TREELEAF ZENDO PODCAST

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I have a confession to make: I don't believe in Buddha. It may be shocking for a Buddhist priest to say so, as shocking as hearing a Catholic priest say he "doesn't believe in Jesus". But it's true nonetheless. I am a Buddhist priest who thinks "Buddha" is largely bunk and baloney. At least, I think there's a lot of "bull" to how Buddha is typically portrayed. I think many of the utterly fantastic...

Taigen Dan Leighton writes, in his wonderful book Faces of Compassion: Classic Bodhisattva Archetypes and their Modern Expression ... One meaning of Avalokiteshvara's name is "Regarder of the World's Cries or Sounds," indicated in the Japanese name Kanzeon. A shortened form of this is Kannon (or the Chinese Guanyin), "Hearing or Regarding Sounds." Avalokiteshvara is the one who calmly hears and co...

Dogen writes: "This old plum tree is boundless. All at once its blossoms open and of itself the fruit is born". Please visit the forum thread here!

Yes, baby, can you divide the reality of one thing happening? Can you cut the sound in half? More than that, with a single blossom, all blossoms. The whole reality is captured in a single unfolding. From star to bin, all is said and expressed. Check this. gassho Taigu Visit the forum thread here!

I have a BIG BIG BIG BIG BIG BIG announcement to make: Let's extend a warm welcome to ... DENNIS 'GENPO' MERZEL ROSHI as our NEW ABBOT OF TREELEAF SANGHA!!! (and GOODBYE TAIGU!! You broke Jundo's heart ...  ) NOTICE: NEW SANGHA FEES EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY! Visit the Forum Thread here!

PLEASE NOTE THAT DAYLIGHT SAVINGS HAS BEGUN IN NORTH AMERICA AND EUROPE. THE SUBJECT OF THE LITTLE TALK THIS TIME WILL BE A SONG CALLED "THE FERRYMAN" by Ralph McTell. PLEASE SEE THE LYRICS HERE and HAVE A LISTEN: LINK: http://www.treeleaf.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=51011#p51011 Dear All, Please 'sit-a-long' with our MONTHLY 4-hour ZAZENKAI, netcast LIVE 8am to noon Japan time Saturday morning (1/1...

... no place to hide! I came back to Tsukuba yesterday to find a town returning to calm, neighbors helping neighbors, and a great spirit of volunteerism and service. People are staying out of the rain, trying to avoid drinking the water, and the ground still shakes now and then ... but, otherwise, pretty ordinary March day. These are images and newsreports of the 1896! tsunami in Japan which is sa...

Ryokan, the old big useless fool, writer of cheap poetry and wanderer in both worlds, this one and the next, writes: Violets and dandelions mixed together in my beggar's bowl are offered to all the buddhas Manifest here, there and everywhere   Broken bowls, begging bowls, that's what we are. Nothing special, nobody special. Takuhatsu is the action of going begging in the streets, floating away in...

... WHY BAD THINGS HAPPEN ... TO GOOD PEOPLE. With the death of perhaps tens of thousands here in Japan, the suffering of countless more ... seemingly innocent children and others among the hardest hit ... some perspectives and teachings on why 'bad things happen'. Karma? Nature? Destiny? A Deity's Mysterious Plan? Simple bad luck? In fact, the truth is that none of us in this life ... none of us...

There are people without homes, food, loved ones just 100 miles north of here. My son (who is -not- the child in the photo at left) is obviously shaken, tossed around with the other children in his school classroom when the earthquake hit. A seven year old cannot understand. The child in that photo must be so much more confused ... beyond a child's understanding. The aftershocks and "meltdown" tal...

At the end of this chapter,Dogen is quite clear, worthy or not worthy is not the point. Koku is for all. This practice is for all. Everybody belongs. gassho ! Taigu  Visit the forum for this discussion!

PLEASE NOTE THAT SOME KINHIN TIMES HAVE BEEN LENGTHENED IN COMPASSION FOR NEW SITTERS JOINING US ... Dear All, Please 'sit-a-long' with our MONTHLY 4-hour ZAZENKAI,netcast LIVE 8am to noon Japan time Saturday morning (1/1) (that is New York 6pm to 10pm, Los Angeles 3pm to 7pm (Friday night 12/31), London 11pm to 3am and Paris midnight to 4am (early Saturday morning)) ... and visible at the followi...

