Beginning Zen Practice: A Class with David Guy. Holiday. Children s Program. People of Color Sitting Group

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1 Chapel Hill Zen Center News P.O. BOX 16302, CHAPEL HILL, NC SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER, 2015 Holiday The zendo will be closed on Monday, September 7, but the Sunday morning program on September 6 will be held as usual. Children s Program The Zen Center Children's Program offers children four years and older a space and time where they can practice living mindfully and well, through programmed activities; it introduces them to Zen concepts and Buddhist history and teachings, as well as providing a place for children in the Zen Center sangha while giving their parents the opportunity to meditate. Maura High leads the program, which meets twice a month on Sundays from 9:00 until 11:00. The fall program will meet on September 13 and 27, October 11 and 25, November 8 and 22, and December 13. For more information about the program, please visit childrensprogramchzc.wordpress.com or contact Maura at maurahigh@gmail.com. The Children's Program needs volunteers who can assist; if you are free for one or more Sunday mornings, please contact Maura. People of Color Sitting Group Wednesday nights from 6:00-7:30 In this group, we attend to our embodied experience and cultivate freedom in the present moment through the practice of zazen, or Zen meditation. We begin with zazen at 6:00, followed by kinhin (walking meditation), and then have the option to stay for group discussion and community building. Both those new to meditation, or experienced, are warmly welcome to join us every Wednesday evenings or drop in as you like. Please do not hesitate to contact Conal or Kriti at pocsittinggroup@gmail.com with any questions you may have. As usual, instruction in zazen and an orientation are offered to the public on Sunday morning at 9:00, and on Tuesday night at 7:00. Beginning Zen Practice: A Class with David Guy Monday nights, 7:30 to 9:00, on September 14- October 26, except October 12 Stop searching for phrases and chasing after words. Take the backward step and turn the light inward. Your body-mind of itself will drop off and your original face will appear. Dogen Zen Meditation, or zazen, is the simple practice of being present with our experience. We hear the instructions in a matter of minutes, but spend a lifetime learning the practice. This class will introduce participants to meditation and give them support as they develop a daily sitting practice. It will also introduce them to other aspects of practice at the Chapel Hill Zen Center. The first night will begin with meditation instructions and a short period of sitting. Each week we will continue to sit for a period at the beginning of class, gradually increasing the time. Participants will have a chance to ask questions and raise concerns about their practice. As the weeks proceed we will study other aspects of Zen practice, including walking meditation, protocol around the zendo, and the service of bowing and chanting. But the focus will be on zazen, and participants actual practice as it unfolds. The content of the class will emerge from participants questions and concerns. Cost is $60, payable the first night, and will be contributed to the Zen Center. Partial scholarships are available. For more information, or to sign up, please contact David Guy at or davidguy@mindspring.com. David Guy has been practicing meditation since 1991, and regularly gives sitting instruction. He has co-authored two books with Larry Rosenberg of the Cambridge Insight Meditation Center Breath by Breath: The Liberating Practice of Insight Meditation and Living in the Light of Death: On the Art of Being Truly Alive. In 2008 he published Jake Fades: A Novel of Impermanence.

