Photograph by KP Ramakrishnan

 

eMirror Vol. 12, No. 4

Friday, January 25th, 2008

Edited by Ven. Jinmyo Renge osho

 


 

Quotes from teisho are run sequentially in the eMirror

 

Dogen zenji says,

 

This is the essential point of all of the Discourses: an Awakened One and a Field of Awakening are not two separate things. They are beyond sentient and insentient; they are neither "deluded" nor "enlightened;" not good, bad, or indifferent; not pure or impure; beyond arising, dwelling, destruction, and nothingness; permanent or impermanent; existent or non-existent; self or other. They cannot be understood through the fourfold analysis of same, different, existent, or non-existent, nor are they just nothing. The Field of Awake Awareness is the universe of ten directions. The whole world is the whole world. That's all.

 

                Awakening to our own nature is Awakening to the nature of each and every thing in this whole world. Who we are is without category, without explanation. We are whole. The world is whole. We are the whole world.

                This is not a story for us to tell ourselves. This does not mean that the world is "a creation of your mind" or any such solipsistic pap and certainly doesn't mean that the whole world is all about us and turns on our whims and fancies. Obviously, it doesn't.

                All about us, there is the whole world, this universe of ten directions. Each of those directions presences this body and mind and this body and mind presences each of those directions. This is something to be experienced with the whole bodymind and with the whole world of ten directions. And although this body and mind and the ten directions fit together seamlessly, the Buddha of who you are is traceless and cannot be found within any of the ten directions, the thousand grasses, the Fields as numberless as the sands of the Ganges.

                That's all there is to it.

 

            Please, this evening, enjoy yourselves.

                       

-Ven. Anzan Hoshin roshi, concluding 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 February 6th and February 20th. The Vow of Samantabhadra will be chanted on January 30th and on February 27th.

 

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.

 

 

 

                                 

Congratulations and Deep Gassho

Congratulations to Jennifer Comeau on being accepted as a probationary formal student by Ven. Shikai Zuiko osho. Jennifer has been a student since January of 2003.

            Congratulations to Michael Lifshitz on being accepted as an associate public student by the Roshi. Michael is a resident of Toronto. Congratulations to Rasa Izadnegahdar on being accepted as an associate public student. Rasa is a resident of Montreal.

 

Recorded Teisho Schedule

Sunday, January 27th formal sitting – SAkN: Presencing the Open Body: "The Fundamental Process of Self-image" (teisho 4 of 5).

 

Monday, January 28th general sitting - Bright Right Through: Zen Master Anzan Hoshin's commentaries on Dogen zenji's "Muchu Setsumu": "Each Drop" (teisho 10 of 11).

 

Tuesday, January 29th formal sitting - Mikkyo-zo: Monastic Jishu: "Komyo-zo" (class 14 of 15).

 

Saturday, February 2nd general sitting - Turning the Wheel of the Way: Zen Master Anzan Hoshin's commentaries on Eihei Dogen zenji's "Gyoji: Continuous Practice": "Hard Luck Stories" (teisho 16 of 44).

 

 

Dharma Talk

On Thursday, January 24th, Ven. Shikai Zuiko osho presented "In Gatherings or Crowds", the tenth 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

Gillian Higenbottam sat a partial retreat on Friday. Nicole Lewis began a retreat on Saturday morning which ended at 6:00 p.m. on Sunday. Nathan Comeau sat a two-day retreat on Wednesday and Thursday. Isshin sat a one-day retreat on Thursday, in her home on Gabriola Island. John McCaffrey sat a two-day retreat on Thursday and Friday, prior to attending the Dharma Assembly on Saturday. Graham Mayeda completed two weeks of daily Maitri Bhavana practice under the guidance of Jinmyo osho.

 

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.

                                 

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:

Cantonese noodles with a sauce of blended ginger, shoyu, and Meyer lemon; puffed tofu and dai gai choy in a soup with apple cider, kimchi juices, ponzu and slivered ginger; oyster and cremini mushrooms roasted with shoyu and sesame oil; quick pickle of green daikon and garlic stems in sweet ginger pickling liquid.

 

Tuesday Yakuseki:

Baked polenta with San Marzano tomatoes, garlic, thyme, basil, oregano, topped with grated fruilano cheese and panko; roasted baby back pork ribs, sliced into portions and marinated in chipotle and adobo sauce or jerk and lime sauce; fennel, cremini mushroom, and onion soup with pureed potatoes and ham bone stock and white wine.

 

Thursday Yakuseki:

Fried mixed noodles and grain with shoyu and sesame oil; Thai green curry with yellow zucchini, white onion, red and green and yellow bell peppers, shitake mushrooms, four kinds of tofu, mirin, Xiaoxing wine, lemon grass and kefir lime leaves, ngoc mam, ponzu, and coconut milk; salad of blanched sugar snap peas and snow peas with slivered ginger, Michiu wine, key lime juice, ngoc mam and extra virgin olive oil.

 

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 Chunen ino: Thank you to the Roshi for the wonderful series of teisho entitled "Playing With Space: Commentaries On Dogen Zenjis 'Koku'" and for several very useful computer magazines, to Shikai osho for a delightful Dharma talk last Thursday, to Mishin tando for organizing the public students teisho mailing system, to Saigyo chiden for overseeing students samu several times throughout the week.

From Mishin tando: Thank you to Shikai osho for brewing pots of potent ginger tea for residents with colds; to Senbo shuso, Jane Brown and Francois Fournier for assisting with dana processing.

From Saigyo chiden: Thank you to the Roshi for vibrant sho (brush and ink paintings) hung throughout Dainen-ji. Thank you to Shikai osho for creating the delightful afternoon refreshments enjoyed by retreatants and to Jinmyo osho for detailed and clear instruction in the forms of Oryoki. Thank you to Mishin tando for investigating open source accounting software to use for maintaining the WWZC finances and to Jido anagarika for picking up dry goods for the monastery each week and for archiving samu. Thank you to Guillaume Albert and Neil Porter for samu to make improvements to the workshop and to Sophia Stevenson, Carys Carrington and Samantha Drouin for archiving samu. Thank you to thise students who arrive early to assist the monks with soji before each sitting.

 


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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