The theme of this issue is Impermanence as Possibility.
Inside this issue:
Three minds of Zen by Ekai Korematsu Osho; What Mushrooms Can Teach Us by James Watt; What’s Missing by Jay Strauss; Sangha Dana in the Word of Impermanence by Shona Innes; Guinea Pig Zen by Michael Colton; Moving to Hobart by Ann Alexander; Concrete Buddha by BUDDHA Peter Schreiner; A Morning of Unexpectation by Lachlan McNeish; Shogoin News by Shudo Hannah Sensei; and Soto Kitchen by Karen Threlfall.
The last edition for 2018 is available on our Myoju page.
In his dharma talk in this issue, Ekai Osho uses a beautiful
Jessica Zuiho Cummins
metaphor of weaving to describe our way, as a dynamic
interplay between monastic and lay practice. As the weft,
we weave our lives around the verticality and strength of
the lineage – the warp – in a dynamic and endless return
to source. The cloth that we make is the community of
Jikishoan, one that we hope is both ‘pretty and useful’, to
us and all those we serve.
Due to our annual Easter retreat, there will be an interruption to our regular Sanzenkai program. Sanzenkai will not occur on the following dates:
Sanzenkai will resume the following Sunday 8 April and Thursday 12 April.
Main Course A (MCA) is a vital base where transformative learning, experience and cultivation takes place for everyone.
Each term comprises 10 x 2-hour classes of meditation, tea ceremony and in-class discussion.
Term 3 commences on Saturday, July 9 (A1 and A2), and on Wednesday, July 13 (A3).
Saturday morning classes are held in Footscray. Wednesday and Saturday evening classes are held in Brunswick.
More information is available on the Integrated Buddhist Studies page.
I am bored with the genealogy of my own family and can’t be bothered pursuing that line of enquiry. Too many skeletons in the cupboard! And what does it matter anyway? But lineage in the sense of the Buddhist tradition and in the widest possible sense of our kinship with all of creation is important. This is the tradition that helps us find ourselves and be ourselves.
Read online now…
Zen retreats are a wonderful opportunity to consolidate and deepen one’s practice. The daily routine is structured around periods of zazen (sitting meditation), kinhin (walking meditation), oryoki (traditional meal practice), samu (work practice) and teisho (daily talks) by Ekai Osho. Personal interviews with Ekai Osho are also available. Click here for more information and to download the application form.
The Annual Picnic was a lot of fun and a wonderful opportunity to catch up with members and friends.
Master Gensa Shibi said as an expression of the truth, ‘The whole universe in the ten directions is one bright pearl’.
One day a monk asked Master Gensa, ‘I have heard your words that the whole universe in the ten directions is one bright pearl. How should we understand this?’ The Master answered, ‘The whole universe in the ten directions is one bright pearl. What use is understanding?’. Later the Master asked the monk, ‘How do you understand this?’ the monk replied, ‘The whole universe in the ten directions is one bright pearl. What use is understanding?’ The Master said, ‘I see that you are struggling to get inside a demon’s cave in a black mountain…even surmising and worry is not different from the bright pearl. No action nor any thought has ever been caused by anything other than the bright pearl. Therefore, forward and backward steps in a demon’s black-mountain cave are just the one bright pearl itself.’—Dogen Zenji
* Myoju (bright pearl) is the name of Jikishoan’s quarterly newsletter.