Wednesday, December 30, 2020

December 30, 2020

 

Seeing, in Three Pieces

- Kate Knapp

Somehow we must see through the shimmering cloth of daily life,

its painted, evasive facings of what to eat, to wear? 

Which work matters?

Is a bird more or less than a man? 

Is a bird more or less than a woman?


There have been people who helped the world. 

Named or not named.

They weren't interested in what might matter, 

doubled over as they were with compassion.

Laden with branches, bright rivers.


When a bulb burns out we just change it--

it's not the bulb we love; it's the light.


_____________________________________________________________________________

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:
    • Shannon's husband, Gil, who has had a seizure and is in ICU
    • Misha's uncle, Jack Colegrove, who has contracted COVID
  • Please continue to offer bows in honor of:
    • Nora Hayes-Roth, a dear friend of Misha's, who died on 11/25/20
    • Dan Pomeroy, a friend of dharma brother, Dainuri Rott, who died on 11/20/20
  • Please continue to offer bows of well-being for: 
    • Misha's brother, Duane, who is receiving radiation for cancer 
    • Roshi Sojun (Mel) Weitsman) who entered hospice 12/14/20
    • Flip Dibner, who is undergoing chemotherapy while at home 
    • David Shaw, who suffered a stroke; he is home now with his wife, Nancy, and beginning the long slow process of rehabilitation
    • Rev. Les Kaye, Misha’s Zen teacher, who is in the final month of chemotherapy
______________________________________________________________

Wonderful links shared by sangha members and friends:

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Monday, December 28, 2020

December 28, 2020

 

The Buddha said, 

"Learning and thinking are like being outside the door; sitting in meditation is returning home to sit in peace."  



How true this is!  While learning and thinking, views have not stopped and the mind is still stuck -- that is why it is like being outside the door.  

But in this sitting meditation, zazen, everything is at rest and you penetrate everywhere -- thus it is like returning home to sit in peace.

 

Excerpted from Timeless Spring A Soto Zen Anthology by Thomas Cleary,


_____________________________________________________________________________

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:
    • Shannon's husband, Gil, who has had a seizure and is in ICU
    • Misha's uncle, Jack Colegrove, who has contracted COVID
  • Please continue to offer bows in honor of:
    • Nora Hayes-Roth, a dear friend of Misha's, who died on 11/25/20
    • Dan Pomeroy, a friend of dharma brother, Dainuri Rott, who died on 11/20/20
  • Please continue to offer bows of well-being for: 
    • Misha's brother, Duane, who is receiving radiation for cancer 
    • Roshi Sojun (Mel) Weitsman) who entered hospice 12/14/20
    • Flip Dibner, who is undergoing chemotherapy while at home 
    • David Shaw, who suffered a stroke; he is home now with his wife, Nancy, and beginning the long slow process of rehabilitation
    • Rev. Les Kaye, Misha’s Zen teacher, who is in the final month of chemotherapy
______________________________________________________________

Wonderful links shared by sangha members and friends:

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Saturday, December 26, 2020

December 26, 2020

 

In honor of Roshi Sojun Mel Weitsman 

(who is now receiving hospice care)










This is a story told by Roshi 

at his Stepping Down ceremony in October:

In the early days of 

Suzuki Roshi’s teaching at SF Zen Center, 

the Robe Chant was chanted only in Japanese. 

Mel went to Suzuki Roshi and Katagiri Roshi 

to ask what the chant meant. 

Katagiri Roshi went to look for a translation...

Suzuki Roshi stopped him and simply said, “heart.”


_____________________________________________________________________________

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: 
  • Thanks for your bows:  
    • Shannon's husband, Gil, has now tested negative and is recovering!
    • Zen Teacher, Angie Boissevain, who is recovering well at home 
    • Nancy Leech's mother, Doris Leech, is recovering well at home 
  • Please continue to offer bows in honor of:
    • Nora Hayes-Roth, a dear friend of Misha's, who died on 11/25/20
    • Dan Pomeroy, a friend of dharma brother, Dainuri Rott, who died on 11/20/20
    • Ofelia Mendez, Lilliana Mendez-Soto's aunt who died  on 11/12/20
  • Please continue to offer bows of well-being for: 
    •  Misha's brother, Duane, who is receiving radiation for cancer 
    • Roshi Sojun (Mel) Weitsman) who entered hospice 12/14/20
    • Flip Dibner, who is undergoing chemotherapy while at home 
    • David Shaw, who suffered a stroke; he is home now with his wife, Nancy, and beginning the long slow process of rehabilitation
    • Rev. Les Kaye, Misha’s Zen teacher, who is in the final month of chemotherapy
______________________________________________________________

Wonderful links shared by sangha members and friends:




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Thursday, December 24, 2020

December 24, 2020

 The Night Before Christmas, COVID Style

(author unknown)

T'was 2 weeks before Christmas, and all through the town, 

People wore masks, that covered their frown. 

