Sangha Life A Publication of the Missouri Zen Center February-March, 2004 220 Spring Avenue Webster Groves, MO 63119 (314) 961-6138 Visit us on the web at www.MissouriZenCenter.org (pdf and html versions of this newsletter and the calendar are available from the website) Events for February and March ¥ Saturdays, 10-10:30 am: Family sitting ¥ February 7-10: Zuiko Redding at Zen Center ¥ February 7 at 7:00 pm: Video: Women Writers in Prison ¥ February 14 at 7:00 pm: Video: Greenfingers ¥ February 15: Board Meeting ¥ March 7: Rosan returns ¥ March 13: Members meeting ¥ March 14: Board meeting See the articles for more information on each of these events. Check the listserv or the closet door at the Zen Center for events scheduled after press time. Rosan returns We expect our teacher Rosan to return to St. Louis about March 7 and to leave around March 30. These dates are subject to change. We welcome RosanÕs return and the return of spring to St. Louis! Zuiko Redding Visits, Feb. 7-10 Zuiko Redding, RosanÕs Dharma sister and abbott of Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Zen Center, will be arriving on Friday, Feb. 6 and will stay through the 6 am sitting on Tuesday, Feb. 10. She will meet with people who wish to discuss their practice with her on Saturday, Feb. 7 and Sunday, Feb. 8 following the morning sittings and will give the Dharma talk on Sunday. She will participate in all sittings during her visit starting on Saturday morning, including Beginners Mind on Monday evening. Please enjoy her visit. There should be a sign-up sheet posted before her visit so people who wish to speak with her on Saturday or Sunday can sign up for a time. Please watch for updated information on the MZC listserv regarding details of her visit, including signups for interviews and providing food for her. Members meeting and Board elections in March; nominations due Feb. 15 We will be holding the annual members meeting to elect new members to the MZC Board of Directors in March, probably on Saturday the 13th pending confirmation from Rosan. Board members serve three year terms. They are charged with ensuring that MZC follows its bylaws and the legal obligations of a nonprofit organization and with the administrative work needed to keep the Zen Center in existence. According to the bylaws, all people who meet at least one of the following requirements are eligible to vote at the members meeting: (1) all dues-paying members of the Zen Center; (2) all persons who have taken lay ordination; (3) anyone who has been active at the Center but not fulfilling the above requirements, who petitions the Board to vote during this meeting. If you fall into this last category or have any other questions about the meeting, please notify the Zen Center as soon as possible. If there is anyone you would like to nominate for the board, including yourself, please put a note in TenmoÕs or AndoÕs mailbox at the Zen Center, or contact the Zen Center by February 15. There are several openings, so please consider serving. And keep March 13th open on your calendar. We usually have a potluck after the members meeting; more info will follow when the date is confirmed. Help with the Hosta Sale The Zen CenterÕs annual Hosta Sale fundraiser will take place on Saturday, May 8 from 8 am-noon. Please mark this date on your calendar and plan to help us make this major fundraising event a success. Watch for more details in the next issue of Sangha Life. Much work must be done in advance of the Hosta Sale to prepare for the event. Please watch for announcements of workdays, which are likely to be scheduled for every Saturday morning in April following sitting with other workdays announced as needed. We must dig and pot-up all the hostas and other plants that we purchased and planted last fall so we can offer them for sale. We need and appreciate all the help we can get! Please plan to spend at least one workday, and more if you can, helping us. No need to have any prior gardening experience; itÕs easy work and weÕll teach you everything you need to know. Anyone who wants to know more about organizing the Hosta Sale, please contact Kuryo soon. It would be very helpful to have knowledge of this event spread more widely among the sangha. Etiquette for Entering & Leaving the Zen Center One of the most important attributes of a conducive atmosphere for meditation, especially for beginning meditators, is quiet. Practicing quiet begins with how we enter and leave the Zen Center. To set that atmosphere, first, arrive on time for sitting. The mindfulness of Zazen begins with being on time for practice. At most centers and monasteries one may not enter at all after the bell has sounded. Rosan Daido, however, is a little more lenient. If you arrive late, please enter through the back door and leave your coat in the kitchen. Enter the