No Other World Sesshin

photo by Pierce Butler

 This past weekend, in the midst of our recovery from the US presidential election, we had a deep and community-building on-line sesshin.  Our tanto, Jenny Smith, assisted by Pierce Butler, Sabrina Mills and David Linshaw, named the sesshin "No Other World."  This was in honor of the text the teachers (Dharma Holder Michael Herzog, David Rynick, Rōshi and me) used as the theme of the retreat, and also a poem by Gary Snyder that I read and commented on called "Why Log Truck Drivers Rise Earlier than Students of Zen" which ends with the line "There is no other life."  Our text came from a dialogue in the Record of Xuansha:

A monk said, “I’ve just arrived here and I beg the master to point out a gate whereby I may enter.” Xuansha said, “Do you hear the sound of the water in the creek?” The monk siad, “I hear it.” Xuansha said, “Enter here.” 

In these wild times, Xuansha's teaching remains relevant and inspiring.  Whatever we may feel: grief, anger, fear, happiness, joy...and in whatever circumstances we find ourselves, the teaching of the Great Way invites us to enter into this life as it is.  Here we can find the way to being a bodhisattva in this burning world.  And, there is no other world.

Ethan Nichern's Confidence

 

A few months ago I received Ethan Nichtern's amazing book, Confidence: Holding Your Seat through Life's Eight Worldly Winds.  I've been interested in these teachings for many years.  My first Zen teacher used to mention the eight worldly winds at the beginning of every sesshin.  His teachings focused on how the winds could be transformed through deep meditation.  

The winds are:  pleasure and pain, praise and criticism, fame and insignificance, and success and failure.  These pairs of opposites assail us regularly as human beings.  Nichtern is an American-born Tibetan Buddhist teacher, and his book couldn't be more timely, as we all work with these worldly winds in the aftermath of the recent US election.  

Nichtern lived through an organizational crisis in his own sangha, much as I did in Boundless Way after the 2016 election.  He is open about that, and other aspects of his personal life, without getting caught in whining and "too much information."  All of the ways we process our difficulties, blown about as we are by circumstances, show up clearly and with great heart and tenderness in this book.  Free of Buddhist jargon, it's a clear-eyed guide to navigating human life in all its complexity.   I highly recommend it! 

Field of Flowers October Hybrid Sesshin

photo by Pierce Butler and Corwyn Miyagishima

 Another month and another sesshin -- and this one was an anniversary.  Fifteen years ago, Boundless Way had its first sesshin at the Temple.  To commemorate this, the teachers chose the kōan from the Gateless Gate, "The Buddha holds up a flower" which celebrates the transmission of the Dharma from Shakyamuni Buddha to Mahakashyapa, a fundamental story in our Zen tradition.  Dharma Holder Alan Richardson, Dharma Holder Michael Herzog and I taught the sesshin, and Dharma Holder Rev. Paul Galvin was the tanto (head seat.). Rev. Paul named the sesshin:  even though there was only one flower in the story, everyone who attended, in person and on line, revealed their Buddha nature without hesitation -- many flowers, many smiles.   A lovely and deep time for us all.

Aimless Wanderers Sesshin September 2024

 

photo by Pierce Butler

Almost a month ago we had our Distant Temple Bell sesshin on Zoom.  Pictured to the left are many of the attendees.  To celebrate David Rõshi's new book "Wandering Close to Home" we took as our theme a kõan about wandering, Case 20 from the Book of Serenity:  Dizang's Nearness.  In this kõan, Fayang tells Dizang that he is wandering aimlessly, but he doesn't know where he's going.  Dizang praises him, saying, "Not knowing is most intimate."

In these times, with war, politics and wild weather surrounding us, not knowing what will happen next feels realistic.  To allow ourselves the intimacy of being in good company in our lostness and confusion is the path that Zen shows us.  May we all wander into clarity and balance as we face these difficult times.

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!