The Zen Mind - a trailer for the movie.

This is a great documentary from Empty Mind Films. I'm sure you can work out what it's about, but it also gives a pretty good insight into life in Eiheiji and Sojiji temples, the two main Soto Zen temples in Japan. It's well worth a watch and you might be able to find it in full on the internet.

Report from the Eiheiji sesshin, Part 4. Evening Service.

After eating we went back to our bedroom, drank tea and waited for the monks to return to take us to evening service. Again, I sat alone. As a matter of fact, no-one really spoke to each other at all, apart from a few mild greetings, a gassho at the tea urn, a nod when sitting down close to another. There were no chairs in the room so we had to sit on the floor. It was clear that people were already starting to feel the pain the their legs, and this was not even the end of the first day. Some were stretching whilst others were rubbing their knees and flexing their joints. Already I was starting to feel a burning in my knees. Sitting for eating was tough, after two periods of zazen as well, but I knew the scariest bit was to come; evening service and at least an hour of seiza.

Report from the Eiheiji sesshin, Part 3. Oryoki.

After finding new zafu and placing them on the tan where we sat, we were given a few minutes break to go into our rooms and drink some tea. Soon afterwards, a young monk came and told us to return to the zendo for the evening meal.

I knew that eating in monasteries (oryoki) is not a straightforward affair, but I was unaware of just how complicated it actually is. Nishida-san and a host of young monks decended on the zendo and got about very busily and in great earnest. It was obvious from the very start that this was going to be a serious business. Before eating we were told to mount the tan and sit on our zafu facing out into the zendo, remaining silent at all times. Then we were given a small bundle of eating untensils, wrapped in two cloths and tied on top and then detailed instructions on how to unwrap the eating utensils from their cloth wrapping and lay them on the wooden edge of the tan. Every single movement during meals has been described by Dogen Zenji in the Shobogenzo and they are followed more or less to the letter in Eiheiji up to the present day. All communication is done by hand gestures as speaking is not allowed. Servers bring the rice first, soup next, then the pickles, and at evening meal, there are two extra bowls delivered on trays.

Report from the Eiheiji sesshin, Part 2.

Soon we were taken around and told the rules, manners and how tos of the toilet, washing area, zendo and hallway. In Soto Zen monasteries everyday tasks and choirs are considered sacred. Each time we passed the zendo we were to bow in gassho. We were to walk everywhere in shashu and greet everyone with gassho as we passed them or met them. Outside the toilet and senmenjo we were to bow in gassho to a statue of a bodhisattva (Baddabara I think). On entering the toilet we were to remove the lower part of our clothing, the hakama, fold it in a certain way and hang it over a wooden rail, then remove our slippers, place them in a certain way under our hakama and then enter the toilet, using the slippers provided.

Report from the Eiheiji sesshin, Part 1.

The sesshin in Eiheiji finished on Sunday, and my legs are still buggered. I meant to post a little earlier, but I kind of slumped this week after coming home. Certainly, Monday and Tuesday were recovery time, catching up on sleep and getting my body clock back on normal time. The rest of the week was a bit of a meander to be honest with not a lot constructive done. Anyroads, here's the beginning of a run-down on the sesshin. It'll have to come in installments as there is just so much to tell. It was truly an extraordinary experience, one I intend to make an annual event.

Eiheiji this week.

My sesshin is Eiheiji starts this week. I'll arrive there on Thursday morning and leave on Sunday morning. I have to say that I'm a little apprehensive as it looks like it will be a real test of endurance. I'm excited nonetheless. I don't have to bring much, just some clothes and washing stuff and a little money. Apparently I can rent the necessary robes there. I'd rather not use robes, just my own clothes, but when in Rome, as they say.

Initially I had intended to prepare a bit better. I had palnned to learn the Heart Sutra by rote and learn more about oryoki, the meal routine in temples, but I've done no more than read a bit about oryoki and watch one or two instructional videos on YouTube.
More than anything, I'm looking forward to being able to give my full attention to practice for three days, without worries about child-care or work, or shopping, or anything for that matter. Just practice in an environment designed for practice. I'm hoping I can learn a lot just through practice itself. I'm also hoping that I can find a teacher through it. Eiheiji has a satellite temple not far from my home and I'm hoping that I can get an introduction to it.

I'll post at length I suppose when I return. I might bring a camera too and take a few photos to publish.

Gassho,
Frog.

Gollum's Enlightenment!

I was watching The Two Towers again last night for the first time in a couple of years. This scene passed me by the last time, but this time I couldn't help but notice the comparison of Gollum's predictament with my own, a clearer seeing awareness drowning under a deluded ego. Gollum's struggle in this scene is great, as his original self, Smeagal, struggles against and decisively uproots his delusion, his rampant ego and declares himself to be free.

Not a place to listen to a sutra!

