Ho! Ho! Ho! and a very happy Christmas to you and all your loved ones.
Yes it is that time again! We can hardly believe that we are already in Advent and Christmas is just around the corner. Does that mean there is some truth in the saying, “Time flies when you are having fun”? Well we will let you decide that for yourselves but here are some of the things that have happened to us over the past year.
As you may remember last year Patrick was having quite a lot of tests at the hospital and eventually they discovered he had some hormonal problems with his blood which were fixed rather easily which made him feel quite a lot better. However he still suffered with quite a lot of pain in his back and his right leg. After exhaustive testing in June they finally decided that the root cause was deterioration of the spine from wear and tear and arthritis. This meant that they could lonely offer some physiotherapy and to keep taking the pain-killers. Since then he has had a course of acupuncture from the hospital and he seems to have got a certain amount of relief although nothing will cure the problem.
Because of these health issues Bishop Declan of Clifton in whose diocese we live decided that it would be best he Patrick retired from looking after Tetbury Parish. He did this right after Easter this year but knowing Patrick you will realise that this didn’t mean that he was going to sit at home and do nothing! Not having the parish to look after he has put a lot of his energy into work for the Wild Goose Zen Sangha which he began in 2006. It has grown in strength now to the point where it could be incorporated as an organisation capable of registering as a charity for tax exemption. The legal and administrative hoops to be jumped through to achieve this are, as you can imagine, have been immense. Now it all seems to be falling into place and he has led them into having a really full programme based in Cirencester and Canterbury for 2012. Knowing his limitations he has also identified two potential teachers who will be trained to assist him in the work of teaching Zen to those who come to their retreats.
Patrick is a Zen teacher (sensei) in the White Plum lineage and to mark this the sangha came to a planting of a White Plum Blossom tree in our garden in September. A bronze coloured stone statue of a Buddha was placed near it and this autumn (Fall) it looked like this:
Maureen has been keeping in good health for the most part although she did have some return of diverticulitis earlier in the year which was eventually dealt with satisfactorily. It was good to learn from all the tests that there was nothing ‘sinister’ though. She still continues to work with a blind lady in Swindon on transcriptions of ordinary texts into Braille. This has had some difficulties recently. With all the austerity measures and the drastic government cut- backs many o the charities who were her main clients have had serious limitations to their work. Certainly we are being warned that we have still some years when there will be something of an economic crisis. We have heard today that the 180,000 charitable organisations (not for profit) that serve so many of the disadvantaged have had to lay off 10,000 members of staff in the last 2 months. These are tough times so it seems!
As a result of all this our daughter who is a counsellor who worked in the public sector for schools and mentally sick carers has lost her job as the organisations existed on government funding which was cut as part of a cut back in government spending. Fortunately she does have a few private clients who still are able to come to her though. Sarah their eldest child works for Santander bank and their son David is at University studying law.
Our two sons Mark and Christopher are both in computer technology so their jobs are not really affected at the moment. Their wives and children too are all doing OK and are all in work except for Clare, Mark and Lynn’s daughter who is still in Gateshead college doing Business Studies.
We won’t bore you with anymore family news but simply ask you to join us in celebrating the gift of life itself. Christmas celebrates the Incarnation when the Divine Creator took up our physical nature and shared with us in this utterly incomprehensible force that we call life. It surely is most wondrous and yet it remains an utter mystery. Absolutely all of us share in it yet it came to us unbidden and unearned. Yet day by day we awaken to find that we are alive and we have the chance to do with it whatever we will.
So we wish you a most wonderful Christmas and a very blessed 2012. May all the love you give to others, including to us, be repaid to you a thousand fold.
Much love
The Eastman’s, 30, North Wall, Cricklade, Wiltshire SN6 6DU. UK.
Monday, December 12, 2011
Zen Chant Service
The Zen Sesshins held by the Wild Goose Sangha are in no way an attempt to combine Christianity or any other faith with Zen which, in itself, is not a religion but simply a meditation practice that can be helpfully used by those of any faith. Their aim is to purely engage in Zen practice in its own right. As Thomas Merton points out: It is perfectly possible to be capable of playing tennis at one time or doing mathematics at some other time; they are not incompatible. Patrick Kundo Sensei, as a Catholic priest and a Zen teacher therefore exercises his Christian priesthood in a Christian context but, when in a Zen context, he will teach Zen practice as a member of the White Plum Asangha.
Each Zen sesshin is designed to present an intensive opportunity for deepening our Zen practice. This practice is based on an awareness of our own true nature and the true nature of all reality. The tools we employ or “the gates” we use are first and foremost the practice of Zazen (silent sitting), Kin Hin (walking meditation), a Teisho or Dharma talk from the teacher, Dokusan or Daisan (which is a private and personal meeting with the teacher), chanting and silence. So chanting is but one of the essential and integral elements of the whole practice of Zen.
In the chant service we use we chant the three central sutras. First we chant the Heart Sutra which, in somewhat poetic terms, endeavours to express the true nature of all reality of which we are a part. So it is, if you like an attempt to express the inexpressible. The second chant is about the identity of the Relative and the Absolute demonstrating the relationship between the absolute oneness of all creation in its essence and the division and differences in the phenomenological world. The third and final sutra calls us to exercise compassion in every aspect of our life. It teaches us the nature of this compassion which can only spring from the wisdom or experiential knowledge of the first two sutras chanted.
The dedication after each sutra chanted is unlike any Christian or other faith prayer in as much as they are not prayers to a Supreme Being or God to help us in our difficulties. They serve as a dedication of ourselves to put into practice the wisdom of the sutras and the resulting compassion. In other words in the chant service together we actualise our true nature both in wisdom and in compassion.
© Patrick Kundo Sensei
Each Zen sesshin is designed to present an intensive opportunity for deepening our Zen practice. This practice is based on an awareness of our own true nature and the true nature of all reality. The tools we employ or “the gates” we use are first and foremost the practice of Zazen (silent sitting), Kin Hin (walking meditation), a Teisho or Dharma talk from the teacher, Dokusan or Daisan (which is a private and personal meeting with the teacher), chanting and silence. So chanting is but one of the essential and integral elements of the whole practice of Zen.
