Friday, October 30, 2020

October 30, 2020

 

Question from Pamela Ayo Yetunde: How have you been conditioned to recognize what is true, legitimate, and valid and deny what is false, illegitimate and invalid?


Response by Dainuri Rott:  

Great question, I view my whole life as a pursuit of truth and a good point to start the review 
would be high school.   I had the very best teachers then, much better than in college, 
and while I did learn from them, sadly, I did not appreciate them enough.  Most of the important true things in life came through those great teachers: math, physics, machine shop, English and typing (yes, a very practical and useful life skill.)

Some of the biggest learning experiences subsequently came from adversity, in particular, becoming a member of the armed services during the Vietnam war.   This was not something I was counting on doing and it deeply influenced my life…..I remember one incident in the middle of the insane profane process of boot camp, where I went into the base library and read a New Yorker article about military service among the American political elite and it really opened my eyes: even though externally I had “no freedom” as a low level enlisted man, internally I was still free, my thoughts were free.  I realized I had to use those free thoughts as best I could to discover what was true, legitimate and valid.  50 years later at a sesshin conducted by ZHS I experienced a similar epiphany upon reading Bodhidharma’s “Breakthrough Sermon” as compiled and translated by Red Pine.   That truth is simple: the outer world is illusion and all real “truth” takes place in the timeless, spaceless, unchanging inner spiritual world.   The three treasures are the gate to that world, practice lets you in.

How have the political rhetoric, change in policies against “political correctness”, protests against colonization by tearing down Columbus and Confederate statues, as well as  the armed defense of war heroes, impacted what you value?

Ayo, I think you answered your question well: if you are Italian, you might revere Columbus because of your heritage and you’ll value the ostensible qualities of courage, exploration, and persistence.   Then I am reminded of a poignant cartoon in the New Yorker where an older Chief with feathered headdress is sitting with a child while a parade is taking place in the background.   The Chief says to the child: “We don’t celebrate Columbus Day.”

Can one practice the Zen mind of equanimity, nonduality, nonpolarization and nonpolemics and still act as a franchised citizen?  

An emphatic YES because Zen practice gets us closer to sanity starting with our fundamental recognition of worldly delusions.

 _____________________________________________________________________

Our ZHS on-line schedule

  • Mondays: 7-8:30pm - zazen, short service, lecture/discussion
  • Tuesdays-Fridays: 5:30-6:10pm - zazen, offering of merit/bows
  • M-F: 7-7:30am - zazen
  • Saturdays: 8:00-10:15am - zazen, short service, tea, discussion/study
  • For more information:  www.zenheartsangha.org) 
_____________________________________________________________________

Special bows for today: 
  • Please offer bows for all those families who have lost their lives or their homes in the recent fires in Oregon, California, and Washington
  • Please continue to offer bows of well-being for:   
    • Phyllis Merrill, Misha's mother, who died on 10/18/20
    • Charles Kennicott Leech, Nancy's father who died on 10/9/20
    • David Shaw, who suffered a stroke on 9/30/20
    • Takiko Kawakami, Fumiko Arao's mother who died 9/2/2020
    • Rev. Les Kaye, Misha’s Zen teacher, who is recovering at home undergoing chemotherapy
__________________________________________________________


Wonderful links shared by sangha members and friends:

 












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Thursday, October 29, 2020

October 29, 2020

 FOUR IN THE MORNING


The hour from night to day.
The hour from side to side.
The hour for those past thirty.

The hour swept clean to the crowing of cocks.
The hour when earth betrays us.














The hour when wind blows from extinguished stars.
The hour of and-what-if-nothing-remains-after-us.

The hollow hour
Blank, empty,
The very pit of all other hours.

No one feels good at four in the morning.
If ants feel good at four in the morning
--- three cheers for the ants. And let five o'clock come
if we're to go on living.

