Salted Napa cabbage for kimchi,
Photograph by Ven. Jinmyo Renge sensei
eMirror Vol 26, No. 27
Friday, July 1st
Edited by the Practice Council
The White Wind Zen Community:
An international community practising and teaching Dogen’s Zen since 1985.
There are more interesting ways to explore the ayatana of taste. I had thought of speaking of chanoyu or Japanese Tea Ceremony or sennin-cha, a form based on the much more convivial Chinese gongfucha. However I thought it would be more useful to consider the most obvious way of exploring taste and this is, of course, through eating. And if you eat, you should know how to cook. Knowing how to cook is not something that that can be known all at once. But then nothing is. Nonetheless, some people feel justified in saying that they don’t know how to cook as if this meant that they were incapable of learning. Outside of what one learns through the process of formal Zen practice, cooking is the most important thing to learn. The bodymind is the food that it has consumed.
This is why I think that the art of cooking is the most intimate of all art forms. The work that you have created actually becomes your audience and over the next few days they become it. Here at Dainen-ji the cuisine that I design is based in shojin ryori or Zen monastic vegetarian cooking and kaiseki, Kyoto formal meals, but has developed with elements from French classical culinary methods and various regional cuisines, often those of the countryside or peasantry.
Can cooking be an art form? Certainly. It is not as profound or as arresting or obvious as visual art or music or dance. But it can change you as you learn how to cook and it can change how the people who eat your food understand flavours. However this requires not only refining the palette, but a continuing interest in the physics of cooking, of how ingredients are changed through the process of heating. However it is not like chemistry. A vivid, bright nourishing and beautiful meal cannot be arrived at by merely combining this thing that is good for you and that thing that is good for you or this thing that I like and that thing that I like. It becomes an art form through exploring in a very thorough-going manner ingredients, procedures, spices and herbs, equipment, developing a sense of timing during preparation and a sense of nuance and balance.
-Ven Anzan Hoshin roshi, continuing Class Five: "It Becomes You" in the series "Zen Arts: The Flowering of the Senses", October 1999 Daruma-ki O-sesshin, Dainen-ji.
Upcoming Events
Fusatsu: July 13th and 27th.
Yaza
Yaza (all night sitting) will take place on Saturday, July 9th, from 10pm until Sunday, July 10th, at 8am. Ven. Jinmyo Renge sensei will lead the Yaza.
Hermitage
The Roshi is currently in an extended period of "self-isolation" due to underlying health issues until the COVID-19 situation clarifies.
Beginning Instruction in Zen Practice
For information concerning our Long-distance Training Program, please visit this Web Page: https://wwzc.org/long-distance-training-program
Retreats
Rev. Chiso anagarika sat her weekly semi-retreat on Tuesday, June 28th at her home in the Berkshires. Aaron Ford sat a two-day retreat on Friday, June 24th and Saturday, June 25th at his home in Calgary, Alberta. Brian Lakeman sat a half-day retreat on Sunday, June 26th at his home in Brampton, Ontario.
If you would like to sit a retreat at home please follow the schedule outlined in this page: https://wwzc.org/retreat-schedule-public-students. After your retreat, please send an email to schedule@wwzc.org to confirm that you sat a retreat and include the duration and location.
Recorded Teachings Schedule
Saturday, July 2nd to Saturday, July 9th
Saturday, July 2nd: "Bodymind of the Way: Zen Master Anzan Hoshin's Commentaries on Eihei Dogen zenji's "Shinjin Gakudo": "Bodaishin, Hempen, Koboshin, Neijoshin" (12 of 17)
Sunday, July 3rd: SAkN “Root Cycle Five” by Ven. Anzan Hoshin roshi: “The End of All Knowledge” (teisho 1 of 5)
Monday, July 4th: “Every Breath You Take” by Ven. Shikai Zuiko o-sensei: “Seeing a Prince" (Dharma Talk 96)
Thursday, July 7th: "Tada" by Ven. Jinmyo Renge sensei
Saturday, July 9th: "Bodymind of the Way: Zen Master Anzan Hoshin's Commentaries on Eihei Dogen zenji's "Shinjin Gakudo":"Evening Practice Comments: Cutting Open" (13 of 17)
Listening to Teisho and Dharma Talks
Associate and general students should continue to follow the recorded Teachings schedule for the sitting you were attending at the monastery, and listen to that during your home practice.
You can access the online Recorded Teachings Library at wwzc.org/recorded-teachings-schedule.
You can also use the streaming site at app.wwzc.org to live stream recordings from the online Library. If you have forgotten your password or need assistance with accessing the recorded Teachings, please email schedule@wwzc.org.
Please note that teisho should be listened to in the correct order and with none missed out as themes, metaphors, questions raised and answered evolve in spirals throughout the series.
