The Buddha established what have been called, “The four classes of Buddhist” – male and female monastics and male and female lay practitioners. Members of each of the four classes have realised enlightenment.,

Zenways member, Ha Jisho Tran, has left work as a city lawyer to pursue her Zen practice full time.  She is travelling to Japan to study at Gyokuryuji temple with Shinzan Roshi.  On Sunday 11th September at Yugagyo Dojo, our training hall, our sangha wished Ha every success for her practice as she took her leave.

The picture shows Ha with Shinzan Roshi at The Buddhist Society in London.

We are delighted to announce that our teacher Shinzan Roshi will be visiting the UK in May this year. This is his first time teaching in the UK and a rare opportunity to study with a Japanese Rinzai Zen Master. Here is his schedule of public events:

17th – 22nd May – Sesshin, Zen retreat at Gaunts House, Dorset. Currently there are no places. Email zenways@london.com if you would like to be on the reserve list.

25th May – 10 am – 5.30pm, Day retreat at  The Buddhist Society, 38 Eccleston Square, London, SW1V 1PH. Call  020 7834 5858 to book. Places still available.

6.30pm – Public talk, “Continuity and Change in Zen” at The Buddhist Society, address as above, no need to book.

26th May 4.15 pm, Lecture, “A Zen Model for Human Development with reference to the philosophy of Nishida” at The Old Refectory, Wadham College, Oxford. Contact oxfordzen@yahoo.co.uk to book.

6.30pm – 9pm, Zazenkai (practice meeting) at The Oxford Zen Society, Quaker Meeting House, 43 Saint Giles, Oxford OX1 3LW. Contact oxfordzen@yahoo.co.uk to book.

29th May, 2-4.30pm, Public Talk at The 2600th Sambuddha Jayanthi, Anniversary celebration of the Enlightenment of the Buddha; at Hammersmith Town Hall, King Street, London W6 9JU. Email secretary@sambuddhajayanthi.info to book.

You are invited to a memorial ceremony for all those who have died in the earthquake and tsunami in Japan on sunday 20th April 4.30 pm at The Chinese Community Centre, 9 Tavistock Place, Bloomsbury, London. Please come if you can.

Best wishes Daizan

Sundays 4.30-6pm

Zen Practice/Meditation

at ZEN YOGA (Yugagyo Dojo), Opp 43 Camberwell Grove, Camberwell, London SE5 8RE.

We’re excited to let you know that our teacher Shinzan Roshi is visiting from Japan in May. He will be leading a sesshin 17th-22nd May 2011 at the beautiful Gaunts House (pictured) in Dorset. Places are limited and in demand, as you can imagine. The retreat will be suitable for beginners as well as experienced Zen practitioners. Shinzan Roshi will be teaching and sanzen (private interviews) will be available. The venue is top quality and the cost of the week is £395, concessions £345. Email zenways@london.com to book places.

Zen practice is designed to enable you to realise your true nature, who you really are. This realization gives you freedom in life and death, happiness and fearlessness. This retreat, is a rare opportunity to study with an authentic Japanese Zen Master from the rigorous Rinzai lineage. Shinzan Roshi has many years of experience of teaching westerners. Expect a powerful and transformative experience.

About Shinzan Roshi

Meeting Shinzan Miyamae Roshi is like meeting a Zen master from the golden age. Openly critical of the institutionalisation and routinisation of much of modern Zen and emphatic on the importance of genuine insight, he has charted an unorthodox course. Born in 1935 in Niigata, Japan, he graduated from Doshisha University with a degree in Economics. In his twenties he failed in three business ventures, experiencing great hardships. Contemplating suicide, he was by chance transformed upon reading a book on Zen. He was 31. He was ordained a Zen monk by Mitsui Daishin Roshi who sent him to train at Shogenji monastery with his own master, the formidable Kajiura Itsugai Roshi. Shogenji, known as the devil’s dojo, had the reputation of being the strictest training monastery in Japan. It was founded in the mountains of Gifu-ken on the spot where Zen ancestor Kanzan Egan (1277-1360) in his post-monastery training worked as a cow herder by day and sat zazen on a precipice by night. After completing his koan study, Shinzan Roshi took the unusual step of visiting every Zen Master in Japan seeking to test and deepen his insight. Later he restored Gyokuryuji, the mountain hermitage of the great Zen master Bankei. He has become known for teaching outcasts and foreigners and protesting against institutional abuses. He withdrew from the Myoshinji branch of the Rinzai Zen school over the system of excessive charges for funerals. He has taught in the US, Canada and Europe and has written two books in Japanese, one about true Buddhism and one about finding happiness.