The frown had begun way back in the spring

When a global pandemic changed everything. 

They called it corona, but unlike the beer,

 It didn’t bring good times, it didn’t bring cheer. 

 

Airplanes were grounded, travel was banned.  Borders were closed across air, sea, and land. 

As the world entered lockdown to flatten the curve, The economy halted, and folks lost their nerve. 

From March to July we rode the first wave, People stayed home, they tried to behave. 

When summer emerged the lockdown was lifted, But away from caution, many folks drifted. 

Now it’s December and cases are spiking, Wave two has arrived, much to our disliking. 

It’s true that this year has had sadness a-plenty, We’ll never forget the year 2020. 

And just ‘round the corner - the holiday season, But why be merry? Is there even one reason? 

To decorate the house and put up the tree, Who will see it, no one but me. 

But outside my window, the snow gently falls, And I think to myself, let’s deck the halls! 

So, I gather the ribbon, The garland, and bows, As I play those old carols, my happiness grows. 

Christmas is not canceled and neither is hope. If we lean on each other, I know we can cope.


Happy holidays!

_____________________________________________________________________

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: 
  • Thanks for your bows:  
    • Shannon's husband, Gil, has now tested negative and is recovering!
    • Zen Teacher, Angie Boissevain, who is recovering well at home 
    • Nancy Leech's mother, Doris Leech, is recovering well at home 
  • Please continue to offer bows in honor of:
    • Nora Hayes-Roth, a dear friend of Misha's, who died on 11/25/20
    • Dan Pomeroy, a friend of dharma brother, Dainuri Rott, who died on 11/20/20
    • Ofelia Mendez, Lilliana Mendez-Soto's aunt who died  on 11/12/20
  • Please continue to offer bows of well-being for: 
    •  Misha's brother, Duane, who is receiving radiation for cancer 
    • Roshi Sojun (Mel) Weitsman) who entered hospice 12/14/20
    • Flip Dibner, who is undergoing chemotherapy while at home 
    • David Shaw, who suffered a stroke; he is home now with his wife, Nancy, and beginning the long slow process of rehabilitation
    • Rev. Les Kaye, Misha’s Zen teacher, who is in the final month of chemotherapy
______________________________________________________________

Wonderful links shared by sangha members and friends:







___________________________________________________________________________

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Tuesday, December 22, 2020

December 22, 2020

A story shared by Jill on our last Monday evening about Itzhak Perlman, 

Written by Jack Riemer for King Syndicate

If you have ever been to a Perlman concert, you know that getting on stage is no small achievement for him. He was stricken with polio as a child, and so he has braces on both legs and walks with the aid of two crutches. To see him walk across the stage one step at a time, painfully and slowly, is an awesome sight. He walks painfully, yet majestically, until he reaches his chair. Then he sits down, slowly, puts his crutches on the floor, undoes the clasps on his legs, tucks one foot back and extends the other foot forward. Then he bends down and picks up the violin, puts it under his chin, nods to the conductor and proceeds to play

By now, the audience is used to this ritual. They sit quietly while he makes his way across the stage to his chair. They remain reverently silent while he undoes the clasps on his legs. They wait until he is ready to play. But this time, something went wrong. Just as he finished the first few bars, one of the strings on his violin broke. You could hear it snap -- it went off like gunfire across the room. There was no mistaking what that sound meant. There was no mistaking what he had to do.  

People who were there that night thought to themselves: "We figured that he would have to get up, put on the clasps again, pick up the crutches and limp his way off stage -- to either find another violin or else find another string for this one."

But he didn't. Instead, he waited a moment, closed his eyes and then signaled the conductor to begin again. The orchestra began, and he played from where he had left off. And he played with such passion and such power and such purity as they had never heard before.

Of course, anyone knows that it is impossible to play a symphonic work with just three strings. I know that, and you know that, but that night, Itzhak Perlman refused to know that. You could see him modulating, changing, recomposing the piece in his head . At one point, it sounded like he was de-tuning the strings to get new sounds from them that they had never made before.

When he finished, there was an awesome silence in the room. And then people rose and cheered. There was an extraordinary outburst of applause from every corner of the auditorium. We were all on our feet, screaming and cheering, doing everything we could to show how much we appreciated what he had done.

He smiled, wiped the sweat from his brow, raised his bow to quiet us, and then he said -- not boastfully, but in a quiet, pensive, reverent tone -- "You know, sometimes it is the artist's task to find out how much music you can still make with what you have left."

What a powerful line that is. It has stayed in my mind ever since I heard it.

