Precepts Study
As of early June 2009, we are studying the Buddhist Precepts. Angie gives a talk on them each Tuesday evening after zazen, followed by comments and questions/answers with the sangha.
Here are the materials.
And here are the talks.
2009 Sesshin
Floating Zendo is please to announce our yearly sesshin (meditation retreat).
Angie Boissevain, our Teacher, will lead the retreat.
Sesshin will be held from August 7-14, 2009 at Jikoji Zen Center, in Los Gatos, California.
Please go to our sesshin page for sign-up details and ongoing information about this year’s retreat.
We look forward to seeing you there.
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Tues. Study: Dogen’s Zuimonki
Begining July 8, 2008, Floating Zendo in San Jose, CA will study Dogen Zenji’s Zuimonki on Tuesday evenings.
Zuimonki is a collection of dharma talks to lay and monk practitioners given by Dogen Zenji, recorded by his disciple Ejo.
We will use a few translations:
- Online: from Sotoshu (Soto Zen in Japan, likely translated by Shohaku Okumura in 1988 variously indicating Kyoto Soto Zen or Sotoshu).
- Book: Thomas Cleary’s Record of Things Heard, available from Amazon, and possibly from local book sellers.
If you can not attend our Tuesday evening zazen/study, we hope you will listen to recordings of these meetings.
Angie on Wikipedia
Wikipedia now has an entry for our teacher Angie!
Take a look… you may learn something that you didn’t know about our teacher!
(P.S. There is also a permanent link to the Wikipedia entry on the Blog Roll.)
Studying Zen Mind Beginner’s Mind on Tues Evening
As of late November 2007, we have begun our study of Shunryu Suzuki’s Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind.
We hope you will join us for regular zazen and our study of this wonderful book, led by our teacher Angie.
Aspects of Sitting by Kobun Chino roshi
We have begun the study of Kobun Chino roshi’s Aspects of Sitting. We began this study in mid-August 2007, and will review a chapter each Tuesday evening after zazen in San Jose.
The text addresses guidelines for zazen, which are especially relevant, as we are about to hold our annual sesshin. Kobun was Angie’s teacher.
Angie handed out paper copies of Aspects for local use in San Jose.
There is an almost identical online copy available at Jikoji, if you’d like to study along with us (remotely). Angie’s Tuesday evening talks on Aspects will be available as well.
Poem by Wang Wei
On Tuesday, May 15, 2007, guest speaker Michael Newhall from Jikoji cited a poem from memory that many sangha members enjoyed. The following is the poem in full:
Chungnan
Middle-aged now, following the Way.
Settled at evening near the Chungnan slopes.
Delight, and I wander off by myself
Searching for what I need to see alone.
I climb up to the roots of the streams,
Sit and watch the White Clouds pass,
Meet the old man of the woods,
Talk and laugh, forget to go home.
… Wang Wei (699-759 AD)
A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life, by Santideva
[We are beginning study of A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life, written by Santideva. We begin with Chapter 1 on May 1, 2007, as part of our regular Tuesday evening schedule in San Jose. Please join us.]
A GUIDE TO THE BODHISATTVA’S WAY OF LIFE
(concerning development of an enlightened mind)
Translations in print:
- Bodhicaryavatara, Kate Crosby and Andrew Skilton
- Entering the Path of Enlightenment, Marion Matics
- A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life, Geshe Kelsang Gyatso
- Engaging in Bodhisattva Behavior, Alexander Berzin
- A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life, Stephen Bachelor
- A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life, Vesna and Alan Wallace
- The Way of the Bodhisattva, Walstan Fletcher
Online Translations:
Commentaries:
- Transcendent Wisdom, Dalai Lama (on Chapter 9)
- A Flash of Lightning in the Dark of Night, Dalai Lama
- Meaningful to Behold, Geshe Kelsang Gyatso
- No Time to Lose, Pemo Chodron
Ox Herding Pictures (Study Materials)
Beginning In late January 2007, Floating Zendo will study the 10 Ox Herding Pictures of Kaku-an Shi-en (Ch) / Kuo-an Shih-yuan (Ch):
Book, online:
- D.T. Suzuki from _Manual of Zen Buddhism_ (a classic)
Books, offline:
- Loori, John Daido, _Riding the Ox Home_
- Kapleau, Philip, _Three Pillars of Zen_
- Shibayama, Zenkei, _A flower does not talk; Zen essays_ (another version, with 6 pictures)
Online:
Dogen’s Users Manuals on Zazen
I recently read some lectures by Pat Phelan about Dogen’s Fukanzazengi, where she indicates that Dogen wrote three zazen “users manuals”, that are available in English from Stanford’s Soto Text Translation Project:
- Zazengi (Principles of Zazen)
- Zazenshin (Lancet of Zazen)
- Fukanzazengi (Universally Recommended Instructions for Zazen)
The translators’ notes and supplemental notes are especially helpful to understand the historical Zen background/context of Dogen’s references.
I hope you too find these excellent Dogen writings an encouragement in your practice.
… Dan