Some of our Zen students have conceived a strong desire to commit themselves to practice by recieving the Zen Precepts. This is truly a mark of deepening engagement with the Way. I have prepared this simple document for them in making their preparations. The teachings it contains reflect the work of many, many teachers and Ancestors on the Ways of Zen.

Impermanence

“The Great Matter of Birth and Death, the Great Matter of swift change – unless these are reflected and pondered deeply, even though you received this valuable human birth which is so difficult to come by, you might yet end up carelessly squandering it. However, if you truly feared birth and death, would you then now eagerly seek for the way out?” Zen Master Daibai Unkan.

We come to practice Zen because something in us recognises that we can do or be better. Our life may be outwardly successful and fulfilling but nevertheless something inside is not fully satisfied. Many people learn to simply ignore this nagging sense of unease. But a few people have the courage to take it seriously and begin to consider where true fulfillment might lie.

Traditionally framed as a realization of impermanence, we see that we are in the perilous position of our life draining away day by day like sands falling through an hourglass. Naturally, this develops a great sense of urgency. We begin to seek a refuge, a safe place. This seeking mind itself is the beginning of our awakening process. Continue reading “Entering The Gate of the Zen Precepts” »

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.”

We have the last Zen Taiso (yoga) session of the year at the Buddhist Society, 58 Eccleston Square, London, Sw1V 1PH tomorrow, Saturday 11th December, 2.30 -4 pm. Experience Zen Temple-style yoga practice. All welcome.

“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

Mark Westmoquette, astronomer writes about his experience in Japan.

“Japan Zen Enlightenment Journey – it did everything it said on the tin, and
more!

“To me this felt like the kind of experience where the more you put in, the more
you get back. The more you could take advantage of the beautiful, safe,
nurturing, and inspiring setting, the teaching and guidance that Shinzan Roshi
gave and the energy that our fantastic group generated, the more your practice
could really move on, become more focussed and go that much deeper. Roshi was,
with no doubt, the engine of the sesshin; a truly inspirational figure, both in
what he said and who he was. While you could sense a wild and ferocious side (a
character mirrored by his beautiful dogs), he came across as infinitely kind,
warm, understanding and approachable. He never stopped teaching, and obviously
put his all into the sesshin. This, my first retreat, gave me my first glimpse
into the world of liberation – I now understand what “zen” really means.

“Regarding the second week of sightseeing, it was an absolute honour to be able
to go to the places and do the things we did with Daizan and Matt. I cannot
thank them enough for showing us Japan so expertly and in such detail. They were
both (particularly Daizan) such founts of knowledge on almost any topic to do
with Buddhism, Japan, and just about anything else, that the guide book became
superfluous!! To us, it felt like the week went effortlessly – indicating that
they both must have put in an awful lot of behind-the-scenes work to make our
time so chock full yet run so smoothly. I couldn’t possibly decide which
activity was the highlight of that second week, although the lady tea master we
spent some time with left an unexpectedly powerful impression on me.

“I have a feeling this won’t be my last trip to Japan…=”

We’re looking at heading out again next May. It won’t be the same as this year, or last year – guaranteed! But every single person who’s come with us has found it a life-changing experience. Email zenways@london.com and I’ll put you on the list of interested people.

Best wishes Daizan