In the chant service we use we chant the three central sutras. First we chant the Heart Sutra which, in somewhat poetic terms, endeavours to express the true nature of all reality of which we are a part. So it is, if you like an attempt to express the inexpressible. The second chant is about the identity of the Relative and the Absolute demonstrating the relationship between the absolute oneness of all creation in its essence and the division and differences in the phenomenological world. The third and final sutra calls us to exercise compassion in every aspect of our life. It teaches us the nature of this compassion which can only spring from the wisdom or experiential knowledge of the first two sutras chanted.
The dedication after each sutra chanted is unlike any Christian or other faith prayer in as much as they are not prayers to a Supreme Being or God to help us in our difficulties. They serve as a dedication of ourselves to put into practice the wisdom of the sutras and the resulting compassion. In other words in the chant service together we actualise our true nature both in wisdom and in compassion.
© Patrick Kundo Sensei
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
International Day for Nonviolence
I have been very lax in writing this blog but how about this for a new start
This Teisho is provoked by the fact that this coming Sunday October 2 is the anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday which is celebrated now as the International day of nonviolence.
So this is an important opportunity to reflect as Zen students on what this means to us personally and what this means in terms of Buddhist teaching in the Precepts.
My own position is influenced partly by Fr. Bede Griffiths, a Benedictine monk from Prinknash, who went to India and established a Christian Ashram along the lines of Gandhi in order to dialogue with the great Hindu tradition. This was reinforced by listening to and meeting Gandhi’s grandson about 15 years ago.
We are into a real area of interfaith dialogue here. It may surprise you to know that Gandhi first learned about nonviolence from Christian sources. It was reading the New Testament account of Jesus’ nonviolence during his life that sent Gandhi back to his Indian Hindu scriptures to discover it there as well. You might want to ask the question here about finding nonviolence in the Christian scriptures when the evidence of much of history seems to indicate that the Christian church, for the most part, has, since the emperor Constantine been quite ready to go to war. There have been some churches however like the Quakers, Mennonites, and the Brethren who have constantly proclaimed a gospel of nonviolence.
Out of this exploration he developed the Sanskrit word Satyagraha which can be best translated as ‘soul truth’ or ‘True Nature’ or ‘Inner Truth’
“Satyagraha has an end namely Ultimate truth. It is a moral force, firmly rooted in truth and love that puts itself at the service of justice and peace. Satyagraha, which opposes evil with serious and positive, though nonviolent, resistance in order to overcome it with good, must be distinguished from what Gandhi called ‘the nonviolence of the weak’ which simply submits to evil without resistance. It was a fundamental principle of Gandhi that evil must always be resisted, but in ways and by methods of action that are nonviolent.”
Within Satyagraha is discovered Ahisma – a Sanskrit word that means ‘non injury.’ To spell it out more fully it is the efficacious concern to do no harm, physically or psychologically to another person or indeed to any creature or even to any part of the natural world. At first hearing Ahisma may seem to express an attitude that is negative, yet in actual fact it designates something very positive; namely that I have a concern, a love, a spirit of good will toward another person that makes it impossible for me to inflict injury on that person or creature or part of the world. Gandhi originally taught that God is Truth, just as Christians say that God is Love, but later he decided that Truth is God, too. Reality is spiritual. (remember Merton once remarked that either all of our life is spiritual or none of it is.) All people are interconnected and everyone has a share of divine goodness within. (You may recall Thich Nhat Hahn’s teaching that we need to water the seeds of goodness, peace and love that are within us.) So Gandhi teaches that to harm anyone is to harm God and to serve others is to serve God. God was not a person to Gandhi but an “indefinable mysterious power that pervades everything.”
The Zen or Buddhist understanding of all reality takes us back to the Four Great Wisdoms which are said to derive from the experience of Shakyamuni Buddha. First he points out that all Life means suffering and that this follows from the delusion that we are an entirely separate being each with our own attachments. The Buddha‘s experience was that there is no such thing as a totally separated self, unconnected with the rest of reality. Contemporary science, of course, will wholeheartedly agree with this. But all is not lost as it is possible to break the cause of suffering; to overcome our delusion of a subject /object divide. The fourth truth therefore is that through the skilful means of silent wordless and imageless meditation this delusion is overcome. (It is worth noting that this awareness of nonduality is also to be experienced through the Christian tradition of apophatic (meaning without word or images) contemplative prayer.
With this as a background we can turn now to the Buddhist Precepts. These precepts need to be understood clearly as they are not a set of rules or commandments to be obeyed. They are an orientation towards a life that is lived with compassion and reverence for all creation to which we are intimately connected. We indicate in the Gatha of repentance the failure that derives from our greed, hatred or ignorance to do no harm. We certainly miss the greatness of the Precepts if we see them as a set of external do’s and don’ts. They are meant to liberate not to bind. The Precepts have a vitality that functions deeply in one’s life, taking account of the intricacies and subtleties of conditions encountered in the existential circumstances of our personal life.
It is worth noting that in Zen Master Dogen’s time there emerged tow different schools of thought concerning the Precepts in the Kamakura period. One advocated the observance of the Precepts as primary in Buddhism, whereas the other repudiated this, or at best regarded observance of the precepts as secondary to the supremacy of faith. Roughly speaking, the former school of thought was associated with Zen Buddhism. Needless to say Dogen belonged to this tradition and he was eager to restore unremitting observance of the Precepts. As a matter of fact, the hallmark of Kamakura Zen was the advocacy of the primacy of the precepts and for Dogen it was the fundamental point of Zen Buddhism. A prime characteristic of Dogen’s thought lay in his passionate search for the translation of the Bodhisattva vows into concrete and routine daily behaviours and activities. In the Zendo scrupulous instructions with respect to rules and behaviour were not codes that bound just the outward movements but were ritualised expressions and activities of Buddha-nature and emptiness. To put it simply in the words of Daido Loori Roshi the liturgy in the Zendo is a way of making the invisible visible much like a Christian sacrament.