2 PAGE 2 Recovery Meeting The Recovery Meeting now meets on Tuesday nights at 7:00. This is a recovery group with a Buddhist perspective on the 12-Step Program which meets at the Chapel Hill Zen Center. The meetings begin with twenty minutes of silent meditation. For more information, contact: or zensetter@gmail.com. All-day Sittings This Fall s all-day sittings will be on Sundays, September 20, and October 18, from 6:00 A.M. until 5:00 P.M. The sitting will begin with orientation on Saturday night at 7:30, and will include instruction on the meal form and one period of zazen. The regular Sunday schedule, with zazen at 9:00 and 9:50 and Dharma Talk at 10:30, will be open to everyone. The day will include zazen, a lecture, dokusan and a work period, as well as breakfast and lunch. The fee is $10 for members and $20 for others. It is alright to sit half of the day, but please sign up in advance, and please speak to Josho Sensei if this is your first all-day sitting. For more information on the oryoki meal form see: oryoki-manual/ Interdependence: Biology and Beyond On Sunday, October 4, at 11:00, Kriti Sharma will offer a presentation on her new book, Interdependence: Biology and Beyond. The teaching that all phenomena are interdependent is central to all Mahayana Buddhist traditions. What does interdependence or dependent arising really mean? Do we experience ourselves as thoroughly interdependent with our world and if not, why not? What habitual, everyday assumptions function as barriers to realizing interdependence, and what happens when we examine and potentially dissolve those assumptions? Kriti Sharma will read from and discuss her new book, Interdependence: Biology and Beyond (Fordham University Press, New York, 2015), with a focus on how a clear and coherent philosophical and scientific view of interdependence can be a support for everyday practice in each moment. Everyone is welcome and there is no charge. Study Group In September the Study Group will focus on the book, The Way of Tenderness: Awakening through Race, Sexuality and Gender by Zenju Earthlyn Manuel. The Study Group meets on Thursday evenings from 6:45-8:00, following one period of zazen at 6:00. Everyone is welcome and there are copies of the book for sale in the entryway and in the library. Dharma Talks Josho Pat Phelan will give public Dharma Talks on Sundays, September 20, and October 18, at 10:30. Everyone is welcome. Sejiki Ceremony The Sejiki Ceremony will be held on Friday evening October 30, at 7:00, followed by pot-luck refreshments. Children are welcome and welcome to wear costumes. Sejiki is a Japanese word meaning feeding the hungry ghosts. Hungry ghosts are depicted as beings with very large stomachs swollen from malnutrition, who have the tiniest of throats, and who are always hungry. They are symbolic of the state of mind which is never satisfied with who we are or what we have. In the ceremony we call forth hungry ghosts and beings who are stuck in intermediary states, as well the dark, unknown regions of our own psyches, bringing them into the light. We offer them the nourishment of Dharma with the hope of satisfying and releasing them. The Sejiki Ceremony also has the feeling of a universal memorial service. In addition to releasing the spirits of the departed, the ceremony is intended to resolve our karmic relationships with the deceased. During the ceremony, the names of those for whom we have performed memorial services during the past year will be read. If you would like the name of a friend or relative, or other being, read during the service, please leave the name in an envelop on the zendo bulletin board, or give it to Josho Sensei no later than the day before the ceremony.

3 PAGE 3 In the spirit of Sejiki, we invite you to bring a food offering for the Interfaith Council pantry of non-perishable goods, which will be collected in the entryway. Chinese Calligraphy and Brush Painting Jinxiu Zhao will teach Chinese Calligraphy from 1:10-2:40, and brush painting from 1:10-3:10, on Sunday afternoons, September 13 and 27, and on October 11 and 25. The fees are $20 for calligraphy and $25 for brush painting. Please contact Jinxiu at (919) or Jxznc@aol.com to register or for more information. Jinxiu is available for private lessons for children and adults. Looking Ahead We are planning a Seven-day Sesshin, December 4-11, led by Josho Sensei. Buddha s Enlightenment Celebration will be on Sunday morning, December 13. Taigen Dan Leighton is planning to lead a day of teaching on Soto Zen and Dongshan s Practice of Suchness, on Saturday, March 27, His book, Just This is It, Dongshan and the Practice of Suchness, was published this year on the teachings of the early Soto Zen ancestor, Tozan Ryokai. Shohaku Okumura Roshi is planning to lead a Genzo-e Sesshin here next year, August 5-10, Board of Directors The CHZC Board of Directors for 2015 are Robert Haake, President; Ken Wilson, Vice President; Elliott Schaffer, Treasurer; Carol Klein, Secretary; and Maura High and Conal Ho, Members-at- Large. Lecture by Sojun Mel Weitsman Roshi Talk Two of Three Talks on Dogen s Zenki Chapel Hill Zen Center, 2008 Dogen s fascicle, Zenki or Total Dynamic Working, was translated by Abe and Waddell with their explanatory footnotes. In the first footnote they write, All dharmas (things) in the universe are the Buddha Dharma, and the Buddha Dharma is manifested or realized clearly in all dharmas. Technically, according to abhidharma teaching, a dharma (with a lower case d ), is an aspect of experience, a feeling, emotion, thought, intention, or part of our form body. The early Buddhists put together various lists of dharmas that were most frequently encountered in human experience; which include thoughts, various feelings, and attitudes, which