because it encompasses and enfolds everything. An ink enso brushed on paper is vivid and dynamic and has a quality of motion although it is a static image through the energy of the brushstroke. All dharmas, all things, are rising and falling, coming and going, turning within space but never move from their actual nature.

        This "true form" is shaped like your hand, like your eye, like a zafu, like the sounds, like the smell of fresh water, like the feeling of the tongue in the mouth, like the ten directions. Dogen uses Cuiwei Wuxue's phrase, "a long bamboo staff is long and a short one is short" to say that the particularity of each thing, the definiteness of each thing is the presence of Reality. Long is long but only because of and compared to short, and short is short but only because of long. These differences between things depend upon each other and themselves demonstrate mutuality rather than isolation. A long staff is long, a short one is short. Simply and straightforwardly, each is the true form of Reality.

                       

 

-Ven. Anzan Hoshin roshi, continuing teisho 4: "A Whole World" in the the teisho series "Five Fingers, Ten Directions: Commentaries on Eihei Dogen zenji's text 'Jippo'", presented Monday, May 14, 2001.

 

 

Upcoming Events

 

Fusatsu and the Vow of Samantabhadra

Chanting of the Precepts will take place on January 23rd, February 6th and February 20th. The Vow of Samantabhadra will be chanted on January 16th and 30th and on February 27th.

 

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.

 

Introduction to Zen Workshop

Ven. Jinmyo Renge osho will present the next Introduction to Zen Workshop at Dainen-ji on Saturday, February 2nd. 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.  

 

Nehan O-sesshin

The Nehan O-sesshin will begin at 8:00 p.m. on Friday, February 8th, and will end on Friday, February 15th at noon. Formal students are reminded to send their schedules to schedule at wwzc dot org as soon as is possible.

            During the O-sesshin, there will be two sittings held in the Zendo on Saturday, February 9th, which associate and general students may attend. The first sitting begins at 9:30 a.m. (please arrive by 9:15 in time for first Bell); the sitting ends at 11:30. The second sitting begins at 3:00 (please arrive by 2:45 in time for first Bell); the sitting ends at 5:00. 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 an 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 they 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, February 16th, 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 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.

 

Hermitage

The Roshi will begin 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.

 

 

Recorded Teisho Schedule

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).

Monday, January 14th general sitting - Bright Right Through: Zen Master Anzan Hoshin's commentaries on Dogen zenji's "Muchu Setsumu": "Rolling Up and Rolling Out" (teisho 8 of 11).

 

Tuesday, January 15th formal sitting - Mikkyo-zo: Monastic Jishu: "Jnanasattva" (class 12 of 15).

 

Saturday, January 19th general sitting - Turning the Wheel of the Way: Zen Master Anzan Hoshin's commentaries on Eihei Dogen zenji's "Gyoji: Continuous Practice": "Fachang's Stupa" (teisho 15 of 44).

 

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 10th, Ven. Shikai Zuiko osho presented the eighth 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.

 

Retreats

Denise Murphy sat a partial retreat in her home in Scarborough on January 5th. Jennifer Comeau sat a two-day retreat on Saturday and Sunday. Alexis Fiset sat a one-day retreat on Sunday. Isshin sat a one-day retreat in her home on Gabriola Island on Thursday. Robert Lupien began a retreat on Wednesday at 3:00 p.m., which will end today (Friday) at noon.

 

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.

                                    

"Tenzo enso" by Ven. Anzan Hoshin roshi

 

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:

Thai red curry with sweet onions, red bell peppers, cubanelle and poblano peppers, quartered cremini mushrooms, oyster and shitake mushrooms, quartered daikon pieces, lemongrass, kafir lime leaves, red and green chiles, coriander, mirin, ngoc mam, lime, and coconut milk; roasted chopped fennel with roasted chile oil; roasted sliced atsuage tofu with garlic and red chile purree; Thai jasmine rice.

 

Tuesday Yakuseki:

Chinese broad egg noodles tossed with leeks, sliced shitake mushrooms, mirin, shoyu and Japanese citrus "vinegar"; sweet onion, red bell and poblano peppers, pressed smoked tofu roasted with sweet chile sauce; salad of blanched dai gai choy, sugar snap peas, bok choy sum, and Shanghai bok choy dressed with lemon and roasted chile oil.

 

Thursday Yakuseki:

Chickpea curry with cremini mushrooms, rendered and pureed onion, red bell pepper, plum tomato, ginger, garlic, garam masala, chipotle, cayenne, toasted cumin and white mustard seeds, and lime juice; roasted red and green plum tomatoes with basil and chaat masala; Lundberg Farm short grain brown rice and gohan; slaw of green cabbage, white onion, and carrots dressed with lime juice and zest and mayonnaise; raitta of Lebanese cucumber and cubanelle and poblano batonettes dressed with pickled red chiles and yogurt.

 

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 Shikai osho for black spruce oil; to John McCaffrey for transcribing teisho.

From Chunen ino: Thank you to the Roshi for the wonderful series of classes entitled "The Development of Buddhist Psychology" and for several very useful articles and websites on a diverse range of topics that he provides throughout the year; to Shikai osho for numerous direct pointers, questions and reminders to practice; to Jinmyo osho for wonderful meals, food shopping and overseeing the Dainen-ji schedule in spite of ill health; to Mishin tando for extensive administrative samu; to Saigyo chiden for overseeing students' samu; to Senbo shuso for preparing new CD templates for archiving work; to David Clawson for excellent ideas on how Ubuntu Linux.

From Mishin tando: Thank you to the Roshi for the arrangement of potted amaryllis on the ikebana shelf in the Hatto, which practitioners have seen change from buds to vivid red flowers over the past two weeks; to Shikai osho for the ongoing presentations of "Every Breath You Take" and to Saigyo chiden and Senbo shuso for looking after the recording and copying of CDs of the Dharma Talks; to Jinmyo osho for preparing delicious brunches for residents after the Sunday morning sittings; to Chunen ino for ongoing computer work to facilitate moving to open-source software for monastery computers; to Francois Fournier and Jane Brown for assistance with dana processing.

From Saigyo chiden: Thank you to the Roshi for pointing out the beautiful dripping icicles hanging from eaves of the building and for so many moments like this each day. Thank you to Shikai osho for the loan of books on design and architecture and for making the resource of her collection of books available to students. Thank you to Jinmyo osho for creating this eMirror each week and for a lovely stone to use on the butsudan in my room. Thank you to Jido anagarika, Nathan Krahn and Cesar Aloe for building the new recycling box shelf at the rear of the building; to Guillaume Albert for archiving samu and for helping to install the dust extraction system in the workshop; to Neil Porter, Nathan Comeau and Graham Mayeda for regular samu and to Samantha Drouin for archiving samu each week.   

 

Presentation at the Ottawa Carleton Linux Users Group

On Tuesday January 8th, Chunen ino made a presentation at the Ottawa Carleton Linux Users Group meeting. The presentation was titled: "Transition of a Charitable Organization from Proprietary to Open Source Software; The Experiences of White Wind Zen Community, Ottawa, Ontario"

This presentation profiled the computer and IT usage and support characteristics at Dainen-ji; and the transition from proprietary to Open Source Software. The usage characteristics described types of services such as e-mail, messaging, archiving, files-sharing, printing, multimedia editing and web-hosting; and support characteristics described hardware maintenance, software license management, anti-spam and anti-virus controls, user data backup and restore, and system re-imaging and build times.

 

 


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 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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