TREELEAF ZENDO PODCAST

Dogen writes these few verses: In the stream Rushing past to the dusty world my fleeting form casts no reflection Echoing a distant poem of Tozan in the Jewel Mirror Samadhi: it is like looking into a precious mirror form and image behold each other You are not it, it is you Visit the forum thread here!

Please visit the forum thread here!

OUR ZAZENKAI marks the COMMENCEMENT OF ANGO and our upcoming GLOBAL DAY OF SERVICE ALSO, AN (unintentionally very quiet) CHANTING OF "WE SHALL OVERCOME" SHALL BE IN PLACE OF THE 'IDENTITY OF RELATIVE AND ABSOLUTE (Sandokai)' THIS TIME .. ... and note other sound issues, and that we have no netcast the last 15 minutes ... Dear All, Please 'sit-a-long' with our MONTHLY 4-hour ZAZENKAI, netcast LIVE...

I want to wag my finger, not just at the Zen teachers caught in scandals recently (although at most of them too), but at the reactions of some folks to the scandals. Particularly, I want to call out: Those folks ... some of them fellow Buddhist priests or moderators of Buddhist forums ... who would seek to ignore, hide or explain away some of these scandals, like sweeping dirt under a rug. Shame o...

I have friends these days who are feeling the pain of cancer, grief at the death of a spouse, worry over a sick child, a broken heart from a broken marriage, fear and despair from loss of a job. I wish I could take their pain away, but I can't. Zazen is powerless for all of it too, and can't cure their cancer, remove the physical pain, heal the baby, bring back the lost loved one or fix the econom...

Even if, proud of our understanding and richly endowed with realizations, we obtain special states of insight, attain the truth, clarify the mind, manifest a zeal that pierces the sky, and ramble through those remote spheres that are entered with the head; we have almost completely lost the vigorous path of getting the body out. Même si, fiers de notre compréhension et comblés par l’éveil, nous ac...

We are pleased to announce our GLOBAL DAY OF SERVICE initiative here at Treeleaf. Starting in a few weeks, we will be asking each and all of our Treeleaf folks, in some way, to spend a day making their communities, the lives of others, this world a bit better. This is a chance to live the Virtues of Generosity and Giving, and our Bodhisattva Vows to Aid All Sentient Beings. Please look for additio...

Please visit the forum thread here!

Please visit the forum thread here!

If however there is the tiniest gap, heaven and earth are far apart. If the least tendency arises to go against or conform, the mind is lost in confusion. Cependant, s’il existe le plus petit écart, ciel et terre se séparent. Que s’élèvent la plus légère préférence ou le moindre rejet, l’esprit se perd dans la confusion. Please visit the forum thread here!

Please visit the forum thread here!

Well, thought I could cross one item off the BUCKET LIST this morning, as a TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE SUN passed across our town in Japan. Except, I soon found out, it was technically -not- a "total eclipse", but something called an "annular eclipse". That means that, because of the distances between sun, moon and earth, the moon does not completely block out the sun's rays, though in turn producing a...

Our Treeleaf Sangha is about to begin dancing - and living - the 100 Koans of the treasured “BOOK OF EQUANIMITY”. So, it’s a good time to look at some all too common MISUNDERSTANDINGS, NARROW VIEWS, BIASES, SECTARIAN DOGMAS, “MY WAY OR THE HIGHWAY-isms”, PARTIAL TRUTHS and PREJUDICES that plague discussion of Koan Practice in the modern Zen world. In doing so, my purpose is not to impose my own se...

It is said that Buddhas and Zen Masters have the amazing power to transcend BIG and small ... ... to make the small TREMENDOUS, and the BIG as tiny as an atom ... ... to know the BIGGEST held easily in the smallest, and to hold the entirety of space and time in a blade of grass. IT IS TRUE! IT IS TRUE! IT IS TRUE! Basho haiku'd a tiny jump and a boundless sound ... The old pond. A frog jumps in. P...

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This Sunday, our Sangha will welcome new novice priests through the ritual of Shukke Tokudo Ordination. As is typical of our Sangha, the ceremony will be conducted simultaneously in three places around the world ... dropping all thought of here and there, now and then ... with the Preceptor (Jundo Cohen) in Japan, and our Ordainees in Austin, Texas and New York. (We also will welcome one additiona...

Dharma talk from Taigu during April 7th Zazenkai. Visit forum thread here!

It is the first day of April here in Japan, the start of Spring, and that is a time to think of endings and beginnings ... SO, I AM VERY SAD TO ANNOUNCE THE END OF TREELEAF SANGHA as it has been until now ... ... and the BIRTH OF A NEW AND IMPROVED TREELEAF ... We are just trying to make BUDDHISM SEXIER! We asked for your suggestions, and we listened ... to all of them! Even the really really dumb...

Furthermore, the whole body far transcends dust and dirt: who could believe in the means of sweeping and polishing? In general, we never depart from the place where we should be: of what use, then, are the tiptoes of training? De plus, le corps dans sa totalité est au delà de toute poussière, qui peut croire qu’il est besoin de l épousseter et le polir ? En général, jamais nous ne quittons cet end...

Almost each week someone asks me, "What comes next in my practice? How do I deepen it? What should I do now? What book should I read with all the secrets? I feel like something is still missing and that I must do more." But how can I respond to such a question when the very heart of this Path is learning to live and be this life radically FREE OF THE NEED FOR 'WHAT'S NEXT', LIBERATED OF 'SOMETHING...

Don't become a living clutter, a collection of piled up items. Practice is meant to free you out. When freedom is, wisdom blooms. I don't get wisdom from quotes, books, or experiences. from this moment,as is, it comes. And often it doesn't. And I could not care less. Do you want to be like a pretty dead dry fish of just alive, fish in the sea, sea in the fish, sea-fish boundlessly here? We don't n...

We close this series on Master Seng-ts'an's XIN XIN MING ... FAITH IN MIND ... a simple, but subtle recipe ... 止動無動 Consider movement stationary and the stationary in motion, 動止無止 both movement and rest disappear. 兩既不成 When such dualities cease to exist 一何有爾 Oneness itself cannot exist. 究竟窮極 To this ultimate finality 不存軌則 no law or description applies. 契心平等 For the unif...

I came across a discussion on the internet this week about "how to Shikantaza" ... and much good and solid advice was given. Some folks follow the breath, some "Just Sit" in boundless spaciousness, some advised this or that on the posture and letting thoughts go. All wise and good, and talk of posture, focus and such are all a necessary setting of the stage. However, in my view (and that is all it...

In the very begining of Shobogenzo, Dogen quotes a famous poem of Nyojo, his teacher: My late master, the eternal buddha, says: Whole body like a mouth, hanging in space; Not asking if the wind is east, west, south, or north, For all others equally, it speaks prajñā. Chin ten ton ryan chin ten ton. Free, careless, empty, the bell and the sound cannot be broken in two. Is the bell just a bell? Isn'...