are wholesome, unwholesome, or neutral. Basically those are the dharmas, but actually in a wider sense, every manifestation can be called a dharma. And then, in another sense, Dharma with a capital D refers to Buddha s teaching. When we say, the Dharma, it means the truth or reality of each of these individual dharmas, the dharmas with a small d. The reality or the nature of our human constructs. So, All dharmas, or things in the universe, are the Buddha-dharma. There is nothing left out, everything in the universe is Buddha-dharma. There are the several universes, there is one universe which is all encompassing and inclusive, and then there is the universe which is each one of us as an individual. Each one of us is a reflection of the whole universe, and the whole universe is contained within each one of us. And so, the question arises, where is the center of the universe? Does the universe have a center? If so, where is the center? In one sense you can say that the center of the universe is everywhere. If there is no particular center, then wherever you point can be the center. Wherever you are, wherever you stand is the center of the universe; but it doesn t mean that you alone are the center of the universe. Wherever anybody stands is also the center of the universe. So everything is standing in the center of the universe together, even though we are all in

4 PAGE 4 different places. So, All dharmas or things in the universe are the Buddha-dharma, and the Buddha-dharma is manifested or realized clearly in all dharmas. So you can see that all dharmas are contained in the Dharma, Buddha-dharma. The Buddha-dharma is really about small, individual, particular things that have no inherent existence in themselves. For Dogen being confirmed by all dharmas is proven by the fact of oneself in zazen. It is emancipation from all attachments. It is a breakthrough that constitutes enlightenment. For all Buddhas, that is, for all enlightened beings, there is emancipation that is shedding of ego in practice and realization, manifesting or realizing in all dharmas one s true self, a self beyond all duality. In other words, according to my understanding, what Dogen is talking about is proven or manifested in zazen. It s experiencing the unity of the oneness, as well as the diversity, of all dharmas with the universe. So this is why zazen is called zenki or Total Dynamic Activity. Two related Japanese terms are, kikan, which is the motive force that makes each dharma s existence what it is, and zenki or the universal activity that exists within each dharma or each manifestation. One day a monk asked Joshu, Does the dog have the Buddha nature? A great question. Joshu answered, No. But, no used in a non-dualistic way. Another time when someone asked Joshu, Does a dog have the Buddha nature? He said, Yes, but yes used in a non-dualistic way. In the same way I use life as a non -dualistic term that includes both birth and death. No in this case contains both yes and no. Absolute no has to contain its opposite. Ordinarily, we use yes and no in relative opposition. But when yes and no are considered in a non-dualistic way, yes contains no and no contains yes. Birth contains death, and death contains birth. So within each moment s activity of birth is also its death. Birth and death are happening at the same time, and in each moment. The birth of something is also the death of something, and the death of something is the birth of something. Otherwise, continuation couldn t happen. Emptiness in this sense means the space in which something can happen. Without emptiness everything would freeze as it is. In the same way if you look at birth and death in that light, death is necessary for birth or manifestation. If there was no death, there couldn t be any manifestation, and vice versa. If there was no manifestation, there couldn t be any death. So, zenki means to live (and love) each moment in full function right now, not clinging to existence and not wishing for death. Otherwise, we have a one-sided understanding of existence that is called an upside down view. When I studied this with Katagiri Roshi years ago, he had a picture of a little man in a circle upside down. Dogen wrote, Emancipation means that life emancipates life, and that death emancipates death. For this reason, there is deliverance from birth and death, and immersion in birth and death. Both are the great Way totally culminated. There is discarding of birth and death, and there is crossing of birth and death. Dogen is saying, don t be attached to birth and don t be attached to death. Footnote 2comments on this, Crossing birth and death and immersion in birth and death signifies entering birth and death in order to work for the salvation of all beings. For Dogen, one is totally immersed within birth or death while one is free from birth and death. But one stays within birth and death in order to help sentient beings to understand how to be free from birth and death. This is the bodhisattva ideal, the bodhisattva stays in the world of birth and death the dualistic world of birth and death, in order to save all beings. And this is what the bodhisattva vow is all about; however, all beings might not want to be saved from this problem. Dogen continued, When the great Way is realized, it is nothing but life s total realization, it is nothing but death s total realization. Then he wrote, This dynamic working readily brings about life and readily brings about death. At the very time that this dynamic working is thus realized, it is not necessarily large and it is not necessarily small; it is not limitless, it is not limited; it is not long or far, short or near. One s present life exists within this dynamic working: this dynamic working exists within this present life.

