Zazenkai: December 4, 2022 In person. 8:45am until 11am PST

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Zazenkai December 4, 2022

Zazenkai is a period of additional meditation than is usually done. In our case, our bi-weekly meetings are one 25 minute period.

This zazenkai allows for about 2 hours of Zen practice, both sitting, walking and standing.The time of each practice period is still about 25 minutes. There is just more time for a couple extra periods of zazen or walking meditation. There will also be a short dharma talk and discussion.

We’ll conclude with a snack at about 11am. Please bring a vegetarian dish. Ellen and I will provide tea, coffee, crackers/bread, cheese and a dish. Contact Bill Cooper for more information or questions.

Beginners are welcome. Why? Because we’re all beginners.

Still Sitting

Bellevue Dharma is continuing to meet online the first and third Tuesday of each month, 6:50pm, PDT. Contact Bill for link.

This time of year, the equinox, is considered a time of balance. Balance of light and dark, and hopefully a balance from extremes. Traditionally in Zen, this is a time to consider our Zen practice of the paramitas, delivering us to the other shore.

O-Higan, as this is known in Japanese Buddhism, is an auspicious time for coming together. Please join us March 26, 7:45am-12 noon for in-person Zazenkai.

Zazenkai Schedule 

8:45     Arrival and set up

9:00     Zazen

9:25     Walking meditation (kinhin)

9:30     Zazen 

10:00   Break, stretch

10:15   Zazen or kinhin

10:45   Prepare for service, stretch

10:55   Zen Service and Dharma discussion

11:30: Noble Silence ends. Set up for lunch and share a dish

12:00 Clean up

12:10 Four Bodhisattva Vows and goodbyes

Bellevue Dharma, Zen Practice

1st and 3rd Tuesdays, 6:50 pm. Zoom.

Contact Bill for more information and the Zoom link. We join at 6:50pm and begin zazen (meditation) at 7pm for a 25 minute session. Then we have walking meditation, and a dharma related discussion. We keep it friendly; newcomers are welcome.

We end at 8pm with the Four Bodhisattva Vows:

Beings are numberless, I vow to free them. Delusions are inexhaustible I vow to end them. Dharma gate are boundless, I vow to enter them. The Buddha Way is unsurpassable, I vow to realize it.

Spring Precepts Sesshin STO

Silent Thunder Order Spring Precepts Sesshin

May 11 – 15, 2022

Please join STO and Mission Mountain Zen for a 5 day Spring Precepts Zen meditation retreat which is being offered both in-person and via Zoom.  A Sesshin (literally, gathering/clarifying heart & mind), offers us time to intensify and mature our meditation practice.  It affords a unique opportunity to clarify your life.  The Sesshin will be led by Zen Priest Zenku Jerry Smyers.  We will study the 16 Bodhisattva Precepts, (cultivating right zen practice) and their implications during the retreat Dharma Talks.  While, we hope you can join for the entire Sesshin, the schedule is designed to permit you to partake in as much of the retreat as you can.  Dokusan, private interviews with the teacher, will be offered.   Suggested fee for in-person participation is $200, and for Zoom participation $100 for the entire sesshin or $30 per day.  See the following retreat schedule, all times are Mountain Time. 

WednesdayMay 11 6:00PM until    7:00PM 7:00PM until    7:30PM 7:30PM until    8:30PMZazen (25 X 2) + Heart & Metta SutraOrientation & Dharma DiscussionZazen (25 X 2) + Tissarana
Thursday,Friday, &Saturday  May 12May 13May 14 6:00AM until   8:30AM 8:30AM until 10:30AM10:30AM until 12:30PM12:30PM until    2:40PM  2:40PM until    3:30PM  3:30PM until    4:20PM  4:20PM until    5:20PM  5:20PM until    6:00PM   6:00PM until   7:30PM   7:30PM until  9:00PMZazen & Morning Service (40 X 3)Breakfast BreakZazen & Midday Service (30 X 3) Lunch Break & CleaningZazen (40 X 1)Dharma Talk & TeaBreak Period Zazen (40 X 1)Dinner BreakZazen (40 X 2) + Tissarana
SundayMay 15  6:00AM until   8:30AM  8:30AM until 10:00AM 10:00AM until    Noon   NoonZazen & Morning Service (40 X 3)Breakfast BreakZazen & Midday Service (40 X 2) Lunch & End Sesshin