Recorded Teachings for Public Access
While most of the online Recorded Teachings library is password-protected and only accessible to students of the Lineage of Zen Master Anzan Hoshin, a small selection of MP3 recordings of teisho are accessible to the public at wwzc.org/recorded-teachings Additional recordings will be uploaded periodically. MP3 recordings of four recorded teisho by Ven. Anzan Hoshin roshi are currently available:
Dharma Position https://wwzc.org/dharma-position
Eyes See, Ears Hear https://wwzc.org/eyes-see-ears-hear
Embarrassment https://wwzc.org/embarrassment
Ven. Anzan Hoshin roshi's reading of his translation of Eihei Dogen zenji's “Bendowa: A Talk on Exerting the Way”: https://wwzc.org/bendowa-talk-exerting-way
Translations and Texts
Photograph of Ven. Anzan Hoshin roshi at Daijozan, mid-1980s,
by Ven. Shikai Zuiko sensei
Ven. Anzan Hoshin roshi has recently completed translation work on some shorter texts by Eihei Dogen zenji from the Shobogenzo. The work on these particular texts is based upon the literal translations that he worked on with Joshu Dainen roshi at Hakukaze-ji around 1977-78 followed by many years of putting them down, picking them up, and polishing. Naturally, more essential texts such as Uji, Genjokoan, Shinjin Gakudo and some 40 others were completed first and have been given extensive commentaries by the Roshi. This batch of texts includes Baike: Plum Blossoms, Ryugin: Howling Dragon, and Udonge: The Udumbara Blossoming and many others are nearing completion. Annotation details and successfully conveying them across various document formats are the issue at this point.
Work on Bussho: Buddha Nature, a very long and nuanced text by Dogen zenji, is ongoing.
Roshi is also finishing an update to the Saijo Shingi: The Deportment of Radiance, our manual of monastic training standards which is a supplement to the ancient Eihei Shingi and Keizan Shingi.
Painted Cakes
(do not satisfy hunger)
Begun by Ven. Shikai Zuiko o-sensei
Finished by Rev. Fushin Comeau shramon following her death
Tathagata (S, P); Nyorai (J): "One Who Comes Thus". An epithet of the Buddha. Also used as a technical term to refer to reality as a process of "continual presencing" in classical texts such as the Lankavatara sutra.
Posted June 24th , 2022. New entries are posted every two weeks.
Office of the Tenzo
Dogen zenji taught in the Tenzo kyokun: Instructions for the Tenzo (https://wwzc.org/dharma-text/tenzo-kyokun-instructions-tenzo) that the work of preparing and serving meals is "a matter for realized monks who have the mind of the “. or by senior disciples who have roused the Way-seeking mind." In alignment with this, part of Zen Master Anzan Hoshin's samu for the Community involves personally overseeing the activities of the ancient office of tenzo. Ven. Jinmyo Renge sensei serves as tenzo and Mishin godo and Saigyo ino offer assistance as tenzo-anja. The following meals were prepared on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday evenings for residents:
Monday Yakuseki:
Short-grain brown Calrose rice with Myoko’s butter and a shoyu-based sauce; Dai gai choy soup (dai gai choy, bean sprouts, chopped white onion, shoyu, mushroom stock, ginger, sliced deep-fried tofu); grilled asparagus seasoned with bran oil, salt, pepper, and red balsamic vinegar.
Tuesday Yakuseki:
Potato salad (“Little Gem” potatoes, sauteed minced jalapeno, red onion and garlic, chopped celery and radishes, black and green olives, scallions, capers, Mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, apple cider vinegar. Served with a pickle of cubed friulano cheese with sweet gherkins.
Vegetarian option: Grilled thick slices of deep-fried tofu dipped in chipotle barbecue sauce, seasoned with garlic and onion powder and cumin.
For those who wished to supplement their diet with meat: Grilled thick pork loin chops seasoned with barbecue sauce mixed with garlic, onion and cumin powders.
Thursday Yakuseki:
Thai white and brown rice; “ugly tofu” - silken tofu sliced and sauteed in sesame and canola oil until pockmarked and golden brown, served on a bed of shocked greens (baby Shanghai bok choy, large bok choy leaves and gai lan plunged into boiling water for 30 seconds and then shocked in very cold water which makes them turn a brilliant green), served with a sauce made from minced garlic and ginger, vegetarian oyster sauce, mushroom stock, shoyu, a tiny bit of sugar and lime juice, thickened slightly with tapioca starch).
Thank You
If you would like to thank someone for a contribution they have made, please feel free to send an email to Jinmyo sensei at rengezo@gmail dot com, but be sure to type "eMirror” in the subject line.
From Jinmyo sensei:
Thank you to Saigyo ino for organizing the recent Samu Weekend and for all of the time he spent on installing hinges and a new mail slot and door knob for the front door; to Elizabeth Fleming for donating a bread-maker to the monastery; to Brian Sorkilmo for expert advice in installing replica Victorian hinges on a door; to David Gallant for IT work and to his father, Mike Gallant, for work on our doorbells.
From Mishin godo:
Thank you to Mike Gallant for spending a full day working to fix and rewire our doorbell system.
From Saigyo ino:
Thank you to Jinmyo sensei for the really lovely meals designed and prepared for the students attending the Samu days this past weekend. Thank you to the following students who attended the Samu Weekend (on short notice) on Saturday, June 25th and Sunday June 26th: Mishin godo, Fushin shramon, Ryoshin, Leonardo Nobrega, David Gallant, Chantal Maheu, Jesse Steinberg, Rowan Russell, Don Charette, Greg Parker, Jean-Francois St-Louis, Sam McFarlane and Daryl David. Thank you to Stacey Loyer and Shannon Morphew for regular gardening samu in the grounds. Thank you to Chantal Maheu and Kathleen Johnson for donating hostas from their gardens.
From Julien Jefferson:
Thank you to the Roshi for his translation of and commentary on Dogen zenji's Uji, and for writing the Awareness Doha. Thank you to Mishin godo for a practice interview.