5 PAGE 5 In footnote 4 the translators comment, Since the great Way of buddhas is beyond all dualities, including the basic duality of birth and death, from life s point of view each thing, including death, is life s total realization; from death s point of view each thing, including life, is death s total realization. We usually don t conceive of thinking or realizing in the realm of death, nor do we think in terms of manifestation. Dogen equated birth and death, and he set up death in a way that included manifestation. Birth and death are separate terms, but I think manifestation is good because it means existence, and death means non-existence. So, manifestation might be a better term in some ways, but he s using all three of these terms. Usually we don t see things from death s point of view; we see things from the point of view of manifestation. Dogen said that since the great Way of buddhas is beyond all dualities, including the basic duality of birth and death, from manifestation s point of view, each thing, including death, is life s total realization. And from death s point of view, each thing including manifestation is death s total realization. It is also called kikan or the eternal now. Our present manifestation exists within this dynamic working, and this dynamic working exists within this present life. Life is not a coming and it is not a going it is not an existing and it is not a becoming. Nevertheless life is the manifestation of the total dynamic working, and death is the manifestation of the total dynamic working. For Dogen, it is important to have what he calls vow of practice, i.e. living by vow rather than living by karma. Most of us live by karma without realizing the working of cause and effect and how we reap the consequences of our self-centered actions. Living by vow is living according to the Dharma. When we understand the meaning of our vow of practice, it should help us understand the non-duality of birth and death. This is what Dogen called the Great Matter. This is why we say we are not searching for enlightenment; but when we simply sit zazen, enlightenment manifests without seeking it. We express Buddha dharma without trying; we are simply expressing the total reality which is zenki. So, zenki is the other side of birth and death and includes birth and death. The side which does not discriminate but which realizes birth within death, and death within birth. It means birth emancipates birth, death emancipates death. Footnote 6 explains, This dynamic working is not something to which dualistic concepts can be applied. Dogen wrote, This dynamic working readily brings about birth and readily brings about death. At the very time that this dynamic working is thus realized, it is not necessarily large, not necessarily small; it is not limitless, it is not limited; it is not long or far, short or near. One s present life exists within this dynamic working: this dynamic working exists within this present life. Dogen continued, You should know that within the incalculable dharmas that are in you, there is birth and there is death. You must quietly reflect whether your present life and all the dharmas existing with this life share a common life or not. [In fact,] there can be nothing not one instant of time or a single dharma that does not share life in common. For a thing as well as for a mind, there is nothing but sharing life in common. I would like to read footnote 7, Each existence has it s own respective dharma stage; it s own time and does not intrude upon any other existence. Yet that which makes each and every existence individual is also functioning equally within each and every individual. Because there is life, there is death; because there is death, there is life. Life is life and is not death, yet there cannot be life without death, and vice versa. In Dogen s text Genjokoan he wrote, It is an established dharma teaching that life does not become death. Buddhism therefore speaks of nolife. It is an established teaching in the Buddha Dharma that death does not become life. Buddhism therefore speaks of non-extinction. Life is one stage of total time and death is one stage of total time. With winter and spring, for example, we do not say that winter becomes spring, or that spring becomes summer. We sometimes do say this, but according to reality, it is not correct. Spring is the total time of spring, it has its before and after and its present, and the same is true for winter.