outer room mindfully and quietly and sit in the outer room. Do not enter the inner room (Buddha Hall) after the bell has sounded. If you are concerned for your safety when entering through the back door during dark mornings or evenings, then please enter through the front door mindfully and quietly and hang your coat mindfully and quietly (it may be easier to leave your coat on the porch in this case). After the bell has sounded leave the inner room only in an emergency. If you plan to leave early, sit in the outer room and leave mindfully and quietly. Thank you all for your mindful, quiet practice! Live Holy Life! Rosan Daido We realize truth and freedom only after awakening from dreams and delusions. Until then, we mistake and misstep, just like blind men groping for only a part of a huge animal, falsifying and fighting. We are all in mini-max fallacy (mistaking a part as the whole). In the awakened eyes, all becomes opposite: gain is loss; possession is possessed, success is failure, etc., etc. We are part and parcel of the whole universe, but plunge into small selves, sinful states, becoming money-maggots and power paupers. Thus we lose our original truth, freedom, harmony and peace. We see ourselves as supreme, sovereign, but sink as savages and slaves. Holy life is wholesome whole, beyond superior, inferior and equal, suffering, ignorance and ego. First Buddhist Practice Held at Prison by Kalen After months spent getting certified, doing paperwork, taking classes, getting shots, and so forth, on January 20th we were able to start our very first Buddhist Practice Group on the east side of the state. One of the requirements for bringing Buddhism into state prisons is that we address all 23 prisons statewide. We have a group working in the western regions around Kansas City, a group working mid-state (Jefferson City and Columbia area), and our group. Carl Jerome from MABA and I were very excited and nervous when we walked through the locked doors that evening. We had no idea what to expect. Eight men showed up for this first group practice (3 more will come next week as they were in a tournament this week). Some of them had some previous Buddhist experience, some were brand new to the practice, and 2 were visiting. We introduced ourselves, taught the men how to sit, did our first meditation together (20 minutes), and talked a little about problems. During our discussion the men started to open up. The talk was serious and they offered help and kindness to each other. They were so very excited to learn we would be there EVERY week! As we get this group grounded, we will start other groups on our side of the state. I think we have 10-11 prisons to deal with so if anyone is interested in helping, please contact me. It takes a trip to Jefferson City to attend classes, TB testing, letters of recommendation, and so forth. The process may take 3 months before you can begin working in the prisons. But we need serious help! If you think you are interested, please watch the videos on prison work that will be shown at the Zen Center on Saturday evenings at 7 pm: Chasing Buddha on January 31, Women Writers in Prison on February 7, and Greenfingers on February 14. I am also starting to gather things for the men facing release in the near future. IÕve been given some furniture, clothes, dishes and glasses. If you have anything that is in fair condition and would like to donate it, please let me know. I have a truck and can pick it up. I donÕt have a lot of room for storage now but IÕm working on that. E-mail Discussion List (listserv) To subscribe to the Missouri Zen CenterÕs e-mail discussion list, send an e-mail message to , leave the subject field blank and in the message body type Òsubscribe mzcÓ. You will then receive a confirmation message (including instructions on how to unsubscribe). Please only subscribe e-mail addresses of individuals. Also please be responsible for any information you post, including forwards. Regular Zendo Schedule Sunday 6:20-7:00 am Zazen 7:00-7:20 am Service (sutras) 7:20-8:00 am Zazen 8:00-8:10 am Kinhin 8:10-8:30 am Zazen 8:30 am Talk/discussion, work period, tea You are welcome to come throughout the morning, but please do not enter the zendo during zazen. Enter quietly at other times. Monday 6:00-6:40 am Zazen 6:30-7:00 pm Instruction 7:00-7:20 pm Zazen (Beginner's Night) 7:20-9:00 pm Discussion/questions Tuesday 6:00-6:40 am Zazen 7:00-7:40 pm Zazen 7:40-9:00 pm Tea/discussion Wednesday 6:00-6:40 am Zazen 7:00-7:40 pm Zazen 7:40 pm Writing Practice Thursday 6:00-6:40 am Zazen 7:00-7:40 pm Zazen Friday 6:00-6:40 am Zazen 7:00-7:40 pm Zazen After sitting: Dinner out Saturday 8:00-8:40 am Zazen 8:40-9:30 am Discussion 10:00-10:30 am Family Sitting Work periods may be scheduled following zazen. Any changes to this schedule: please contact the Zen Center.