- Wislawa Szymborska


_____________________________________________________________________

Our ZHS on-line schedule

  • Mondays: 7-8:30pm - zazen, short service, lecture/discussion
  • Tuesdays-Fridays: 5:30-6:10pm - zazen, offering of merit/bows
  • M-F: 7-7:30am - zazen
  • Saturdays: 8:00-10:15am - zazen, short service, tea, discussion/study
  • For more information:  www.zenheartsangha.org) 
_____________________________________________________________________

Special bows for today: 
  • Please offer bows for all those families who have lost their lives or their homes in the recent fires in Oregon, California, and Washington
  • Please continue to offer bows of well-being for:   
    • Phyllis Merrill, Misha's mother, who died on 10/18/20
    • Charles Kennicott Leech, Nancy's father who died on 10/9/20
    • David Shaw, who suffered a stroke on 9/30/20
    • Takiko Kawakami, Fumiko Arao's mother who died 9/2/2020
    • Rev. Les Kaye, Misha’s Zen teacher, who is recovering at home undergoing chemotherapy
__________________________________________________________


Wonderful links shared by sangha members and friends:

 


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Wednesday, October 28, 2020

October 28, 2020

 Silence.


Silence is pliant, supple, malleable, 

yet willing to accept its own potential.

Silence is basic and necessary, ever present, 

yet concealed beneath the slightest din.

It is the stage upon which players perform,

It is the uncarved block.

It is the turnkey of a music box.



Silence is... until broken.

By the cry of life initiated.  By the actors on opening night.  By the first note of the poet composer crafting his image from silence, his uncarved block, his blank canvas.  He issues a second note. One note becomes two, two becomes three. Each parting the silence, joining with still others by the poet composer's design.  Notes of a single tune coalesce into chords with rhythm entwined to become melody.  Individuating melodies converge to create harmony and harmony embellished, wrought with passion and purpose becomes symphony.  Symphony with its conjoined rhythm, harmony, and timbre, conjures emotion.  All too familiar, yet elusive to direct introspection.  The Spring, the wind, fondness.  None of these exclusive yet all tacitly present.  

Symphony's crescendo of Spring hearkens of family, young children, birthdays, first days at school, the last days of school, the dog days of summer, and flights of fancy.  The vibrant summer of symphony brings carnivals, vacations, graduation, track meets, as the musical prose of the poet composer matures.  At its apogee and highest step, the symphony becomes rhapsody exclaiming its awe and rapture, pointing directly at life incarnate, unconditional and impassioned with clarity of the present moment. In times direct, and unequivocal, others in silhouette and side-ways glances.  And yet at its highest point, as it seems potential has been expended, the poet composer turns the bend from Summer to Fall, inventing while appreciating the adolescent climb to the acme of his work.  In its descent the symphony's melodious fall tells of children grown, studies completed, jobs retired, books read, and races won.  You chance to remember with clear mind and fond heart, the joyous days of that feverish rhythm, while Fall wanes to Winter.  The symphonic Winter heralds the slowing rhythm, the deepening of tone, and inevitable conclusion to the poet composer's work.  The step slows like the snowflake falling in an untracked glen, gently tumbling, reaching for the end of its singular journey to join its like.  With a melancholy hand, the symphony bids farewell as the melody rises in place.  Melody becomes chord, chord becomes notes, three becomes two, two becomes one, and one becomes silence.

In this silence we appreciate the sculpted work.
In this silence we reflect on symphonies in which we are but notes.
In this silence we hold our bated breath straining to hear the remnants of songs that, although hushed, are never forgotten.

Silence.

 - by Jim Little.

_____________________________________________________________________

Our ZHS on-line schedule

  • Mondays: 7-8:30pm - zazen, short service, lecture/discussion
  • Tuesdays-Fridays: 5:30-6:10pm - zazen, offering of merit/bows
  • M-F: 7-7:30am - zazen
  • Saturdays: 8:00-10:15am - zazen, short service, tea, discussion/study
  • For more information:  www.zenheartsangha.org) 
_____________________________________________________________________

Special bows for today: 
  • Please offer bows for all those families who have lost their lives or their homes in the recent fires in Oregon, California, and Washington
  • Please continue to offer bows of well-being for:   
    • Phyllis Merrill, Misha's mother, who died on 10/18/20
    • Charles Kennicott Leech, Nancy's father who died on 10/9/20
    • David Shaw, who suffered a stroke on 9/30/20
    • Takiko Kawakami, Fumiko Arao's mother who died 9/2/2020
    • Rev. Les Kaye, Misha’s Zen teacher, who is recovering at home undergoing chemotherapy
__________________________________________________________


Wonderful links shared by sangha members and friends:

 



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Wednesday, October 21, 2020

October 21, 2020

 “If you don’t want to be grabbed by God, 

don’t stare at a wall. 