6 PAGE 6 Dogen also wrote of firewood and ash. Firewood is the stage of being firewood, then when it burns, there is ash; but it is not that the firewood becomes ash. Firewood is a condition for ash. But we can t say that the firewood turns into ash we do say that, but it is not correct. In 19 th Century Zen Master Nishiari Bokusan s commentary on Genjokoan, he said, If you asked tofu, Tofu, do you know that you were once beans? Tofu would say, are you kidding? Those round, hard things? I m flat and smooth. So, each dharma has its own conditions for making it what it is. Indian and Buddhist philosophers, say when you have a cow, you call it a cow. When it is slaughtered and you eat it, you call it meat. So you don t say, I am now eating cow. You say, I am eating meat. Steak is in the dharma position of being steak. Steak is not the same as a steer, although the steer is a condition for the existence or the manifestation of steak. Transcribed by Mary Johnston Ribbon Cutting All are invited to the ribbon cutting of the new Men s Community House of the Inter-Faith Council for Social Service (IFC), on Monday morning, September 21, from 8:00-9:00, at 1315 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., Chapel Hill, with parking at the United Church at 1321 MLK, Jr. The new Inter-Faith SECU Community House is 16,500 square feet and it will offer dental and medical clinics, therapy, job training and job networking, as well as a transitional housing program to help 52 residents recover from homelessness, rebuild their lives and become active and productive members of the community. The CHZC currently prepares lunch on the last Saturday of the month at the current location at Rosemary and Columbia in Chapel Hill, which will continue operating. Once the new community house opens, there will be a need for meals to be prepared at both locations. Carol Klein is the ZC contact person. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact her at Additions to the Members Library Being Mortal by Atul Gawande; Buddhism and Ecology, ed. by Tucker and Williams Icons and Iconoclasm by Pamela Winfield Dialogues in a Dream by Muso Soseki, trans. Thomas Kirchner; The Way of Tenderness by Zenju Earthlyn Manual Introduction to Buddhist Psychology by Padmasiri DeSilva The Principles of Buddhist Psychology and A History of Buddhist Philosophy by David Kalupahana Comfortable with Uncertainty by Pema Chodron Japan the Beautiful and Myself by Yasunari Kawabata Nothing Holy About It by Tim Burkett Meditation on Perception by Henepola Gunaratana Mindfulness in Action by Chogyam Trungpa Selected Works of D.T. Suzuki, Vol. 1: Zen and Vol. 2: Pure Land, ed. Richard Jaffe Dogen and Soto Zen, ed. Steven Heine Zen Masters of Japan by Richard Bryan McDaniel. Many of these books were donations for which we are very grateful.

7 PAGE 7 General Meeting Our annual General Meeting will be held on Sunday morning, November 8, at 11:00, following zazen. The nominees for the next Board of Directors will be introduced and the budget for 2016 will be presented. Everyone is encouraged to attend, but only Participating Members are eligible to vote. If you have agenda items, please contact the Board President, Robert Haake at jewelednet@gmail.com. Sangha Network The CHZC has a Sangha Network of volunteers to offer short-term assistance to those in the sangha who need help with simple tasks such as shopping, arranging for meals, or transportation, due to transitions in one s life including illness, disability, or death of a loved one. If you would like to volunteer or if you need assistance, please contact Jeff Sherman at or Elliott Schaffer at Prison Outreach Members of the CHZC volunteer in both state prisons in North Carolina and the federal prison at Butner. We can always use more volunteers, and having volunteers present is usually a requirement in order for inmates to meet for religious services or to sit zazen. We are looking for people who have been sitting zazen at the Zen Center for at least a year. Orientation is required by each institution. If you would like more information, please contact Josho at (919) or info@chzc.org. Richmond Zen Group Josho Sensei plans to visit and give a talk at the Richmond Zen Group on Wednesday nights, September 23, and October 21, at 7:00. To confirm or for more information contact Kevin at or see Temple Maintenance If you are interested in helping care for the altars of our temple, this would be a good time to begin, or return to, the practice of chidening. Traditionally, chidens are responsible for maintaining the altars of a temple which means cleaning the altars themselves, sifting and cleaning the incense burners, trimming candles, and replenishing needed items. We also need volunteers to bring flowers and create flower arrangements for the altars. Chidening is a wonderful way of supporting the ongoing practice of our temple. A new schedule is being set up, and if you are interested in serving as a chiden, please contact Nell at Hokusai, Monk with Incense

8 Chapel Hill Zen Center P.O. Box Chapel Hill, NC (919) Sunday Morning 9:00 zazen 9:40 kinhin 9:50 zazen 10:30 service Thursday Evening 6:00 P.M. zazen Schedule Tuesday Evening 7:00 zazen 7:40 kinhin 7:50 zazen 8:20 service Monday to Friday 6:00 A.M. zazen 6:50 A.M. zazen Nonprofit Organization U.S. Postage Paid Permit No. 166 Chapel Hill, NC RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED Meetings at 5322 NC Highway miles North of I-40 exit 266 Josho Pat Phelan, Abbess The Great Road has no gate. It begins in your own mind. The sky has no marked trails, yet it finds its way to your nostrils and becomes your breath. Somehow we meet like tricksters or bandits of dharma. Ah! The great house comes tumbling down. Astonished, maple leaves fly and scatter. Tendo Nyojo (Ryu Jing) Dogen s Chinese Master Embracing diversity, the Chapel Hill Zen Center expresses the fundamental connection of all beings by welcoming everyone to the practice of zazen. May all beings realize their true nature.