The Precepts then are there to guide us in how to live in harmony with all creation right from the start; we should not think we have to wait until we have got enlightenment or something before we practice them. In this, from an interfaith perspective, it is noteworthy that the Buddhist precepts have a remarkable coincidence with the moral teaching of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount as recorded in St. Matthew’s gospel. So we practice the precepts. We practice them in the way that we practice sitting Zazen. To practice of course is to “do “something so we “do” the precepts. We are to be aware of the precepts not necessarily in all their detail but in their whole orientation of “doing no harm.” Once we aware of them we become sensitive to the occasions when we break them. Then, when you are aware of the break, you acknowledge it and take responsibility for it then you simply return to the precepts once again. It is just like when you work with your breath in Zazen. When you begin to sit Zazen after just a few breaths you often find that your mind has gone elsewhere. When that happens you notice it, then simply, gently yet firmly return to the breath. That is how you practice the precepts. That is how you practice your life. To practice in such a way is itself enlightenment.
.
This Teisho is provoked by the fact that this coming Sunday October 2 is the anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday which is celebrated now as the International day of nonviolence.
So this is an important opportunity to reflect as Zen students on what this means to us personally and what this means in terms of Buddhist teaching in the Precepts.
My own position is influenced partly by Fr. Bede Griffiths, a Benedictine monk from Prinknash, who went to India and established a Christian Ashram along the lines of Gandhi in order to dialogue with the great Hindu tradition. This was reinforced by listening to and meeting Gandhi’s grandson about 15 years ago.
We are into a real area of interfaith dialogue here. It may surprise you to know that Gandhi first learned about nonviolence from Christian sources. It was reading the New Testament account of Jesus’ nonviolence during his life that sent Gandhi back to his Indian Hindu scriptures to discover it there as well. You might want to ask the question here about finding nonviolence in the Christian scriptures when the evidence of much of history seems to indicate that the Christian church, for the most part, has, since the emperor Constantine been quite ready to go to war. There have been some churches however like the Quakers, Mennonites, and the Brethren who have constantly proclaimed a gospel of nonviolence.
Out of this exploration he developed the Sanskrit word Satyagraha which can be best translated as ‘soul truth’ or ‘True Nature’ or ‘Inner Truth’
“Satyagraha has an end namely Ultimate truth. It is a moral force, firmly rooted in truth and love that puts itself at the service of justice and peace. Satyagraha, which opposes evil with serious and positive, though nonviolent, resistance in order to overcome it with good, must be distinguished from what Gandhi called ‘the nonviolence of the weak’ which simply submits to evil without resistance. It was a fundamental principle of Gandhi that evil must always be resisted, but in ways and by methods of action that are nonviolent.”
Within Satyagraha is discovered Ahisma – a Sanskrit word that means ‘non injury.’ To spell it out more fully it is the efficacious concern to do no harm, physically or psychologically to another person or indeed to any creature or even to any part of the natural world. At first hearing Ahisma may seem to express an attitude that is negative, yet in actual fact it designates something very positive; namely that I have a concern, a love, a spirit of good will toward another person that makes it impossible for me to inflict injury on that person or creature or part of the world. Gandhi originally taught that God is Truth, just as Christians say that God is Love, but later he decided that Truth is God, too. Reality is spiritual. (remember Merton once remarked that either all of our life is spiritual or none of it is.) All people are interconnected and everyone has a share of divine goodness within. (You may recall Thich Nhat Hahn’s teaching that we need to water the seeds of goodness, peace and love that are within us.) So Gandhi teaches that to harm anyone is to harm God and to serve others is to serve God. God was not a person to Gandhi but an “indefinable mysterious power that pervades everything.”
The Zen or Buddhist understanding of all reality takes us back to the Four Great Wisdoms which are said to derive from the experience of Shakyamuni Buddha. First he points out that all Life means suffering and that this follows from the delusion that we are an entirely separate being each with our own attachments. The Buddha‘s experience was that there is no such thing as a totally separated self, unconnected with the rest of reality. Contemporary science, of course, will wholeheartedly agree with this. But all is not lost as it is possible to break the cause of suffering; to overcome our delusion of a subject /object divide. The fourth truth therefore is that through the skilful means of silent wordless and imageless meditation this delusion is overcome. (It is worth noting that this awareness of nonduality is also to be experienced through the Christian tradition of apophatic (meaning without word or images) contemplative prayer.
With this as a background we can turn now to the Buddhist Precepts. These precepts need to be understood clearly as they are not a set of rules or commandments to be obeyed. They are an orientation towards a life that is lived with compassion and reverence for all creation to which we are intimately connected. We indicate in the Gatha of repentance the failure that derives from our greed, hatred or ignorance to do no harm. We certainly miss the greatness of the Precepts if we see them as a set of external do’s and don’ts. They are meant to liberate not to bind. The Precepts have a vitality that functions deeply in one’s life, taking account of the intricacies and subtleties of conditions encountered in the existential circumstances of our personal life.
It is worth noting that in Zen Master Dogen’s time there emerged tow different schools of thought concerning the Precepts in the Kamakura period. One advocated the observance of the Precepts as primary in Buddhism, whereas the other repudiated this, or at best regarded observance of the precepts as secondary to the supremacy of faith. Roughly speaking, the former school of thought was associated with Zen Buddhism. Needless to say Dogen belonged to this tradition and he was eager to restore unremitting observance of the Precepts. As a matter of fact, the hallmark of Kamakura Zen was the advocacy of the primacy of the precepts and for Dogen it was the fundamental point of Zen Buddhism. A prime characteristic of Dogen’s thought lay in his passionate search for the translation of the Bodhisattva vows into concrete and routine daily behaviours and activities. In the Zendo scrupulous instructions with respect to rules and behaviour were not codes that bound just the outward movements but were ritualised expressions and activities of Buddha-nature and emptiness. To put it simply in the words of Daido Loori Roshi the liturgy in the Zendo is a way of making the invisible visible much like a Christian sacrament.
