Transmission of the Light August 2024 sesshin

photo by Michael Herzog

  Pictured here are most of the group who attended the third week of our summer residency program, which culminated in a seven-day sesshin which our tanto, Dharma Holder Rev. Paul Galvin, named "The Transmission of the Light."  

This is a particularly resonant name for Paul and for me, because on the last night, in a private (secret) ceremony witnessed by David Rynick, Rōshi, Dharma Holder Alan Richardson and Dharma Holder Michael Herzog, I gave Denkai transmission to Rev. Paul.  He is thus a transmitted teacher, and may take on shoken students and transmit the precepts.  Until he receives Denbo transmission and becomes a Sensei, he can't yet transmit the Dharma to anyone else.

The ceremony was guarded from demons wanting to interfere (a fairly ancient tradition) by Rev. Ray Demers, Senior Assistant Teacher Rev. Corwyn Miyagishima, and Senior Assistant Teacher Jenny Smith.  Since the transmission appears to have been successful, their wielding of two wooden swords (kyosakus) and my shakujo (large staff) appears to have been quite effective.  Rev. Paul is pictured above wearing his new gold/ochre rakusu which indicates his new role as Dharma Holder.  

Congratulations to Dharma Holder Rev. Paul!

Just This Is It

 

I recently finished reading (after many years of perusing) the wonderful book by Taigen Dan Leighton pictured here.  Leighton published this in 2015, so I'm only 9 years late to the party.  I was happy to meet the author at a Dharma Teachers conference a number of years ago, and I found him to be warm and friendly, and with a deep Zen practice.  The book, which is about our Zen ancestor Dongshan, is a great way to understand the life and  teachings of this important lineage ancestor.

Leighton explains that Dongshan was always pointing to the suchness of things -- "just this is it."  I highly recommend the book as a way of understanding many of Dongshan's most important writings:  The Five Ranks (or Modes or Degrees), many koans which feature Dongshan, and The Jewel Mirror Samadhi, his beautiful poem about the Great Way.  

One small caveat, which has tripped up not a few people -- Leighton tells us that Dongshan's teacher Yunyan was the biological brother of Daowu, but most scholars understand them to be Dharma brothers -- students of the same teacher.  Beyond that small glitch, Leighton's insight and his own practice are trustworthy guides to these teachings.  Enjoy the book as a companion and inspiration to your own discovery of "just this is it!"

A Few Words About Koans

On July 20 I'll be offering a 3 hour koan café for Sangha Live's Day of Practice series (Sangha Live registration link) and it's gotten me thinking about koans in general, and in particular how to introduce these teaching stories to people who are not familiar with them.  So -- a few words about them.

Personally, I absolutely love koans, and always have.  I first encountered them in the book edited by Paul Reps called Zen Flesh, Zen Bones.  Reps published his book in 1957 and it consists of four texts on non-dual teachings, three of which are collections of Zen teaching stories and koans, including a translation of The Gateless Gate by the Japanese Zen teacher Nyogen Senzaki.

I must have been a teen-ager when I found the book in the 1970's, and read it again and again.  I didn't understand the stories, but I deeply wanted to, and started looking around for someone who could help me explore them.  It wasn't until 1981 that I met my first Zen teacher, Richard Clarke,  a student of Philip Kapleau, Rōshi, who prepared me for the work of koan introspection by helping me to ground in zazen, the practice of meditation that focuses on upright sitting in stillness and silence, being with the breath and body.  After many years of this practice, Richard introduced me to the koan "mu" which begins the Gateless Gate.  I worked with him for 20 years, "completing" the koan curriculum that he used, which included four collections of classical Chinese koans.

After I left him and found my second teacher, James Ford, Rōshi, I started again at the beginning, with "mu" and went on to explore the first four collections with fresh eyes, and four more following that.  Somewhere in the middle of all this, James gave me permission to teach koans, and the learning continued to deepen.  

I did some training with John Tarrant, Rōshi, who was James' teacher, and who had created a format for studying koans in groups that he called "Koan Salons".   The style of koan introspection in modern American Zen practice was private and confidential, solely between teacher and student.  Sometimes a teacher would give a talk about a koan and this was followed by either "dharma combat" in which a student would come up to the teacher and ask some challenging question to express their knowledge, or, as we developed the practice in Boundless Way, a "dharma dialogue" which was a friendlier version, with room for students to wonder out loud about the talk and the koan.

