floatingzendo.org Blog

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.)

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.

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.

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)

[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:

• Shantideva.net
• berzinarchives.com

Commentaries:

• Kunpal.com
• Lotsawahouse.org

• 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

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:

• Urs App
• Hsu Yun (includes Chinese of poems)

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

Hello FZ Sangha!

This blog (web log) is available to all FZ sangha members, to share ideas, have discussions, and generally create a parallel online community to our zazen practice. I hope that FZ members from across the U.S. and Europe, where Angie has sangha ties, will join in this blog.
The question at this point is: What topics would be of interest (and appropriate) for this forum. Some initial ideas inlcude:

• Practice questions, addressed to Angie and hopefully answered by her, for the benefit of other sangha members as well as the original questioner.

• Practice questions, addressed to the sangha as a whole. Many people have experience and opinions of benefit to others, and are most welcome.

• Recommended reading or web sites (I have created categories for these items, as I suspect there may be many good suggestions).

A reminder: Please don’t post time-sensitive annoucements (such as business meeting dates, events occuring at other zendos) on this blog. Instead, use the Floating Zendo Zazen Yahoo Group for rapid email distribution.

An email (sent separately) includes instructions on logging in and how to make postings such as this.

I look forward to some good topics (that can be turned into “categories” so postings will be easy to locate), and then some good conversation!

… Dan

Hi FZ,
I hope you enjoy the latest look and feel (”template”) for our website/blog.

The most obvious change is the graphic on the top of each page, with pictures from San Jose and the sesshin in Carmel.

I have added a “theme switcher” menu item, on the right column, which allows users to change how the site looks to them, but it’s not working quite right yet. Apologies.

I look forward to your feedback on the site layout and content.     … Dan

As you know, we are coming to the end of our dharma talks/study of the Dhammapada on Tuesday evenings in San Jose.

Below are a few ideas for possible subjects for the next dharma talks. The focus is classic Zen poems. Many of our sangha members are writers, poets, etc. and I think it would be interesting to study such materials. Many of these poems are available online, so that would make it easier to obtain for everyone’s reference. Besides, you may enjoy reading them anyways!
Please feel free to post “comments” with your opintions about which poem you’d like to study, or add your own ideas (not necessarily poetry). We’ll also discuss what to study next on Tuesday evening as we come to a close on the Dhammapada.

… Dan
Hakuin (J),
_Zazen Wasan (J),
Song of Zazen_
http://www.thezensite.com/ZenTeachings/Song_of_Zazen.htm
(Normal Waddell translation)

Seng-ts’an (Ch),
Sosan (J),
_Hsin Hsin Ming (Ch),
Shinjinmei (J),
Verses on the Faith-Mind_
http://www.bailinsi.net/03shc/03blyl/05zyyd/060111.htm
(translation by Richard B. Clarke and includes original Chinese)
http://www.mendosa.com/way.html
(translated by Richard B. Clarke as
it appears in Dennis Genpo Merzel _The Eye Never Sleeps_)
http://home.att.net/~paul.dowling/archive/zen/blyth/blyth-all.htm
(Blyth _Zen and Zen Classics_ Volume One)

Tozan Ryokai (J),
Tung-shan Liang-chieh (Ch),
_Bao Jing Sanmei or  Pao-Ching Sen-Mei-Ko (Ch)
Hokyo Zammai (J)
Song of Precious Mirror Samadhi_
Blyth _Zen and Zen Classics_ Volume One
http://ancientdragon.org/dharma/chants/
http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/zen/hz/hz.htm
(includes Chinese)
http://www.berkeleyzencenter.org/Texts/jewelmirror.shtml

Shih-t’ou Hsi-ch’ien (Ch),
Seikito-Kisen (J),
_Tsan-t’ung-chi’i (Ch),
Sandokai (J),
The Unity of Relative and Absolute_
http://www.stanford.edu/group/scbs/sztp3/translations/gongyo_seiten/translations/part_1/sandokai.html
http://www.berkeleyzencenter.org/Texts/sandokai.shtml
http://www.bamboointhewind.org/chant_sandokai.html (Soto Shumucho 1997)
Suzuki _Branching Steams Flow in the Darkness: Lectures on the Sandokai_

Yung-chieh Hsuan-chueh (Ch)
Yoka Daishi (J),
_Cheng-Tao-Ke (Ch),
Shodoka (J),
Song of Enlightenment_
http://www.hsuyun.org/Dharma/zbohy/Sruti-Smriti/Gathas/song-of-enlightenment.html
http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/zen/shodoka.txt
(Robert Aitkentranslation)
http://www.ciolek.com/WWWVLPages/ZenPages/Daily-Zen-Sutras.html#SHODO

Shen Hui (Ch),
_Hsie Tsung Chi (Ch),
Illuminating the Essential Doctrine_
http://ccbs.ntu.edu.tw/FULLTEXT/JR-JOCP/jc26898.htm

Kaku-an Shi-en (Ch),
Kuo-an Shih-yuan (Ch),
_10 Ox Herding Pictures_
Kapleau _Three Pillars of Zen_,
http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/mzb/oxherd.htm
(D.T. Suzuki from _Manual of Zen Buddhism_)
http://iriz.hanazono.ac.jp/frame/data_f00c.en.html (Urs App 1996)
http://www.hsuyun.org/Dharma/zbohy/VisualArts/OxHerdingPictures/oxherding2.html