 Each of the Bodhisattvas may be seen as an archetype for a vital aspect of Buddhist Practice ... Manjushri Bodhisattva for Wisdom. Taigen Dan Leighton writes in FACES OF COMPASSION ... Manjushri is the bodhisattva of wisdom and insight, penetrating into the fundamental emptiness, universal sameness, and true nature of all things. Manjushri ... sees into the essence of each phenomenal event. This...

We continue our series looking at THE GREATS AMONG THE GREAT BODHISATTVAS, inspired by the wonderful book FACES OF COMPASSION by Taigen Dan Leighton, highly recommended ... http://www.wisdompubs.org/pages/display.lasso?-KeyValue=32820&-Token. Action=&image=1 ... today looking at Shakyamuni ... the man who became "THE BUDDHA". Now, most folks usually think of Shakyamuni as "THE BUDDHA" ... but befo...

Dogen writes the following: The migrating bird leaves no trace behind and does not need a guide This freedom from form and attachment, from past ( trace) and future (guide), this complete action, absolute and yet transitory is our practice. Koku is found in this wondrous life, in this body-mind. Totally experienced, it is forgotten. Once forgotten, it is realized. gassho Taigu Visit the forum for...

For the next few "sit-a-longs", I'm going to revive a series from awhile back on WHATSA BODHISATTVA, looking a some of the greats ... Avalokiteśvara (Kannon), Samantabhadra and others. Before, we looked at each of the traditional Virtues, the 'Perfections' of a Bodhisattva ...

The Nishijima Cross translation goes as follows: Daibutsu would like to tell Shakkyō the fol- lowing: “Before, when you grabbed Seidō’s nostrils, if you wanted to grasp space, you should have grabbed the nostrils of yourself, Shakkyō, and you should have understood how to grasp the fingertips with the fingertips.” Even so, Shakkyō does know a bit about the dignified behavior of grasping space. Eve...

*Note* - This Audiocast contains a 30 minute dharma talk followed by 8 minutes of zazen.  For the full zazenkai, please visit the links below. PLEASE NOTE THAT SOME KINHIN TIMES HAVE BEEN LENGTHENED IN COMPASSION FOR NEW SITTERS JOINING US ... Dear All, Please 'sit-a-long' with our MONTHLY 4-hour ZAZENKAI,netcast LIVE 8am to noon Japan time Saturday morning (1/1) (that is New York 6pm to 10pm, Los...

In our Soto Way, this Life-Practice-Enlightenment is the constant painting of a picture ... a masterpiece ever created and simultaneously complete in each stroke by stroke by stroke. The goal is not to strip away the surface image in search of blank canvas. Nor is it a finished masterpiece, done once and for all, then hung in a museum to gather dust. It is not something one sees outside oneself, a...

The Nishijima Cross translation gives this version of the text: Zen Master Shakkyō Ezō of Bushū asks Zen Master Seidō Chizō,“Do you understand how to grasp space?” Seidō says, “I understand how to grasp it.” The master says, “How do you grasp it?” Seidō clutches at space with his hand. The master says, “You do not understand how to grasp space.” Seidō says, “How do you grasp it, brother?” The mast...

Some folks think that BUDDHISTS ARE MERELY PUSHOVERS. Well, sometimes we are "pushovers" ... allowing events to just push us over without resistance, roll past us, all until we (hopefully) roll back up! Other times ... like the Dalai Lama in his resistance to China, like the monks of Burma, like Gandhi (okay, not a 'Buddhist' really, but ya get the point), even like "Master Caine" in that old tv s...

We all make mistakes ... big and small. Perhaps when we are all Buddhas, we will be beyond bad choices and harmful acts ... but now we are each just fallible human beings, Bodhisattvas living in this tricky Saha world, hopefully doing the best we can. Human beings will make mistakes. However, what we do with those mistakes ... whether we learn from them, seek not to repeat them, and repair the dam...

Futher comments on Koku based on Uji, Being-time. The broad and big body of Koku contains all actions and times: Visit the Forum for this topic!