I was on the loo earlier, listening to the thunder and the rain outside, when I heard a very faint, rythmic sound which sounded very like chanting to the beat of a mokyugo. Just a minute later the rain faded away and for sure I could hear someone chanting The Heart Sutra and hitting on a mukugyo.

Then it dawned on me that it's the Obon festival here in Japan when families remember their past relatives. Many families invite a monk to their house to chant in front of the butsudan, a Buddhist shrine dedicated to past relatives which most homes have here. So there I was, sitting on the toilet, listening to a Zen monk chanting The Heart Sutra. I just thought I'd share that with you...........

Buddhism must be relevant to all of us.

I was driving the car today with the family in tow, kids loud, 36 degrees and sweltering humidity, money tight and work needing done on the house and all was not well to be honest. I was under pressure for sure. At that point I thought of my practice and all that I have learned of late regarding attachment and the worry and anxiety that can result from it. Owning a house and having a family brings grief, that's for sure.

I thought of all those monks in all those temples hidden in all those secluded, serene places, with no possessions, no children, no concern for earning, just sitting, working the gardens and the grounds and how easy it must be for them to sustain a relatively worry free existence compared to us plebs.

Then I was struck with the realisation that Buddhism must be as relevant to me as it is to them. The promise of Buddhism must be as realisable to me and to all like me as it is to the monks or it isn't worth one gonk on a mukugo. I need to find my freedom in my life as it is, with all it's trials and grief.

And in saying that (just off on a slight tangent here), we'd a quake two days ago. My wife and I woke at 5am and the house was shaking severely. It was the biggest quake I've experienced yet. Then yesterday we went visiting to the north and drove along a very precarious road above a river, cut into the side of a mountain. I thought that such a road would be very dangerous if a quake was to hit, with landslides and the like. Then this morning I woke at around 5:30 out of a nightmare in which my family and I were falling from bridge into a river in the car because of a quake. It was crap. There was no way I was going to get back to sleep so I went downstairs, washed my face and then took out the zafu for a 20 minute sit. When my alarm went, in my mind I had a guy pinned to the ground and I was pummeling the head of him with my fists. The rest of the day wasn't much better.

Approaching Zazen. An intro video.

Here is a great zazen intro video from a bunch of lovely folks called YogaGarden who have a shed load of stuff on YouTube. Some of you might find it of some value. I certainly did.

Sesshin in Eiheji.

After some waiting, chin rubbing and a possible let-down, I heard today that I can attend a sesshin in Eiheiji temple, the head temple of the Soto Zen school. I visited there before as a tourist and it's a very beautiful place. I was able to see the training monks, albeit from a distance, going about some of their daily chores. There is a big visitors centre which holds retreats two or three times each month.

The monk at the temple I do zazen at is worried about me going, even though he has organised it. He's particularly worried about me sitting seiza (on my haunches) for periods of up to two hours. It's scaring me too a bit, but I've been hoping to go to a sesshin for some time now. This will be my first. He says that I'll need a bit of coaching before I go. I was thinking of smuggling in a few morphine shots to whack into my legs when the going gets nasty. What I'm worried about is the food situation. It's typical temple oryoki, which means small amounts of food, served quite infrequently. Here's the sesshin schedule:

• 3:30 - Shinrei (wake up bell)
• 3:50 - Kyoten zazen (Morning zazen)
• 5:00 - Choka (Morning service)
• 7:00 - Shojiki (Breakfast)
• 8:30 - Samu (Work period)
• 10:00 - Guchu zazen (Late-morning zazen)
• 11:00 - Nicchu (Midday service)
• 12:00 - Chujiki (Lunch)
• 13:00 - Samu (Work period)
• 14:00 - Hoji zazen (Afternoon zazen)
• 16:00 - Banka (Evening service)
• 17:00 - Yakuseki (Evening meal)
• 19:00 - Yaza (Evening zazen)
• 21:00 - Kaichin (Lights out)

As you can see, there's a 14 hour gap between even meal and breakfast. I'm not altogether sure why it's so tough. I suppose it could be argued that when we are confronted with pain in life, our motivation for overcoming pain is increased, and that the sesshin schedule, therefore, will focus minds in zazen. That's what I'm hoping. The monk at my temple tells me that the seiza periods are at least one hour, which is severe. However, I can see that morning service is scheduled for two hours, which is a monster session. Two hours of seiza on a very empty stomach. Ouchies. Morphine, see!

There is a rule.........

I was taught this little verse by an English anarchist about 18 years ago, standing side-by-side at a tulip bulb factory conveyor belt in Holland as thousands of bulbs shimmied past us while we selected the rotten ones for the trash. It always pops into my head now and again, but now I've come to see its deep truth shining through the lilting lyric.

There is a rule that man's a fool,
He wants it hot when it's cool.
He wants it cool when it's hot.
Always wanting what it's not.