The Precepts then are there to guide us in how to live in harmony with all creation right from the start; we should not think we have to wait until we have got enlightenment or something before we practice them. In this, from an interfaith perspective, it is noteworthy that the Buddhist precepts have a remarkable coincidence with the moral teaching of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount as recorded in St. Matthew’s gospel. So we practice the precepts. We practice them in the way that we practice sitting Zazen. To practice of course is to “do “something so we “do” the precepts. We are to be aware of the precepts not necessarily in all their detail but in their whole orientation of “doing no harm.” Once we aware of them we become sensitive to the occasions when we break them. Then, when you are aware of the break, you acknowledge it and take responsibility for it then you simply return to the precepts once again. It is just like when you work with your breath in Zazen. When you begin to sit Zazen after just a few breaths you often find that your mind has gone elsewhere. When that happens you notice it, then simply, gently yet firmly return to the breath. That is how you practice the precepts. That is how you practice your life. To practice in such a way is itself enlightenment.
.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Latest news etc.
Well life is going on at quite a pace really. Since my retirement from Tetbury at the Bishop's suggestion because of my health problems I have been able to put more attention to my work as a Zen teacher and leader of the Wild Goose Sangha. As a result we are spreading our wings and hopefully not going on a Wild Goose Chase! We are planning a series of Zen sesshins for 2012 where 2 will be on the west side of the counrty at locations close to the M5 motorway and two will be over on the east side going up the M1 and down as far as Canterbury. Canterbury with Marcus and Jennie Averback are really a satelite of the WGS. Also as part of the changes for the WGS I have made Jeremy Woodcock and Marcus Averback as Dharma Holders so they will be associate teachers with me. We are also in the process and getting ourselves registered as a charity for tax purposes. One futher point is that we have moved our Thursday meetings to St. Lawrence church in Cirencester whcih is better premises for us and more convenient for parking etc.
With regard to my pain in the hip and the back - its certainly no better yet and still quite severe at times. I see the specialist at the hospital tomorrow and hopefully after all the tests and MRI's that I've had they will be able to tell me what can be done for me to without the constant pain.
Maureen and I have had the joy of going to a couple of concerts in Cirencester for the Cotswold Early English Music festival. One was of a group of musicians using the old traditional instruments for maily 15th & 16th cnetury music - the group was clalled The York Waits - Waits were nighwatchmen who used to come together to pass the time playing music. It was excellant and great fun as well. Not a great number of people there though and all were "people with bus passes!" Last night wewent to "Midsummer Mozart" in the same series this time with the Correlli Orchestra
Here are some Zen thoughts:
The Zen Sesshins held by the Wild Goose Sangha are in no way an attempt to combine Christianity or any other faith with Zen which, in itself, is not a religion but simply a meditation practice that can be helpfully used by those of any faith. Their aim is to purely engage in Zen practice in its own right. As Thomas Merton points out: It is perfectly possible to be capable of playing tennis at one time or doing mathematics at some other time; they are not incompatible. Patrick Sensei, as a Catholic priest and a Zen teacher will therefore exercise his Christian priesthood in a Christian context but, when in a Zen context, he will teach Zen as a member of the White Plum Asangha.
Each Zen sesshin is designed to present an intensive opportunity for deepening our Zen practice. This practice is based on an awareness of our own true nature and the true nature of all reality. The tools we employ or “the gates” we use are first and foremost the practice of Zazen (silent sitting), Kin Hin (walking meditation), a Teisho from the teacher, Daisan (which is a private and personal meeting with the teacher), chanting and silence. So chanting is an essential and integral element of the whole practice of Zen.
In the chant service we chant the three central sutras. First we chant the Heart Sutra which, in somewhat poetic terms, endeavours to express the true nature of all reality of which we are a part. So it is, if you like an attempt to express the inexpressible. The second chant is about the identity of the Relative and the Absolute demonstrating the relationship between the absolute oneness of all creation in its essence and the division and differences in the phenomenological world. The third and final sutra calls us to exercise compassion in every aspect of our life. It teaches us the nature of this compassion which can only spring from the wisdom or experiential knowledge of the first two sutras chanted.
The dedication after each sutra chanted is unlike any Christian or other faith prayer in as much as they are not prayers to a Supreme Being or God to help us in our difficulties. They serve as a dedication of ourselves to put into practice the wisdom of the sutras and the resulting compassion. In other words in the chant service together we actualise our true nature both in wisdom and in compassion.
With regard to my pain in the hip and the back - its certainly no better yet and still quite severe at times. I see the specialist at the hospital tomorrow and hopefully after all the tests and MRI's that I've had they will be able to tell me what can be done for me to without the constant pain.
Maureen and I have had the joy of going to a couple of concerts in Cirencester for the Cotswold Early English Music festival. One was of a group of musicians using the old traditional instruments for maily 15th & 16th cnetury music - the group was clalled The York Waits - Waits were nighwatchmen who used to come together to pass the time playing music. It was excellant and great fun as well. Not a great number of people there though and all were "people with bus passes!" Last night wewent to "Midsummer Mozart" in the same series this time with the Correlli Orchestra
Here are some Zen thoughts:
The Zen Sesshins held by the Wild Goose Sangha are in no way an attempt to combine Christianity or any other faith with Zen which, in itself, is not a religion but simply a meditation practice that can be helpfully used by those of any faith. Their aim is to purely engage in Zen practice in its own right. As Thomas Merton points out: It is perfectly possible to be capable of playing tennis at one time or doing mathematics at some other time; they are not incompatible. Patrick Sensei, as a Catholic priest and a Zen teacher will therefore exercise his Christian priesthood in a Christian context but, when in a Zen context, he will teach Zen as a member of the White Plum Asangha.
Each Zen sesshin is designed to present an intensive opportunity for deepening our Zen practice. This practice is based on an awareness of our own true nature and the true nature of all reality. The tools we employ or “the gates” we use are first and foremost the practice of Zazen (silent sitting), Kin Hin (walking meditation), a Teisho from the teacher, Daisan (which is a private and personal meeting with the teacher), chanting and silence. So chanting is an essential and integral element of the whole practice of Zen.
In the chant service we chant the three central sutras. First we chant the Heart Sutra which, in somewhat poetic terms, endeavours to express the true nature of all reality of which we are a part. So it is, if you like an attempt to express the inexpressible. The second chant is about the identity of the Relative and the Absolute demonstrating the relationship between the absolute oneness of all creation in its essence and the division and differences in the phenomenological world. The third and final sutra calls us to exercise compassion in every aspect of our life. It teaches us the nature of this compassion which can only spring from the wisdom or experiential knowledge of the first two sutras chanted.