In koan salons, the teacher would present the koan during a guided contemplation, within the practice of zazen, repeating the koan many times, and then opening up the koan for a group discussion.  As I adapted this practice for my sangha, eventually renaming it "koan café, " I was amazed at the level of insight that the group developed together, in an atmosphere of wondering and encouraging free association while hearing the koan.  We continue to ask what people notice as reactions in the mind, body and heart as they repeatedly hear the words of the koan.  

In traditional koan study, there are "correct" answers, although some improvisation and personalization is honored and affirmed.  But in the koan café, everyone is correct, so long as they are honest about their responses, and avoid getting lost in intellectual interpretations.  

Whenever I work with a student on one of the more than 2000 koans we use in Boundless Way, my own understanding deepens.  And, as it turns out, every time I offer a koan café something similar happens.  Koans are deep and bottomless offerings from our Zen ancestors that help us to understand the meaning of  a life of awakening.  

David Rynick, Rōshi, my life and teaching partner and I will be offering koan cafés this fall on Zoom at Boundless Way Zen Temple (Boundless Way.)  And of course, the Sangha Live program is coming up soon.  I hope to see you there!

Squall on the Pacific June 2025 Sesshin

photo by Rev. Corwyn Miyagishima

 Pictured here are the happy attendees at our recent Boundless Way Zen Temple June Zoom sesshin.  Twenty-eight of us gathered for what we thought was a short sesshin, starting on Friday night and ending midday on Sunday.  But time disappeared and long and short seemed beside the point.  Based on our final sharing, everyone went deep and wide into their practice.  As we have discovered, since our first Zoom sesshin in 2020, the power of the Way manifests in this form as well as when in residence at Boundless Way Zen Temple.

Sangha members from as far east as Iran and as far west as Hawaii attended the retreat, plus people from Europe and the US.  Geography, as well as time, melted away.  

We focused on a koan from the Gateless Gate, number 41, in which the legendary Indian teacher Bodhidharma meets and connects with his eventual dharma heir Hui-ke.  Looking into this koan together, we were able to find in these two ancient characters some reflections of our own innermost longings.

Our next Zoom sesshin will be Sept. 6 -- 9 and is open for registration now (Boundless Way Zen Temple).  Three weeks of residential practice are also open for registration for July and August -- you can attend for one, two or all three weeks.  I hope to practice with you in the future!

Serious Play with registration link

In a few weeks, I’ll be teaching a three hour kōan café for an organization called “Sangha Live.” 

Sangha Live provides dharma teachings and practice opportunities online to an international sangha.   The folks at Sangha Live have invited me to join them on Saturday, July 20, from 10 am – 1 pm eastern US time to offer a kōan café for them which I have called Serious Play: A Zen Kōan Café. To register for this event go to: register

As many of you know, our Boundless Way Zen Temple kōan cafés are opportunities to explore kōan practice in the non-traditional way pioneered by my teacher’s teacher John Tarrant, Rōshi.  We use meditation, guided contemplations, dharma talks, free association and group dialogue to explore one or more kōans in company with others.  In the free-wheeling, compassionate atmosphere of a kōan café, everyone’s contribution is important, and no-one is ever wrong.  

I hope that you will join me and curious dharma students from many traditions around the world on July 20.

A Little Poem by Hanshan

 

The Truman Show

Last night at Boundless Way Zen Temple,  Dharma Holder Michael Herzog gave a talk about the excerpt from Taego Bou in our sutra book ("Days Like Lightning.")  

In our dharma dialogue/discussion that followed, we focussed on the line "At the end of the road, it's like an iron wall."  A number of us shared our fantasies about what that wall looks and feels like:  a rough and wild stone wall, a slippery aluminum wall, and more.  

A couple of us recalled the last scene in the Truman Show, a movie from 1998 starring Jim Carrey, where the hero tries to escape from his unreal world, and rams into what appears to be the edge of an ocean, but which is simply a stage set.   

Many of the participants hadn't seen the Truman Show, so I thought I'd share the trailer here and hope to entice you into finding it streaming online.  It's a truly Zen movie, in my openion, about waking up to the reality that we're all living in a dream.  Check it out!