Definitely don’t sit still.” 




- Jiyu Kennett Roshi


Submitted by Sylvia: Hōun Jiyu-Kennett, born Peggy Teresa Nancy Kennett, was a British Roshi most famous for having been the first female to be sanctioned by the Sōtō
School of Japan to teach in the West.

_____________________________________________________________________

Our ZHS on-line schedule

  • Mondays: 7-8:30pm - zazen, short service, lecture/discussion
  • Tuesdays-Fridays: 5:30-6:10pm - zazen, offering of merit/bows
  • M-F: 7-7:30am - zazen
  • Saturdays: 8:00-10:15am - zazen, short service, tea, discussion/study
  • For more information:  www.zenheartsangha.org) 
_____________________________________________________________________

Special bows for today: 
  • Please offer bows for Phyllis Merrill, Misha's mother, who died on 10/18/20
  • Please offer bows for all those families who have lost their lives or their homes in the recent fires in Oregon, California, and Washington
  • Please continue to offer bows of well-being for:   
    • Charles Kennicott Leech, Nancy's father who died on 10/9/20
    • David Shaw, who suffered a stroke on 9/30/20
    • Takiko Kawakami, Fumiko Arao's mother who died 9/2/2020
    • Rev. Les Kaye, Misha’s Zen teacher, who is recovering at home undergoing chemotherapy
__________________________________________________________


Wonderful links shared by sangha members and friends:

 


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Monday, October 19, 2020

October 20, 2020

Sixty-six times...

Sixty-six times

have these eyes beheld the 

changing scene of autumn.


I have said enough 

about moonlight,

Ask no more.


Only listen to the voice
 
of pines and cedars 

when no wind stirs.

- Ryonen (1797-1863)

Persimmon watercolor by Misha/2014

______________________________________________________________________

Our ZHS on-line schedule

  • Mondays: 7-8:30pm - zazen, short service, lecture/discussion
  • Tuesdays-Fridays: 5:30-6:10pm - zazen, offering of merit/bows
  • M-F: 7-7:30am - zazen
  • Saturdays: 8:00-10:15am - zazen, short service, tea, discussion/study
  • For more information:  www.zenheartsangha.org) 
_____________________________________________________________________

Special bows for today: 
  • Please offer bows for all those families who have lost their lives or their homes in the recent fires in Oregon, California, and Washington
  • Please continue to offer bows of well-being for:   
    • Charles Kennicott Leech, Nancy's father who died on 10/9/20
    • David Shaw, who suffered a stroke on 9/30/20
    • Takiko Kawakami, Fumiko Arao's mother who died 9/2/2020
    • Phyllis Merrill, Misha's mother, who is dying
    • Rev. Les Kaye, Misha’s Zen teacher, who is recovering at home undergoing chemotherapy
__________________________________________________________


Wonderful links shared by sangha members and friends:

 

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Sunday, October 18, 2020

October 19, 2020

 Autumn, Queen of Year

 by Winifred Sackville Stoner, Jr.



When the pumpkins are so yellow
And the vines with grapes abound,
When the melons are so mellow
And the nuts fall to the ground;
When persimmons lose their bitters,
And the apples are so red;
When we love to eat corn fritters
Since the roasting ears have fled;
When vacation days are over
And the children go to school,
They no longer play in clover,
But much learn “Arithmos-rule,”
When weird Hallowe’en’s most naughty elves
With gnomes and sprites appear,
While fat Thanksgiving fills the shelves –
‘Tis AUTUMN, QUEEN OF YEAR.

_______________________________________

Our ZHS on-line schedule

  • Mondays: 7-8:30pm - zazen, short service, lecture/discussion
  • Tuesdays-Fridays: 5:30-6:10pm - zazen, offering of merit/bows
  • M-F: 7-7:30am - zazen
  • Saturdays: 8:00-10:15am - zazen, short service, tea, discussion/study
  • For more information:  www.zenheartsangha.org) 
_____________________________________________________________________

Special bows for today: 
  • Please offer bows for all those families who have lost their lives or their homes in the recent fires in Oregon, California, and Washington
  • Please continue to offer bows of well-being for:   
    • Charles Kennicott Leech, Nancy's father who died on 10/9/20
    • David Shaw, who suffered a stroke on 9/30/20
    • Takiko Kawakami, Fumiko Arao's mother who died 9/2/2020
    • Phyllis Merrill, Misha's mother, who is dying
    • Rev. Les Kaye, Misha’s Zen teacher, who is recovering at home undergoing chemotherapy
__________________________________________________________


Wonderful links shared by sangha members and friends:

 
























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Saturday, October 17, 2020

October 18, 2020

Three Contemplations

by Pamela Ayo Yetunde 


How have you been 
conditioned to recognize 
what is true, legitimate, 
and valid and deny 
what is false, 
illegitimate and invalid?


