In tough times it’s easy to contract in your thinking and your activities. The tradition we come from doesn’t advise this. Shakyamuni Buddha teaches:

“If people knew as I know the results of giving and sharing, they would not eat without having given…

Even if they were down to their last bit of food, they would not eat without having shared it, if those to receive it were present.”

Itivuttaka 26

Try it, in a manageable, sane, gradual way. Notice how your world completely transforms.

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13 October to 27 October 2012

Early booking price £2630 fully residential.

We’ll be at Gaunts House, a beautiful and comfortable retreat centre in Dorset. More information about the venue here http://www.gauntshouse.com/ Enquire about the special Early Bird price for course fees and full-board accommodation of £2630. There are limited places available, so you’ll need to get in early. Your first step is to email zenways@london.com.

Gaunts House Dorset

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“The Yoga secret for maximum health is living in a way that brings joy to the very force of life itself, thus enabling the individual human being to manifest his own abilities to the full and to cooperate with others… According to the Zen Yoga system, in order for a person to be beautiful, the entire personality including its psychological, physical and lifestyle aspects, must be beautiful.”

Zen Yoga Therapy; Oki Masahiro Sensei

Kajiura Itsugai is the eighty-second ancestor in our lineage. As a young Zen monk he practiced in Daitokuji Temple in Kyoto. Later he became abbot of Shogenji, the strictest Zen temple in Japan and later still, as the abbot of Myoshinji, became the seniormost Zen Master of the Rinzai School.

When he was in training at Daitokuji, every single one of his contemporaries had experience the joyful awakening of kensho – the perception of your true nature. Itsugai alone had not found this. He vowed to meditate all night in the temple graveyard for one hundred day. It was in the middle of winter and of all Japan, Kyoto is notable for its winter cold. Even when snow fell on him, the earnest young monk didn’t falter in his practice. When he went to see his teacher for sanzen, the private interview where a trainee expresses his understanding, sometimes Itsugai would faint from cold. He battled on through the hundred days, seeming to make no progress at all.

Snow, Moon, Flower – Kajiura Itsugai Roshi

Then came a rest day. The Daitokuji monks wondered into the city, but not Itsugai. He spent a little time at a nearby shrine his mother used to visit. He bowed his head and prayed that his spiritual eye would open. Then he returned to Daitokuji and continued his meditation. Evening came , it began to get dark, but the monks had not yet returned. Their laundry  was still hanging outside so he brought it in, mindfully folded it and placed it in front of their rooms. The rest day is also the bathing day in a Zen temple so he prepared the bath. He filled the furnace with firewood. Unconsciously, automatically he piled on more wood and lit the fire. All of a sudden a stream of fire and heat came out and hit his body. At that moment he realised his true nature. The returning monks found him dancing and singing with joy.

Alone, passgates closed, not inspecting the state.
Here, who is the Dharma King?
If people request a winter quote -
“From this dawn, day lengthens by a thread.”
Zen Master Ikkyu

The winter solstice is the shortest day of the year and from the next day the days lengthen. It is called the return of the yang. When yin reaches extremity it turns into yang. Similarly when we are able to fully open our hands, we realise the Way. The first line above is an allusion to the I Ching hexagram no 24, “Turning Back” which illustrates this day. “The ancient king, on the day of solstice, closed the gates of the passes, merchants did not travel, and the king did not inspect the state.”

Ikkyu follows this by echoing the Lotus Sutra and asking you to identify who you really are. And in this momentous change, at the same time things have hardly changed at all.
As the year turns, wishing you health, happiness and great success on all levels.

From “Zen at Daitokuji” by Covell and Sobin

“A note might be added about the ability of the abbots to assume various roles during the day simply by changing their costume and demeanor. Robes of varying degress of fomality hang on clothes hangers in the open passageways to the rear of the Living Quarters. If an important visitor should arrive while the abbot is dressed in his baggy farmer’s trousers, he can slip into the rear entrance, assume the clothes that are fitting to the visitor’s position and the occasion, and in less that five minutes be sitting erect on his purple silk cushion in the Reception Room, worlds removed from the farmer or stonemason of a few minutes before.

Zen emphasises living in the ‘now-moment.’ Thus the abbot totally experiences the magic of sound as the sutras are cantillated; he is completely involved with eating when he eats, of dusting when he dusts (having removed his outer robes of course); he becomes the stern abbot when a museum director wishes to borrow a painting, he can be a building overseer when talking with a carpenter about repairs. The robe, the personality, the bearing, the tone of voice, even the grammatical forms of language vary according to the situation.

By total attention to each of the day’s many demands, by concentration on the business at hand the Zen abbot retains his composure despite the fact that there is scarcely a minute when he is not active in some way.”

When sitting in the morning, courage will spring up
When sitting in the evening, gratitude will be born
When sitting alone, you will enjoy stillness
When all are sitting, harmony will arise
When sitting properly, you will keep your good health
When keeping on sitting, you are promised a long life.
From Rinzaishu Shingyo Kyoten (The Rinzai School book of scriptures)

“At every step the pure wind rises.”
Zen Master Daito Kokushi
Pack up camp, fill our water bottles
hoist our packs
find our direction and path
comment on the weather and nice surroundings
chat about work and life

the ascent kicks in
gentle plod turns to paced uphill steps

trees are left behind, chat is left behind
the going gets steep and rough
concentrate on the steps
boots tramping on stone and mud
no, feet caressing the ground with each pace

footfalls, step, step, step
uphill

one foot after the other
the rhythm
observing the body working, the feet moving – as if from the outside
where is the self, where is the foot, where is the ground, the mountain?
the body is moving, the mind is still, what is “I”?

I am the footfall, I am the ground beneath, I am the rhythm
true nature.

Mark Kakushin Westmoquette

Hiya, If you’ve ever felt held-back by fear, if you’ve ever avoided following your heart, if you’ve ever backed-away from stepping into something new and perhaps a little unknown, then you might be interested in what we have coming up.

The Japanese Zen teacher, Suzuki Shosan (1579-1655), a battle-hardened samurai who became a monk later in life taught his students, ‘True ‘no-thought, no-mind’ zazen is just one thing – to have a fearless mind.’

He developed a unique style of teaching and practice which emphasized fearlessness, freedom and complete engagement with life. He particularly urged his students to squarely face the koan or spiritual problem of death.

In October 12-17 we have a Zen retreat at Anam Cara in Scotland where we will be exploring Shosan’s teachings to transcend your deepest fears so that you can become freely able to shape your most authentic and satisfying life. There are only 12 places available. It’s suitable for new people as well as experienced practitioners. You can register at http://www.anamcara.org/. Please come and join us. Life is short. Let’s really live before time runs out.

Best wishes Daizan

A quote from the teachings of the Buddha:

I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was living among the Sakyans. Now there is a Sakyan town named Sakkara. There Ven. Ananda, his assistant, went to the Blessed One and, on arrival, having bowed down to the Blessed One, sat to one side. As he was sitting there, Ven. Ananda said to the Blessed One, “This is half of the holy life, lord: noble friendship, noble companionship, noble camaraderie.”

“Don’t say that, Ananda. Don’t say that. Admirable noble, noble companionship, noble camaraderie is actually the whole of the holy life.”