Text-only version of ================= Dharma Life ================= A Publication of the Missouri Zen Center ================= February-March, 2001 ================= Monday Evenings If you are a beginner and are not yet able to sit for a full 40 minutes, or if you would prefer to sit for only 20 minutes for any reason, then be sure to come to the Zen Center on Monday evenings at 7 p.m. Maku is doan for a 20 minute sitting, followed by a short reading and discussion. This is a great opportunity for people new to the practice to sit for shorter periods and build toward the longer sitting periods at other times. All are welcomeÑplease come and sit with us. New Board Member Nominations Nominations for new members to the Zen CenterÕs Board of Directors are open through Sunday, February 18. You may nominate yourself or someone else. If you nominate someone else, please ask their permission first. Members of the Board must be members of the Zen Center. To nominate someone, please mail or e-mail their name to the Zen Center by February 18, or give their name to a current Board member by that date. MembersÕ Meeting & Board Elections On Saturday, February 24 starting at 5 p.m. the Zen Center will hold its annual MemberÕs Meeting including the Zen Center Board of Directors election, followed by a potluck dinner at 6 p.m. Please be at the Zen Center promptly at 5 p.m. to participate in voting. Ando, Tenmo, Will Holcomb, and Shawn McGough have all been nominated for the Board and are candidates for election. Elections will take place by paper ballot. Members of the Board who will continue in their terms are Maku, Meiku, Rokan, Kalen, Eriku, Carol Corey, and Claire Schosser. We urge all members of the Zen Center to attend this meeting and help choose Board members. According to our by-laws, the following people may vote for Board members. 1. All dues-paying members of the Zen Center. 2. All persons who have been ordained. 3. Anyone who has been active at the Center but does not fulfill either of the above criteria may petition the Board to vote during this meeting. If you fall under this category, please notify the Zen Center before February 18. Following the election, starting at 6 p.m., we will hold a potluck dinner. Please bring some food to share, and join us in celebration of the new Board and our sangha. Sesshin A day and a half sesshin has been scheduled for Saturday, March 17 through Sunday, March 18, with an option to begin sitting on Friday evening, March 16. The sesshin will begin at 6:20 a.m. on March 17 and will include an oryoki lunch. Sitting will end at 9:30 p.m. on the 17th and resume at 6:20 a.m. on the 18th following the normal Sunday schedule. Cost for the sesshin is $30 and pre-registration is requested. Contact the Zen Center to register and indicate if you will be attending the oryoki lunch when you register. Sesshin attendees may begin early on Friday, March 16 with the usual 7 p.m. sitting followed by kinhin, another sitting, kinhin, and a third sitting. Sleeping space is available at the Center on both Friday and Saturday nights; please bring your own towels and sleeping bags. Oryoki practice will be held in advance of the sesshin, most likely on a Saturday morning. The date and time will be announced later. We remind attendees that an important part of the sesshin experience is silence. During work periods, please talk no more than is absolutely necessary to accomplish a task, and in whispers when necessary. Oryoki is held in silence. DonÕt worry about doing oryoki perfectly. Follow what others are doing, relax and enjoy the silence and the shared meal. Zen Calligraphy On Saturday, March 3, Abbott and Zen Master Fukushima Keido of Tofukuji Temple, Kyoto will give a lecture/demonstration on Zen calligraphy. It will be held in the Auditorium of the St. Louis Art Museum from 4-6 p.m. DonÕt miss this opportunity to learn about calligraphy as Zen practice. Zafus/Zabutons For Sale WeÕre offering zabutons and large zafus for sale. Made of from durable saddle cloth, the zafus are filled with 100% kapok. Check the upstairs room for current selections. Also, check out our inventory of T-shirts, incense, cards and books in the same room. E-mail List To subscribe to the Missouri Zen Center e-mail list, send an e-mail message to: Majordomo@mail.win.org. Leave the subject field blank. In the body type ÒSubscribe MZCÓ. ThatÕs all there is to it! Dharma Talk by Dr. Rosan Yoshida Transcribed from the tape recording by Maku The following is excerpted from a talk given by Dr. Yoshida at the MZC on a morning in the last week of December, 2000. When we sit, we become buddhas. We are all basically buddhas and bodhisattvas - awakened ones, awakened beings. We are not that moved by things when we sit. We sit in an immovable state. Originally we were that way but somehow, through living, we become conditioned, we become moved by so many things. When you come here and sit and settle down, then you are in an immovable state - an unmoved state like Buddha. There may be something going on sometimes in your head, but essentially you are not moved by those thoughts and ideas. You become more stable, calm and clear. You have a nice, harmonious world Ñ a serene, peaceful world. This peaceful state is called nirvana. It translates as unconditioned peace. It is peace not conditioned by anything, any ideas, delusions, attachments or aversions. It is without delusive ideas about good and evil, life