How have the political rhetoric, 
change in policies against 
“political correctness”, 
protests against colonization 
by tearing down 
Columbus and Confederate statues, 
as well as the armed 
defense of war heroes, 
impacted what you value?

-
Can one practice the Zen mind of equanimity, nonduality, non-polarization 
and non-polemics and still act as a franchised citizen?  

_____________________________________________________________________

Our ZHS on-line schedule

  • Mondays: 7-8:30pm - zazen, short service, lecture/discussion
  • Tuesdays-Fridays: 5:30-6:10pm - zazen, offering of merit/bows
  • M-F: 7-7:30am - zazen
  • Saturdays: 8:00-10:15am - zazen, short service, tea, discussion/study
  • For more information:  www.zenheartsangha.org) 
_____________________________________________________________________

Special bows for today: 
  • Please offer bows for all those families who have lost their lives or their homes in the recent fires in Oregon, California, and Washington
  • Please continue to offer bows of well-being for:   
    • Charles Kennicott Leech, Nancy's father who died on 10/9/20
    • David Shaw, who suffered a stroke on 9/30/20
    • Takiko Kawakami, Fumiko Arao's mother who died 9/2/2020
    • Phyllis Merrill, Misha's mother, who is dying
    • Rev. Les Kaye, Misha’s Zen teacher, who is recovering at home undergoing chemotherapy
__________________________________________________________


Wonderful links shared by sangha members and friends:

 


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October 17, 2020

Taking Refuge (Fall Sesshin theme)

From Jill's talk on refuge: 

I take refuge in my redwood tree, so big and vast, born before me and will live many generations after, if people leave it alone. 


I’ve had a garden here for going on 40 years; often I think the redwood is the real beneficiary, for its roots go more than a hundred feet in all directions, soaking up the fertilizer and water and compost, saying thank you, growing taller, wider. 

I take refuge in the oak tree nearby, a volunteer that we did not take care to remove 35 years ago; we might have more sun in our yard had we noticed it, but without our care and feeding, directly anyway, it is home to birds and squirrels and insects and stays bright green all year round. 

I think of these two sometimes as embodying life's active and receptive principles, tall and nurturing, reaching to the sky, reaching out with arms to many creatures. The redwood probably over 85 feet; the oak perhaps half that size, but rounder, fuller. Both of them taking care of us, probably taking care of each other through their root systems, for all I know. 

I take refuge in these trees which teach me that life is longer and deeper and wider than I can imagine, they teach me patience and forbearance and uprightness. All that coming and going we humans do; staying in one place, growing year after year, harboring so many beings – they give beyond measure.

And in the end I will return to the earth, return to the trees, become compost, humus, one with the earth again.


______________________________________________________________________

Our ZHS on-line schedule

  • Mondays: 7-8:30pm - zazen, short service, lecture/discussion
  • Tuesdays-Fridays: 5:30-6:10pm - zazen, offering of merit/bows
  • M-F: 7-7:30am - zazen
  • Saturdays: 8:00-10:15am - zazen, short service, tea, discussion/study
  • For more information:  www.zenheartsangha.org) 
_____________________________________________________________________

Special bows for today: 
  • Please offer bows for all those families who have lost their lives or their homes in the recent fires in Oregon, California, and Washington
  • Please continue to offer bows of well-being for:   
    • Please offer bows for Charles Kennicott Leech, Nancy's father who died on 10/9/20
    • David Shaw, who suffered a stroke on 9/30/20
    • Takiko Kawakami, Fumiko Arao's mother who died 9/2/2020
    • Phyllis Merrill, Misha's mother, who is dying
    • Rev. Les Kaye, Misha’s Zen teacher, who is recovering at home undergoing chemotherapy
__________________________________________________________


Wonderful links shared by sangha members and friends:

 

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