The dedication after each sutra chanted is unlike any Christian or other faith prayer in as much as they are not prayers to a Supreme Being or God to help us in our difficulties. They serve as a dedication of ourselves to put into practice the wisdom of the sutras and the resulting compassion. In other words in the chant service together we actualise our true nature both in wisdom and in compassion.
Monday, May 2, 2011
EASTER UPDATE
Well we are now well into the Easter Season and this may be a good time to update readers on my health situation. First it was finally discovered that I had a hormone imbalance and although an MRI on my pituitary gland and hypothalamus proved that there was no cancer I now do periodically have to get a hormone injection. The serious pain in my hip and right leg though is still with me and I have to have an MRI on my spine and hips as they think that the neurological damage in my leg and hip stems from a problem in my back. The MRI is on May 17 so sometime after that I should get to know the prognosis on that. These health problems have forced me to resign my position as Parish priest of Tetbury however so my final mass was last Saturday evening. It was a very moving and beautiful celebration and it it is with mixed feelings I end my time there. I had some excellent support from the people and it was a great experience. Although I will help our in a parish when needed and if I am well enough most of my energies will now go into my Zen work with both the group that meets regularly in Cirencester and with the retreats in various parts of the UK. I am also booked to lead a Zen retreat in Alaska in August. For my various retreats etc. can be found on my website www.wildgoosesangha.org.uk
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Lent/Spring Ango
It has been ages since I last wrote here. Why? Well my health has been poor and I've spent a lot of time on various tests. Also there has been a lot happening what with the lenten series of instruction on the liturgy at Mass for the people of Tetbury and the work of the Wild Goose Sangha. We had a woderful Zazenkai in February at Ammwerdown which went well and last weekend there was a brilliant sesshin held at Minster Abbey near Canterbury which was well organised by Marcus and Jenny Averbeck both students of the Wild Goose Sangha. The team who ran the sesshin were made up of Marcus, Jeremy and Jane all of whom did a great job which made it a good experience for the 15 people present. It was great that there were 4 married couples there together!
Spring Ango has been largely been taken over by the tragic events in the world most notably the situation in Libyia and the earthquake in Japan. The earthquake in Japan has affected so many of our Zen Buddhist friends in Japan so that is particularly painful for us - and it still continues with the nuclear disaster still out of control. Last week we offered a Zen chant service which we dedicted to the people of Japan. For the Spring Ango we are using one of Dogen's fascicles "Bodaisatta Shishibo" which describes the 4 elements of social relations. 1. Free Giving 2. kind speech 3. helpful conduct 4. co-operation. We need to ground these in our lives as a reult of our dedication to our practice of Zazen. The circumatanses internationally, nationally and locally really put our atttention to these elements to the test. How about you?
I will not get into the violence in Libyia now but as a member of Pax Christi I get very nervous when we resort to violence. "When will we ebver learn?" Perhaps we could start by refusing to be invloved in the sale of arms. But its too costly some say but what does our invlovement cost us in the loss of life and the destruction of people, places and beauty?
Spring Ango has been largely been taken over by the tragic events in the world most notably the situation in Libyia and the earthquake in Japan. The earthquake in Japan has affected so many of our Zen Buddhist friends in Japan so that is particularly painful for us - and it still continues with the nuclear disaster still out of control. Last week we offered a Zen chant service which we dedicted to the people of Japan. For the Spring Ango we are using one of Dogen's fascicles "Bodaisatta Shishibo" which describes the 4 elements of social relations. 1. Free Giving 2. kind speech 3. helpful conduct 4. co-operation. We need to ground these in our lives as a reult of our dedication to our practice of Zazen. The circumatanses internationally, nationally and locally really put our atttention to these elements to the test. How about you?
I will not get into the violence in Libyia now but as a member of Pax Christi I get very nervous when we resort to violence. "When will we ebver learn?" Perhaps we could start by refusing to be invloved in the sale of arms. But its too costly some say but what does our invlovement cost us in the loss of life and the destruction of people, places and beauty?
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Happy new Year 2011
Well here we are now entered fully into a New Year with all the holiday festivities over. Perhaps you have already made some resolutions as you carefully looked at your life as we enter this New Year with a new decade. Maybe like me you can remember the Communist regions in the past at least outlining “five year plans.” So maybe this is a good time even now if you haven’t done it already to look carefully at the direction of your life. These days everybody seems to be under great pressure of time. A Roman Catholic bishop in England recently passed comment on this and suggested that it was unrealistic to expect that people should be at church every Sunday. My point is to ask each of us to look once again at our allocation of time that we can set some realistic priorities. In doing this we are inevitably forced to consider carefully what place our spiritual practice has in our lives. Fundamentally we consider whether we think that any spiritual practice maybe good when we have the time after all the business of living is taken care of or whether we know that it is absolutely essential in providing the ground from which we orientate our life.
With regard to the Wild Goose sangha we have begun to make some strong commitments ourselves to providing the necessary opportunities to help people grow and consolidate their practice. Most of us find that much of the time our sitting Zazen is done on our own so we often need to come together with others to give a boost to our practice. Such meetings can be for a day or for a weekend. Many of our programmes you will see are provided at the Ammerdown Centre. You can fine the year’s programme for those listed in the Flyer or in the Ammerdown Centre programme. The most immediate one is the Zazenkai at Ammerdown on February 26th. A Zazenkai is a day of Zen practice which gives us an opportunity to have some solid sitting Zazen together with a time of teaching and an opportunity to meet for a personal interview with the teacher. You will also see that there is a weekend Zen Sesshin to be held at Minster Abbey near Canterbury March 18 – 20. This again is a great opportunity to deepen one’s practice and to get encouragement. You can see details of how to register for these events on our calendar of events section. As it usually gets booked up very quickly you may want to consider registering for the weeklong sesshin with myself and Fr. Kennedy Roshi May 27 – June 2.