and death. When you obtain true freedom, unbound, you find that not only you, but all beings, can reach this state. Originally we were that state. So it is not gaining or acquiring something, it is just throwing away acquired habits, physical, verbal and mental Ñ karma, conditioning. You uncondition yourself and come back to the original, zero state, neutral state. You become holy, wholesome, perfect. You become Buddha. We started to think about ability building. Dr. Suzuki said that we know the law of gravity but we havenÕt known the law of ability. To cultivate ability or abilities we need a good environment or place. We need good timing Ñ the earlier the better. We need a good method or else we form bad habits. We need good instructions, a good instructor, or a goal. And we need repeated practice. If you follow these five principles of better environment, earlier start, better method, better instruction, more practice, you develop your ability in whatever area, whether it be musical talent or, for us, to become buddhas. Buddha means Awakened One, one who has attained unsurpassed awakening, incomparable awakening, which is based on nirvana Ñ unconditioned peace. Only when you attain unconditioned peace do you know what our existence is, what our life is, how we are caught up in and how we can get rid of conditioning. As I said, when you sit you stop all habit energy and come back to the original zero. There are no longer the three poisons of attachment, aversion and delusion. There is no longer ego, just zero Ñ shunyata. You are not anymore bound up by anything and you obtain limitless light, life, nirvana. Dogen spoke of Three Minds: Great Mind, Mature Mind, Joyful Mind. Now you can achieve it, here and now, in your sitting Ñ constantly, any time, anybody. If you practice constantly and continuously then you will not fail to see it, witness it. When you constantly practice you must step forward your buddhahood to the world. You must go with all beings, fearlessly, harmoniously, joyously and with Mature Mind. ÒDaily, Serious, Continuous PracticeÓ by Ando ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ If any single phrase could capture the essence of Dogen Zenji's teaching, it would be ÒDaily, Serious, Continuous Practice.Ó Dogen Zenji was adamant in claiming that all beings are Buddhas, that there is nothing to be attained, and that practice IS realization. Honsho myoshu (Òexquisite cultivation based on intrinsic verification.Ó) and shusho itto (Òthe oneness of cultivation and verificationÓ) are traditional terms used to convey this distinct nature of Dogen Zenji's teaching. Honsho (Òintrinsic verificationÓ) is not the dualistic concept that all beings have a Buddha-nature, it is the truth that all beings ARE Buddhas-nature itself. In ÒFukan ZazengiÓ (Universal Recommendations for Right Zazen) Dogen Zenji instructs us, ÒDo not do zazen in order to become a Buddha, because that is not concerned with such things as sitting or lying down.Ó When Huai-jang found Ma-tsu, his disciple, doing zazen, he asked him why he was sitting. Ma-tsu answered, ÒTo become a Buddha.Ó Huai-jang immediately began polishing a potsherd. Ma-tsu asked why he was doing so. ÒI'm going to turn it into a mirror,Ó his teacher answered. ÒNo amount of polishing will turn a potsherd into a mirror,Ó said Ma-tsu. ÒNo amount of sitting will turn you into a Buddha,Ó was his Master's famous reply. Huai-jang taught Ma-tsu the truth of honsho, NOT that practice is unnecessary. Dogen Zenji's understanding of intrinsic verification led him to teach an ethical and moral practice, to be practiced at ALL times, that was different from the traditional Buddhist philosophy of his time. Traditionally, Buddhists followed the precepts to engender behaviors that were conducive to meditation and, ultimately, enlightenment. According to Dogen Zenji, however, living a moral and ethical life, is the natural expression of an enlightened nature. Implicit in shusho itto is the concept fuzenma no shusho (Òundefiled cultivation and verificationÓ). That is, undefiled by the attachment to the belief that there is some future ÒenlightenmentÓ to be gained as a result of practice. Practice is verification. Verification is practice. Or, in the words of the Sixth Patriarch, Hui-neng, ÒMeditation itself is the substance of wisdom; wisdom itself is the function of meditation.Ó In the Chapter of the ÒShobogenzoÓ entitled ÒSustained PracticeÓ (Gyoji), Dogen Zenji writes, ÒIn the great Way of the Buddha patriarchs there is always supreme sustained practice which is the Way without beginning or end. Aspiration for enlightenment, practice, bodhi, and nirvana have not the slightest break, but are continuous practice which goes on forever. Therefore, it is neither one's own effort nor someone else's effort; it is pure, continuous practice which transcends the opposition of self and others.Ó * Dr. Yoshida tells us that practice is like making a fire with two sticks. One must rub the sticks continuously to generate the heat necessary to start a fire. If the rubbing is not continuous, if one starts and stops, starts and stops, there will never be enough heat for a fire. To this he adds that one coal sitting alone will soon go out, but if many sit together, there will soon be a fire glowing. Please, come sit together with us all! * The information from the ÒShobogenzoÓ came from ÒHow to Raise an OxÓ by Francis Dojun Cook (Some changes in the translation)