______________________________________________________________________

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 of well-being for:   
    • Please offer bows for Misha's brother, Duane, who is receiving radiation for cancer
    • Please offer bows for Shannon's husband, Gil, who contracted COVID
    • Please offer bows for Roshi Sojun (Mel) Weitsman) who entered hospice 12/14/20
  • Please continue to offer bows in honor of:
    • Please offer bows for Angie Boissevain who is recovering well at home 
    • Nora Hayes-Roth, a dear friend of Misha's, who died on 11/25/20
    • Dan Pomeroy, a friend of dharma brother, Dainuri Rott, who died on 11/20/20
    • Ofelia Mendez, Lilliana Mendez-Soto's aunt who died  on 11/12/20
  • Please continue to offer bows of well-being for:   
    • Nancy Leech's mother, Doris Leech, who is recovering well at home 
    • Flip Dibner, who is undergoing chemotherapy while at home 
    • David Shaw, who suffered a stroke; he is home now with his wife, Nancy, and beginning the long slow process of rehabilitation
    • Rev. Les Kaye, Misha’s Zen teacher, who is in the final month of chemotherapy
___________________________________________________________________________

Wonderful links shared by sangha members and friends:

  • Zen Heart Sangha website: resources about COVID-19: www.zenheartsangha.org

  • If you would like to leave a comment on this blog: Here is a quick video on how to--it's from 2017, but should work:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8T4RflO5Wgg





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Saturday, December 19, 2020

December 19, 2020

You who let yourselves feel:  enter the breathing

that is more than your own.

Let it brush your cheeks

as it divides and rejoins behind you.

Blessed ones, whole ones,

you where the heart begins:

You are the bow that shoots the arrows

and you are the target.

Fear not the pain.  Let its weight fall back

into the earth;

for heavy are the mountains, heavy the seas.

The trees you planted in childhood have grown

too heavy.  You cannot bring them along.

Give yourselves to the air, to what you cannot hold.

 -    Rainer Maria Rilke

____________________________________________________________________________

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 continue to offer bows in honor of:
    • Nora Hayes-Roth, a dear friend of Misha's, who died on 11/25/20
    • Dan Pomeroy, a friend of dharma brother, Dainuri Rott, who died on 11/20/20
    • Ofelia Mendez, Lilliana Mendez-Soto's aunt who died  on 11/12/20; her relatives Jorge and his sister were able to be with her at the end
    • Phyllis Merrill, Misha's mother, who died on 10/18/20
    • Charles Kennicott Leech, Nancy's father who died on 10/9/20
  • Please offer bows of well-being for:   
    • Please offer bows for Roshi Sojun (Mel) Weitsman) who entered 12/14/20
    • Please offer bows for Angie Boissevain who was ill but has returned home 
  • Please continue to offer bows of well-being for:   
    • Shannon's daughter, Lilith, who is suffering from complications from knee surgery
    • Nancy Leech's mother, Doris Leech, who is recovering at home 
    • Flip Dibner, who is undergoing chemotherapy while at home 
    • David Shaw, who suffered a stroke; he is home now with his wife, Nancy, and beginning the long slow process of rehabilitation
    • Rev. Les Kaye, Misha’s Zen teacher, who is in the final month of chemotherapy
____________________________________________________________________________

Wonderful links shared by sangha members and friends:

  • Zen Heart Sangha website: resources about COVID-19: www.zenheartsangha.org

  • If you would like to leave a comment on this blog: Here is a quick video on how to--it's from 2017, but should work:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8T4RflO5Wgg





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Thursday, December 17, 2020

December 17, 2020

 Submitted by our dharma sister, Marya:

Deep peace of the running 

wave to you,

Deep peace of the flowing 

air to you.

Deep peace of the warm 

earth to you.

Deep peace of the shining 

stars to you,

Deep peace of the quiet night to you,

Deep peace of the Son of Peace to you,

Sun, moon, and stars pour their healing light on you.

Deep peace to you.

Psalm 85:8

____________________________________________________________________________

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 continue to offer bows in honor of:
    • Nora Hayes-Roth, a dear friend of Misha's, who died on 11/25/20
    • Dan Pomeroy, a friend of dharma brother, Dainuri Rott, who died on 11/20/20
    • Ofelia Mendez, Lilliana Mendez-Soto's aunt who died  on 11/12/20; her relatives Jorge and his sister were able to be with her at the end
    • Phyllis Merrill, Misha's mother, who died on 10/18/20
    • Charles Kennicott Leech, Nancy's father who died on 10/9/20
  • Please continue to offer bows of well-being for:   
    • Shannon's daughter, Lilith, who is suffering from complications from knee surgery
    • Nancy Leech's mother, Doris Leech, who is recovering at home 
    • Flip Dibner, who undergoing chemotherapy while at home with wife, Diane Renshaw
    • David Shaw, who suffered a stroke; he is home now with his wife, Nancy, and beginning the long slow process of rehabilitation
    • Rev. Les Kaye, Misha’s Zen teacher, who is in the final month of chemotherapy
____________________________________________________________________________