So will all my best wishes for a good year of silent sitting and personal peace.
Rohatsu December 2010 Although the normal day for the celebration of the awakening of Siddhartha Buddha is usually on December 8 the Wild Goose sangha at Cirencester kept the celebration on Thursday December 9. It was a very lovely celebration where we sat zazen, chanted some of the sutras, listened to a Teisho by Patrick Sensei and then feasted around a tree lit decorated with fairy lights on angel cake and tea.
We found the teisho very interesting so here it is for you all to read.
Bodhi Day or The Buddha's Enlightenment is celebrated by Mahayana Buddhists on 8th December each year or on other dates in some parts of the world. Among Mahayana Buddhists, this holiday celebrates the Buddha's attainment of understanding of the truth of existence, freeing him from all human suffering, and finding perfect happiness. The date, 8th December, is based on the Japanese Buddhist calendar.
Tradition tells us that the prince, Siddhartha Gautama, left his home and family and all his possessions behind at the age of 29 to discover the meaning of life, particularly its hardships. After six years of rigorous discipline and ascetic lifestyles under the guidance of a number of spiritual teachers, he still hadn't found what he was looking for.
Eventually then after trying many spiritual paths about 2,500 years ago, the young prince of Northern India Siddhartha Gautama sat beneath a fig tree and declared, “Even though the flesh falls from my bones and the bones themselves crack, I will not get up from this seat until I have attained supreme and perfect enlightenment!” This determined young man then faced down all of his inner demons, defying and finally taming all of the temptations and distractions of greed, anger, restlessness, laziness and self-doubt. He finally attained a state of calm awareness. His mind had become like a clear and still pool which could perfectly reflect all things within it. During the early evening, Siddhartha reflected on all of his former thoughts, words and deeds. He perceived within himself all of the many things that he had done and experienced in both the present lifetime and in all of the innumerable past lifetimes which became known to him in this state of clear calm awareness. He saw that he himself had created the destiny which had brought him to the point where he could sit beneath that tree at that time and to seek the answers to the great question of birth and death. During the middle of the night, his awareness expanded to include the lives of all sentient beings. He saw that his life was indivisibly involved in the lives of all other beings. He saw how his life affected the lives of all others and how their lives affected his. Furthermore, he perceived that they too were the creators of their own destinies through the consequences of their own actions. As the morning approached, Siddhartha contemplated the vast network of cause and effect itself. He saw how all beings were intimately connected to one another in this vast network of mutual influence and creation. Like a vast net of jewels reflecting each others' light and beauty he saw how all beings arose as part of an unending process of mutual creation. He also saw how ignorance of the true nature of reality was the cause of all the selfish craving which led to suffering, and he saw that this suffering could be ended through a life based upon the truth, the Wonderful Dharma.As the morning star appeared in the sky, Siddhartha’s contemplations were fully realized in the fullness of the living moment in which the Wonderful Dharma is expressed. In that moment Siddhartha became the Buddha, the fully awakened one who realized and could share with others the true nature of reality which could end suffering and open the eyes of all people to the selfless beauty which he had seen and now manifested in his own life. Like Siddhartha, we too, should find time to calm our hearts and minds and allow ourselves to clearly reflect the true nature of life. We too, should reflect upon our actions and their consequences, so we can humbly take responsibility for our lives. We too, should reflect upon the lessons that the lives of others hold for us, so that we can learn from their mistakes and receive inspiration from their successes. We too, should reflect upon the vast and marvellous workings of the Dharma which pervades our lives and in fact is our life. Above all, however, we should realize that the Dharma, the true nature of reality which is so difficult to perceive and understand, has been given to us by Shakyamuni Buddha. In the Lotus Sutra, Shakyamuni Buddha stated, “For many hundreds of thousands of billions of countless eons, I studied and practiced the Dharma difficult to obtain, and [finally attained] perfect and complete enlightenment. Now I will transmit the Dharma to you.”
For Shakyamuni Buddha’s efforts and determination, his great generosity and compassion, and most importantly for his gift of the Dharma which he realized beneath that fig tree 2,500 years ago, we come together today in celebration.
Zen and Verbum Domini
This is designated as a “Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Benedict XVI on the Word of God in the Life and mission of the Catholic Church. It was released late in 2010 following a meeting of the bishops to discuss the use of the Christian Bible in the life of a Christian Community today. Although written clearly for those who are members of the Roman Catholic Church my attention was taken by the fact that it addresses the place the Bible has within the context of Interreligious dialogue. The section begins by saying that the “encounter, dialogue and cooperation with all people of good will, particularly with the followers of the different religious traditions of humanity” is an essential part of communicating the Christian message. Obviously studying the sacred texts of any religious tradition is an essential part in coming to engage in serious dialogue with them. Pope Benedict’s text goes on to point out the fact that the various religions make their own specific contribution to the common good. With regard to the Jewish tradition there is of course clearly a considerable sense of common ground in the use of much of the same biblical material. To a certain extent it points out that this is also true of the dialogue between Christians and Muslims. It begins a section on such dialogue by saying, “the church looks with respect to Muslims who adore the one God.” As followers of Abraham they “above all worship God through prayer, almsgiving and fasting.” More importantly for me as and ordained Catholic priest whose personal commitment to interreligious dialogue is with members of the Zen Buddhist community is the positive assessment given to this area of dialogue. Pope Benedict writes “I wish to voice the church’s respect for the ancient religions and spiritual traditions on the various continents. These contain values which can greatly advance understanding between individuals and people. Frequently we note a consonance with values expressed also in their religious books.” He then goes on to say specifically of Buddhism that we can learn from their “respect for life, contemplation, silence and simplicity” In my own case and for many I have found that a great many people are searching for the deeper personal experience of God in their lives that can only come precisely through the practice of meditation or contemplation, silence and simplicity. It is because of this that I personally want to share my own experience of the riches of Zen in giving a way of practice hinted at but not explained or reinforced for the ordinary person in the Christian tradition. Because Zen in its essence is not a belief system with a theology it is perfectly suitable for a Christian to use its practice as a way of experiencing what all the great Christian theologians down through the ages have written about so eloquently. This for me is a blessing and a truly practical demonstration of interreligious dialogue.