Everyone is welcome.  Please contact Zenku at the email below for further information and registration.  Mission Mountain Zen Group meets weekly for meditation at 6pm on Wednesday’s via Zoom

For more information: www.missionmountainzen.org, email Jerry.Smyers@gmail.com

Embracing Our Ancestors, Finding Our Way

Embracing our Ancestors, Finding our Way

Tuesday, September 28, 2021 – Sunday October 3, 2021

The 2021 Silent Thunder Order Fall Retreat & Conference will be held online Tuesday, September 28 – Sunday, October 3, 2021.  This year’s theme is “ Exploring the Original Frontier, Embracing our Ancestors, Finding our Way”. We invite you to join us in Zen practice and dharma discussions, while getting to know each other.  For additional information see this link.

Register

The Original Frontier

Taiun Michael Elliston has written an inspiring handbook for modern Zen practice. The book is filled with short accessible teachings that are engaging and often personal. Taiun Elliston roshi was a student of Matsuoka roshi. He says, “I am not a Zen master. We don’t master Zen; Zen masters us.” On page 63 of the book he writes, “The Zen life, especially zazen itself, is best conducted as an open-ended experiment. We are, after all, exploring a new frontier, the oldest one in existence.”

Beginning Zen

For several months I’ve been practicing with the Atlanta Soto Zen Center and Mission Mountain Zen in Montana. They are offering good opportunities to learn about Zen meditation, often called zazen.

WEDNESDAY INTRODUCTION TO ZEN MEDITATION Host: Atlanta Soto Zen Center. Learn basics of Zen meditation Time: 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM EST Where: Online via Zoom. For details visit aszc.org or contact aszcinfo@gmail.com

WEDNESDAY EVENING MEDITATION & DHARMA TALKMeditation instruction, practice, and Q&A discussion.Host: Mission Mountain Zen SanghaTime: 8 PM – 9:30 PM EST. Online via Zoom. For details contact – jerry.Smyers@gmail.com

Four Vows, continued

Let’s continue looking at the four vows. Again, they are: 

Beings are numberless, I vow to free them.

Delusions are inexhaustible, I vow to end them.

Dharma gates are boundless, I vow to enter them.

The Buddha way is unsurpassable, I vow to realize it.

(Robe worn by Georgia O’Keeffe, Nevada Museum of Art.)

Last time I talked about the first vow, so this time I will go into the others. Our second vow is, Delusions are inexhaustible, I vow to end them. Here again is an apparent contradiction; if delusions never end, how do we end them? 

The topic of ending reminds me of my first koan, which was how do you stop the temple bell? Or perhaps it was, stop the temple bell. Either way I was confused. It wasn’t until I began to understand that there’s very little stopping of anything that I set aside the literalness of the koan. Eventually I saw the question as how do I become the temple bell? 

The same goes for our delusions: greed, anger and ignorance.  They constantly arise. So first we have to see this arising, not try to stop or reject it, and then we can ask ourselves, how do I become selfish or angry? How do I ignorantly divide and separate myself from the world around me? Just looking this way and observing our suffering is a beginning to ending our delusions. 

With the third vow we have a more positive situation– Dharma gates are boundless; I vow to enter them. Dharma in this case can have two meanings. One, it may refer to the endless teachings of the Buddha and the texts related to them. This is a literal understanding. We enter the gate of learning the Dharma, the texts, and teachings. 

The other way is to interpret Dharma gate as a metaphor inviting us to enter into each of our life circumstances as teachings, as Dharma. Our life fills with boundless Dharma gates. Seeing our life this way is to realize our numerous circumstances are not trivial. The Dharma is everywhere, it is timeless, always present, whether it be the annoying neighbor, Covid 19, or social unrest, we have boundless opportunities for practice.  We won’t always see things this way; this teaching goes against our selfish nature. And that is why we take the vow.