Wonderful links shared by sangha members and friends:

  • Zen Heart Sangha website: resources about COVID-19: www.zenheartsangha.org

  • If you would like to leave a comment on this blog: Here is a quick video on how to--it's from 2017, but should work:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8T4RflO5Wgg
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Tuesday, December 15, 2020

December 14, 2020

 Misha's reading for Rohatsu: 

from Old Path White Clouds by Thich Nhat Hanh

Chapter 18 "The Morning Star Has Risen" 

Gautama felt as though a prison which had confined him for thousands of lifetimes had broken open.  Ignorance had been the jailkeeper.  Because of ignorance his mind had been obscured, just like the moon and stars hidde by the storm clouds. 

Clouded by endless waves of deluded thoughts, the mind had falsely divided reality into subject and object, self and others, existence and non-existence, birth and death, and from these discriminations arose wrong views--the prisons of feelings, craving, grasping, and becoming.  The suffering of birth, old age, sickness, and death only made the prison walls thicker.  

The only thing to do was to seize the jailkeeper and see his true face.  The jailkeeper was ignorance.  And the means to overcome ignorance were the Noble Eight-fold Path. Once the jailkeeper was gone, the jail would disappear and never be rebuilt again.

(Photo by Pixie Couch)


__________________________________________________________________________

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 continue to offer bows in honor of:
    • Nora Hayes-Roth, a dear friend of Misha's, who died on 11/25/20
    • Dan Pomeroy, a friend of dharma brother, Dainuri Rott, who died on 11/20/20
    • Ofelia Mendez, Lilliana Mendez-Soto's aunt who died  on 11/12/20; her relatives Jorge and his sister were able to be with her at the end
    • Phyllis Merrill, Misha's mother, who died on 10/18/20
    • Charles Kennicott Leech, Nancy's father who died on 10/9/20
  • Please continue to offer bows of well-being for:   
    • Shannon's daughter, Lilith, who is suffering from complications from knee surgery
    • Nancy Leech's mother, Doris Leech, who is recovering at home 
    • Flip Dibner, who undergoing chemotherapy while at home with wife, Diane Renshaw
    • David Shaw, who suffered a stroke; he is home now with his wife, Nancy, and beginning the long slow process of rehabilitation
    • Rev. Les Kaye, Misha’s Zen teacher, who is in the final month of chemotherapy
____________________________________________________________________________

Wonderful links shared by sangha members and friends:

  • Zen Heart Sangha website: resources about COVID-19: www.zenheartsangha.org

  • If you would like to leave a comment on this blog: Here is a quick video on how to--it's from 2017, but should work:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8T4RflO5Wgg





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Saturday, December 12, 2020

December 12, 2020

 Jill's reading from Rohatsu: On the Endeavor of the Way by Dogen Zenji

Yet there may be true students who are not concerned with fame and gain and who allow their thought of enlightenment to guide them, and they may be confused by incapable teachers and obstructed from the correct understanding.  Indulging in smug self-satisfaction, they may sink into the land of delusion for a long time.  How can they nourish the correct seed of prajna and have the opportunity to attain the way?  If I am wandering about, which mountain or river can they call on? Because I feel concerned for them, I would like to record the standards of Zen monasteries which I personally saw and heard in Great Song as well as the profound principle which has been transmitted by my master. I wish to leave for students of the way the teaching of the buddha's house.  This is indeed the essence.


___________________________________________________________________________

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 continue to offer bows in honor of:
    • Nora Hayes-Roth, a dear friend of Misha's, who died on 11/25/20
    • Dan Pomeroy, a friend of dharma brother, Dainuri Rott, who died on 11/20/20
    • Ofelia Mendez, Lilliana Mendez-Soto's aunt who died  on 11/12/20; her relatives Jorge and his sister were able to be with her at the end
    • Phyllis Merrill, Misha's mother, who died on 10/18/20
    • Charles Kennicott Leech, Nancy's father who died on 10/9/20
  • Please continue to offer bows of well-being for:   
    • Shannon's daughter, Lilith, who is suffering from complications from knee surgery
    • Nancy Leech's mother, Doris Leech, who is recovering at home 
    • Flip Dibner, who undergoing chemotherapy while at home with wife, Diane Renshaw
    • David Shaw, who suffered a stroke; he is home now with his wife, Nancy, and beginning the long slow process of rehabilitation
    • Rev. Les Kaye, Misha’s Zen teacher, who is in the final month of chemotherapy
____________________________________________________________________________

Wonderful links shared by sangha members and friends:

  • Zen Heart Sangha website: resources about COVID-19: www.zenheartsangha.org

  • If you would like to leave a comment on this blog: Here is a quick video on how to--it's from 2017, but should work:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8T4RflO5Wgg





Posted by at No comments:
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