Book Reviews
Zen practitioners of whatever faith tradition or none do well to read any of the material by Eithei Dogen the great Japanese Zen teacher from the thirteenth century. His Shobogenzo is lies right at the heart of Zen practice and is rated as one of the most outstanding spiritual and literary works ever written. Having said that most of us need some help to penetrate his text and get help from the riches to be found there. To this end I have two books that I thoroughly recommend.
Francis Dojun Cook. How to Raise an Ox: Zen Practice as Taught in Master Dogen’s Shobogenzo Wisdom Publications, Boston, 2002.
The Forward to this book is written by Taizan Maezumi Roshi the founder of the White Plum Asangha which is the lineage to which we belong. He writes in his forward “Dogen’s expression is like an inexhaustible stream that gushes out of the ground naturally and without impediment.” With those few words he reliably informs the reader on the greatness of Dogen who wrote ninety five chapters in the Shobogenzo. Cook has worked through these chapters himself and out of his own experience of sitting Zazen has chosen ten chapters to translate. He has found that these chapters most particularly express the fact that the “Zen of Dogen is the Zen of practice.” As an introduction to the chapters Cook provides six essays that help the practitioner to make the best use on Dogen in their own practice. To my mind this is one of the best and concise introductions to Dogen’s Zen. I personally have benefitted much from the essays and from the following clear translations. I commend the book as a really good place to start on reaping the riches of Dogen and as an encouragement to your own practice.
Shohaku Okumura. Realizing Genjokoan: The Key to Dogen’s Shobogenzo Wisdom Publications, Boston. 2010.
This book was recommended to me by Dave Keizan Scott Sensei the resident teacher of the Stonewater Zen Sangha in Liverpool. Genjokoan is one of the most important chapters in Dogen’s Shobogenzo and probably the one that has been most translated. Okumura with his excellent translation not only gives us a translation of the text but a most insightful commentary that is particularly helpful to Zen practitioners. The author has obviously not only spent much time in reflecting on the text out of his own experience but has also spent many hours sitting on the mat breathing it. Taigen Dan Leighton in his forward a great Dogen scholar in his own right in his forward to the book writes” I have been considering Genjokoan for thirty five years, and still enjoyed the many helpful revelations in the book.” I have only been studying Dogen for a few months now and this book is challenging me deeply in a most rewarding way. But like all reading material on Zen I always ask myself, ‘Is this merely stimulating my intellect or is it deepening my practice?’ With is book I find that it does both and would encourage serious Zen students to use it as part of their own Zen study.
With regard to the Wild Goose sangha we have begun to make some strong commitments ourselves to providing the necessary opportunities to help people grow and consolidate their practice. Most of us find that much of the time our sitting Zazen is done on our own so we often need to come together with others to give a boost to our practice. Such meetings can be for a day or for a weekend. Many of our programmes you will see are provided at the Ammerdown Centre. You can fine the year’s programme for those listed in the Flyer or in the Ammerdown Centre programme. The most immediate one is the Zazenkai at Ammerdown on February 26th. A Zazenkai is a day of Zen practice which gives us an opportunity to have some solid sitting Zazen together with a time of teaching and an opportunity to meet for a personal interview with the teacher. You will also see that there is a weekend Zen Sesshin to be held at Minster Abbey near Canterbury March 18 – 20. This again is a great opportunity to deepen one’s practice and to get encouragement. You can see details of how to register for these events on our calendar of events section. As it usually gets booked up very quickly you may want to consider registering for the weeklong sesshin with myself and Fr. Kennedy Roshi May 27 – June 2.
So will all my best wishes for a good year of silent sitting and personal peace.
Rohatsu December 2010 Although the normal day for the celebration of the awakening of Siddhartha Buddha is usually on December 8 the Wild Goose sangha at Cirencester kept the celebration on Thursday December 9. It was a very lovely celebration where we sat zazen, chanted some of the sutras, listened to a Teisho by Patrick Sensei and then feasted around a tree lit decorated with fairy lights on angel cake and tea.
We found the teisho very interesting so here it is for you all to read.
Bodhi Day or The Buddha's Enlightenment is celebrated by Mahayana Buddhists on 8th December each year or on other dates in some parts of the world. Among Mahayana Buddhists, this holiday celebrates the Buddha's attainment of understanding of the truth of existence, freeing him from all human suffering, and finding perfect happiness. The date, 8th December, is based on the Japanese Buddhist calendar.
Tradition tells us that the prince, Siddhartha Gautama, left his home and family and all his possessions behind at the age of 29 to discover the meaning of life, particularly its hardships. After six years of rigorous discipline and ascetic lifestyles under the guidance of a number of spiritual teachers, he still hadn't found what he was looking for.
Eventually then after trying many spiritual paths about 2,500 years ago, the young prince of Northern India Siddhartha Gautama sat beneath a fig tree and declared, “Even though the flesh falls from my bones and the bones themselves crack, I will not get up from this seat until I have attained supreme and perfect enlightenment!” This determined young man then faced down all of his inner demons, defying and finally taming all of the temptations and distractions of greed, anger, restlessness, laziness and self-doubt. He finally attained a state of calm awareness. His mind had become like a clear and still pool which could perfectly reflect all things within it. During the early evening, Siddhartha reflected on all of his former thoughts, words and deeds. He perceived within himself all of the many things that he had done and experienced in both the present lifetime and in all of the innumerable past lifetimes which became known to him in this state of clear calm awareness. He saw that he himself had created the destiny which had brought him to the point where he could sit beneath that tree at that time and to seek the answers to the great question of birth and death. During the middle of the night, his awareness expanded to include the lives of all sentient beings. He saw that his life was indivisibly involved in the lives of all other beings. He saw how his life affected the lives of all others and how their lives affected his. Furthermore, he perceived that they too were the creators of their own destinies through the consequences of their own actions. As the morning approached, Siddhartha contemplated the vast network of cause and effect itself. He saw how all beings were intimately connected to one another in this vast network of mutual influence and creation. Like a vast net of jewels reflecting each others' light and beauty he saw how all beings arose as part of an unending process of mutual creation. He also saw how ignorance of the true nature of reality was the cause of all the selfish craving which led to suffering, and he saw that this suffering could be ended through a life based upon the truth, the Wonderful Dharma.As the morning star appeared in the sky, Siddhartha’s contemplations were fully realized in the fullness of the living moment in which the Wonderful Dharma is expressed. In that moment Siddhartha became the Buddha, the fully awakened one who realized and could share with others the true nature of reality which could end suffering and open the eyes of all people to the selfless beauty which he had seen and now manifested in his own life. Like Siddhartha, we too, should find time to calm our hearts and minds and allow ourselves to clearly reflect the true nature of life. We too, should reflect upon our actions and their consequences, so we can humbly take responsibility for our lives. We too, should reflect upon the lessons that the lives of others hold for us, so that we can learn from their mistakes and receive inspiration from their successes. We too, should reflect upon the vast and marvellous workings of the Dharma which pervades our lives and in fact is our life. Above all, however, we should realize that the Dharma, the true nature of reality which is so difficult to perceive and understand, has been given to us by Shakyamuni Buddha. In the Lotus Sutra, Shakyamuni Buddha stated, “For many hundreds of thousands of billions of countless eons, I studied and practiced the Dharma difficult to obtain, and [finally attained] perfect and complete enlightenment. Now I will transmit the Dharma to you.”
