Dharma for all Ages

In a few moments, we'll be starting our three week ango at Boundless Way Temple. Just in case you can't come and practice with us, here's some dharma teaching to inspire you:

family portrait

A memory of summer in the bleak mid-winter -- when we are awake, all beings are one family.

This week marks the 19th anniversary of the Sunday Night Sitting Group, which has grown up to be the Worcester Zen Center, Boundless Way Temple. The second Buddha from the right was 5 years old at the time. The Sunday Night Group met at 8:20 PM so that our smallest Buddha could settle down for the night at 8 with a song and story. But she often came downstairs to sit with us, falling asleep in someone's lap in her pj's.

pelican at sunset

I have just returned home, in the early hours of the morning, from a teaching/vacation trip to Costa Rica. There is some good fortune in this life, and sometimes we need to remind ourselves that everything we need is right here, patiently, insentiently, waiting for us. The pelican diving for fish knows this. The waves know this. The sky knows this. Every once in a while, we know it too.

encounter on a New Year's Day walk

"When buddhas are truly buddhas they don't need to perceive they are buddhas; they are enlightened buddhas and they continue actualizing buddha."

-- from Genjokoan, by Eihei Dogen, translated by Shohaku Okumura

Okumura's definition of "genjokoan" is "to answer the question from true reality through the practice of our everyday activity." (From Realizing Genjokoan, Wisdom Publications, 2010.) The word buddha, of course, means "one who is awake."

When we look at everyday reality with the eyes of awakening, buddhas appear everywhere.

(photo by Myozen, rock and snow sculpture by Dae An.)

First Anniversary of Boundless Way Temple

Last August, I wrote a little blog entry marking the anniversary of the day when we bought the building that is now Boundless Way Temple. Then I went off to Europe, and forgot about it until today. Time swiftly passes by. A year, a month, a moment -- can we appreciate what we have been given in this lifetime?

On August 19, 2009, we closed the real estate deal, and began a year of tremendous challenges and serendipity. Today, looking back, it all feels inevitable. There have been so many fortuitous occurrences: the revelation of the cherry tree, the arrival of the large Buddha, and many other discoveries and gifts. Supporting everything has been the energy and good will of all the folks who hammered and sawed, weeded and planted, swept and contributed to the Temple in truly countless ways. A dream became reality.

Our real estate agent left an anniversary gift at the back door on August 19 -- two beautiful knives, very sharp, and inscribed with her name and company. Swords of Manjusri, already dedicated to help in the kitchen to feed all of us hungry ghosts, and maybe to help us see more clearly, Perhaps this metaphor is already much too stretched out to bear meaning. But the knives cut through everything very well so far!

My teacher commented, on a visit to the Temple recently, that the huge Buddha seems to be getting smaller. Our minds get used to everything eventually, until the next major change, arrival or loss throws us back into confusion and wonder. What awaits us? Moment by moment as we live through the second year of Boundless Way Temple, Mugendo-ji -- all we can count on is to be surprised!

thinking of Robert Aitken Roshi

Last night we had a visit from John Tarrant Roshi, my teacher James Ford Roshi's teacher. John's primary teacher, Robert Aitken, pictured above, died on Friday. John told us some beautiful stories about Aitken Roshi, someone whose books and life have been an inspiration to me for many years. He sounded, from the stories, like a lovely and complicated human being. I found myself so grateful to be in this amazing Zen lineage. I don't know what exactly gets passed on in Zen transmission, but I like having Bob Aitken as my Dharma great-grandfather.

Mugendo-ji garden in the rain

In a few hours, our first 7 day sesshin at Boundless Way Temple will begin. We have done all of the work of preparation, and have obtained the necessary permissions and certificates from the City. The temple is quiet, waiting for arrivals. The big Buddha sits in his habitual stillness, looking out towards the street. The brick garden path glistens with the rain.

On Sunday, I will have my inka shomei (transmission) ceremony. A dear friend who can't be with us that day sent flowers along with a poem by Basho:

It's not like anything
they compare it to --
the summer moon.

Nothing can compare to this moment of the sound of the summer rain and the waiting before the "big" events happen. Right now, this is all that there is -- full and complete and just right.