eMirror Vol 26, No. 28 (2022-07-08)

The new stone lantern on the front grounds of Dainen-ji
The new stone lantern on the front grounds of Dainen-ji


eMirror Vol 26, No. 28

Friday, July 8th
Edited by the Practice Council

The White Wind Zen Community:
An international community practising and teaching Dogen’s Zen since 1985.



I cannot provide instruction [on actually cooking] in any detail in this context nor is it my intention to. However I can tell you a bit of what might be involved in using cooking as an art to explore your sense of taste and smell.

It can and should involve how one acquires food. Gardening is wonderful but it has nothing to do with cooking. Just because a carrot was pulled screaming from the soil a few moments ago does not necessarily mean that it will taste good. Or that it will have the right shape and thickness and colour to be a component in the meal that is to be cooked. Freshness is good but this does not mean that because something is fresh it is necessarily good. So growing your own vegetables or buying them as fresh as is possible from a farmer’s market is generally a good thing. But just because something grew in your garden does not mean that you have to eat or that you have the right to force others to eat it. Basically, if I would not choose a vegetable or leaf or root if I were to buy it in a shop, I will not use it except for stock or in some context where it is pureed or simply move it back into the cycle of birth and death without passing it through the medium of human bodies first and so it goes into the compost bin. However do not disregard such things as the pink and golden root stems of spinach. If they are good in shape and appearance they should be valued as much as the leaves. Clean them thoroughly, take away the hair like roots, cut them to equal lengths and steam them or marinate them in aged rice vinegar. Basically, it is best to not be miserly in one’s regard towards anything. Buy an excellent balsamic vinegar rather than a cheap one and use it well. Use beet peelings when making a stock. Do not waste anything but find the most appropriate use. See, hear, touch, taste, smell and think clearly.

-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, July 5th at her home in the Berkshires. Beth Buerkle sat a one-day retreat on Tuesday, july 5th at her home in Chamcook, New Brunswick. Brian Lakeman sat a half-day retreat on Friday, july 1st 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 9th to July 16th

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)     
Monday, July 11th: “Every Breath You Take” by Ven. Shikai Zuiko o-sensei: “Seeing the Elderly" (Dharma Talk 97)
Thursday, July 14th: "The Art of Subtraction" by Ven. Jinmyo Renge sensei
Saturday, July 16th: "Bodymind of the Way: Zen Master Anzan Hoshin's Commentaries on Eihei Dogen zenji's "Shinjin Gakudo": "The True Human Body" (14 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
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


scroll

Tathagatagarbha (S): The "matrix of Reality as a continual presencing". The capacity that each point of Knowing has to reveal itself as containing every other point of Knowing. The capacity of beings to open to their own nature.

Posted July 8th , 2022. New entries are posted every two weeks.

 

Bean plant


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:
Cheung fun (rice noodle rolls) steamed on a bed of chopped Napa cabbage and dai gai choy, served with a dipping sauce made from chopped scallions, ginger, light and dark shoyu, vegetarian oyster sauce, sesame oil; deep-fried tofu in a sauce made from Dom’s Hot Sauce, shoyu and lime juice; salad of Romaine and leaf lettuce with radicchio and chopped apples tossed in lime juice. 

Tuesday Yakuseki:
Mixed grain (Arborio, calrose, basmati and pearled barley); ganmodoki (deep-fried tofu balls) made from semi-firm and silken tofu, nagaimo yam, whipped egg whites, minced jalapeno, mirin, salt, minced ginger, and rice flour; dipping sauce made from chopped scallions, ginger, light and dark shoyu, vegetarian oyster sauce, sesame oil; miso shiru with reconstituted shitake mushrooms and baby bok choy.

Thursday Yakuseki:
Cheese naan with choice of caramelised onion and friulano cheese, or caramelized onion and hummus; tomato soup (blended, cooked carrots, celery, garlic, San Marzano tomato and tomato juice, seasoned with thyme, basil, lots of black pepper and a dash of red balsamic vinegar); pickle of monastery-grown cherry tomatoes with sweet gherkins. 
 

 

Mishin godo bowing


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 David Gallant for taking some cat food to Purrdy Paws Grooming for distribution to needy felines.

From Mishin godo:
Thank you to Saigyo ino for meeting with the contractors who are installing new windows in the Hojo and on the third floor, and for the suggestion to cover the garlic plants I'm growing with large plastic tubs so they don't get damaged by the scaffolding. Thank you to Fushin shuso for keeping the bird feeders filled. Thank you to Chantal Maheu for bookkeeping samu.

From Saigyo ino:
Thank you to the Roshi for organising the layout of books in the Shuryo, help with a computer build and terrific book recommendations. Thank you to Jinmyo sensei for so many excellent meals each week prepared for residents and for editing the eMirror each week. Thank you to Mishin godo for tending the growing vegetable and herb garden on the roof and the garlic garden by the side porch. Thank you to Fushin shuso for keeping the birds fed and watered. Thank you to Michael Gallant for many hours of work to troubleshoot and repair the complex monastery doorbell system and to David Gallant for assisting him with this project. Thank you to Greg Parker for work on the Shuryo Butsudan and Shuryo main door hinges, to Loic Ouellette for repairs and organisation to the hoses and for porch cleaning and to Tarik Kaya for painting the side porch steps and assisting Fushin shuso with building a new set of handrails for these steps.   

From David Gallant:
Thank you to my father, Mike Gallant, for the many hours he has volunteered in the past few weeks to troubleshoot and fix the wired doorbell system at Dainen-ji.

From the Office of the Treasurer:
Thank you to Helen Jelich for a donation.
 

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