Zen Practice: January 25
Greetings dear friends!
We will be sitting this week on Friday, January 25, at 7:00PM. Again, to catch up and get back on schedule, we are doubling up on the reading. For this time, the reading from Phillip Kapleau's The Three Pillars of Zen this week will be Part One, Section III, Students D and E. After this, we are back on schedule.
This week's case is from the Blue Cliff Record (Hekiganroku) (Biyan lu), #99:
Nanyang Huizhong (b. ca. 675?) became the National Teacher and went to live near the Emperor and be his teacher. He was teacher to at least two emperors, including Su Tsung, who reigned 756-762.
Case: Emperor Su Tsung asked the Nanyang Huizhong, "What is the ten-bodied herdsman?"
Huizhong said, "Go trampling on Vairocana's head!"
The emperor said, "I cannot follow you."
Huizhong said, "Don't take the self for the pure Dharma body."
Notes:
"Ten-bodied herdsman" is a reference to the Buddha. The ten bodies are his attributes. Various scriptures give different versions of what these ten attributes are. (One set, for example, is: no-attachment, vowing-to-save-all-beings, wisdom, positive, nirvana, dharma, mindful, samadhi, nature, and easy.) The emperor is asking: What is Buddha?
"Vairocana" refers to the Dharmakaya (Dharma body) Buddha — that is, the absolute Buddha.
With a Gashho and Bow,
Dan
Zen Practice: January 18
Greetings,
We will be sitting this week on Friday, January 18, at 7:00PM. We are going to try to catch up and get back on schedule, so the reading from Phillip Kapleau's The Three Pillars of Zen this week will be ALL of Part One, Section III, Student C.
This week's case is Gatless Gate (Wumen Guan) #17:
"The national teacher [Huizhong, d. 775] called his attendant three times, and three times his attendant responded. The national teacher said, 'I thought I was standing alone with my back to you, but now I find that you are standing alone with your back to me.'"
With a Gashho and Bow,
Dan
Zen Practice: January 11
Hello Sangha,
We will have our weekly Zen practice today, January 11, at 7pm at the Unitarian Universalist church. Because of the holidays, I am uncertain as to where we are in our reading. Look forward to seeing you soon!
With a gassho and a bow,
Shana
Today's case is #29 from the Gateless Gate (Wumen Guan):
The wind was flapping a temple flag, and two monks were having an argument about it. One said, "The flag is moving."
The other said, "The wind is moving."
They argued back and forth but could not reach the truth. The Sixth Patriarch said, "It is not the wind that moves. It is not the flag that moves. It is your mind that moves."
The two monks were struck with awe.
Zen Practice: January 4
Dear Zen Friends:
On Friday Jan 4, we will have a special ceremony to invite the freshness of the new year into our lives. After our usual two sits, we will have only one chant — the Heart Sutra — then immediately serve the tea. Tana Silva and a CD from Thich Nhat Hanh will then lead us through an exercise of 5 prostrations. It's an exercise of relaxation and deep connection with the earth. Our schedule of reading from Kapleau's "Three Pillars of Zen" will resume next week, on Jan 11.
With gassho and bows to you all,
-Meredith