For Shakyamuni Buddha’s efforts and determination, his great generosity and compassion, and most importantly for his gift of the Dharma which he realized beneath that fig tree 2,500 years ago, we come together today in celebration.
Zen and Verbum Domini
This is designated as a “Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Benedict XVI on the Word of God in the Life and mission of the Catholic Church. It was released late in 2010 following a meeting of the bishops to discuss the use of the Christian Bible in the life of a Christian Community today. Although written clearly for those who are members of the Roman Catholic Church my attention was taken by the fact that it addresses the place the Bible has within the context of Interreligious dialogue. The section begins by saying that the “encounter, dialogue and cooperation with all people of good will, particularly with the followers of the different religious traditions of humanity” is an essential part of communicating the Christian message. Obviously studying the sacred texts of any religious tradition is an essential part in coming to engage in serious dialogue with them. Pope Benedict’s text goes on to point out the fact that the various religions make their own specific contribution to the common good. With regard to the Jewish tradition there is of course clearly a considerable sense of common ground in the use of much of the same biblical material. To a certain extent it points out that this is also true of the dialogue between Christians and Muslims. It begins a section on such dialogue by saying, “the church looks with respect to Muslims who adore the one God.” As followers of Abraham they “above all worship God through prayer, almsgiving and fasting.” More importantly for me as and ordained Catholic priest whose personal commitment to interreligious dialogue is with members of the Zen Buddhist community is the positive assessment given to this area of dialogue. Pope Benedict writes “I wish to voice the church’s respect for the ancient religions and spiritual traditions on the various continents. These contain values which can greatly advance understanding between individuals and people. Frequently we note a consonance with values expressed also in their religious books.” He then goes on to say specifically of Buddhism that we can learn from their “respect for life, contemplation, silence and simplicity” In my own case and for many I have found that a great many people are searching for the deeper personal experience of God in their lives that can only come precisely through the practice of meditation or contemplation, silence and simplicity. It is because of this that I personally want to share my own experience of the riches of Zen in giving a way of practice hinted at but not explained or reinforced for the ordinary person in the Christian tradition. Because Zen in its essence is not a belief system with a theology it is perfectly suitable for a Christian to use its practice as a way of experiencing what all the great Christian theologians down through the ages have written about so eloquently. This for me is a blessing and a truly practical demonstration of interreligious dialogue.
Book Reviews
Zen practitioners of whatever faith tradition or none do well to read any of the material by Eithei Dogen the great Japanese Zen teacher from the thirteenth century. His Shobogenzo is lies right at the heart of Zen practice and is rated as one of the most outstanding spiritual and literary works ever written. Having said that most of us need some help to penetrate his text and get help from the riches to be found there. To this end I have two books that I thoroughly recommend.
Francis Dojun Cook. How to Raise an Ox: Zen Practice as Taught in Master Dogen’s Shobogenzo Wisdom Publications, Boston, 2002.
The Forward to this book is written by Taizan Maezumi Roshi the founder of the White Plum Asangha which is the lineage to which we belong. He writes in his forward “Dogen’s expression is like an inexhaustible stream that gushes out of the ground naturally and without impediment.” With those few words he reliably informs the reader on the greatness of Dogen who wrote ninety five chapters in the Shobogenzo. Cook has worked through these chapters himself and out of his own experience of sitting Zazen has chosen ten chapters to translate. He has found that these chapters most particularly express the fact that the “Zen of Dogen is the Zen of practice.” As an introduction to the chapters Cook provides six essays that help the practitioner to make the best use on Dogen in their own practice. To my mind this is one of the best and concise introductions to Dogen’s Zen. I personally have benefitted much from the essays and from the following clear translations. I commend the book as a really good place to start on reaping the riches of Dogen and as an encouragement to your own practice.
Shohaku Okumura. Realizing Genjokoan: The Key to Dogen’s Shobogenzo Wisdom Publications, Boston. 2010.
This book was recommended to me by Dave Keizan Scott Sensei the resident teacher of the Stonewater Zen Sangha in Liverpool. Genjokoan is one of the most important chapters in Dogen’s Shobogenzo and probably the one that has been most translated. Okumura with his excellent translation not only gives us a translation of the text but a most insightful commentary that is particularly helpful to Zen practitioners. The author has obviously not only spent much time in reflecting on the text out of his own experience but has also spent many hours sitting on the mat breathing it. Taigen Dan Leighton in his forward a great Dogen scholar in his own right in his forward to the book writes” I have been considering Genjokoan for thirty five years, and still enjoyed the many helpful revelations in the book.” I have only been studying Dogen for a few months now and this book is challenging me deeply in a most rewarding way. But like all reading material on Zen I always ask myself, ‘Is this merely stimulating my intellect or is it deepening my practice?’ With is book I find that it does both and would encourage serious Zen students to use it as part of their own Zen study.
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