eMirror Vol 26, No. 31 (2022-07-29)

Poblano, photograph by Ven. Mishin Roelofs godo
Poblano, photograph by Ven. Mishin Roelofs godo


eMirror Vol 26, No. 31

Friday, July 29th
Edited by the Practice Council

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



And throughout [the process of learning to cook], see, hear, touch, taste, smell, and think clearly and openly. Cook with the whole bodymind and eat with the whole bodymind.

When you eat, take your time. I do not mean that you should dutifully chew each mouthful one hundred times. I mean that you must allow time for the architecture of flavours and textures to present themselves. We have found that some meals prepared here at Dainen-ji require at least twelve or fifteen seconds for the various resonances of flavours to rise and fall and combine. So take your time but don’t dawdle.

Some wines or beers or sake are not only appropriate to certain foods and meals but it is almost pointless to eat them without such accompaniments to enhance, lift, and deepen the flavours. If you have water along with a meal, of course none of you would ever be so rude and insensitive to yourself, the food and the vast effort of numberless beings that have come together as it, or the effort and skills of the cook as to drink water while there is still food in your mouth. As we all know, the water is of course primarily to cleanse and refresh the palate, not to replace the process of chewing and savouring and just wash the food down your gullet. If someone needs to do this, and of course it can happen occasionally, you are taking mouthfuls that are too large for you. 
When you are cooking, taste the food in its various stages. Learn the relationship between the aromas and the flavours. I rarely taste anything that I am preparing because I can see it, smell it and feel it. I generally ask others to taste it to determine the balance of salt because it cannot be smelt. 

Developing the sense of smell is also interesting. For animals such as cats, which have a sense of smell seventeen more acute than ours, a great deal of information is conveyed. The hands are always painted with an incredible array of scents from all the things that have been touched, picked up and put down. Sniffing them a few times paints an interesting picture for a cat or dog.

Although the sense of smell is much stronger than that of taste and in fact much of what we usually consider taste is primarily fragrance, we tend not to have a high regard for it. We do not even have many names for smells except for a few unpleasant ones such as putrid. Most of the words that we might use for odours are actually words for tastes such as sweet. Many odours are actively ignored. Do you realize that your knees smell differently than do the backs of your hands? And yet we are strongly influenced by the sense of smell, even if we do not know that we are smelling anything or do not know what we are smelling. In a paper published in the journal Nature, Martha McClintock of the University of Chicago reported in an experiment she was able to speed up and slow down the monthly cycles of a group of women by exposing them to a whiff of sweat from other women. The ovulatory command, she believes, was carried by pheromones. Memories and associations are often triggered by odours but these are usually irrelevant to anything that is going on in a situation so this is something to be careful with. Some fragrances such as eucalyptus can be useful for opening the respiration. However, as for such things as aromatherapy, I should admit that I have no confidence in them whatsoever.

-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: August 10th and 24th.

August Two-day Sesshin:
The August two-day sesshin will begin on Friday, August 12th at 8:00 p.m. and will end on Sunday, August 14th at 6:00 p.m.

Dogen-ki (August 28th)
Dogen-ki August 28th is Dogen-ki, the memorial of Eihei Dogen zenji's death.

Samu Weekend
The next Samu Weekend will take place on August 27th and 28th. Each day begins at 9:00 a.m. and ends at 6:00 p.m. Please pencil these dates into your calendar so that you will be able to attend some or all of this weekend of samu practice. Saigyo ino will be writing soon to students with more details about the activities taking place over the weekend. To register please send an email to Saigyo ino at saigyo.cross@gmail.com.

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 26th at her home in the Berkshires. Pablo Melchor, visiting from Madrid, Spain, sat a one-day retreat on Thursday, July 28th at Dainen-ji.

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.
 


Retreats at Dainen-ji



​Although the monastery is not open to associate and general students for scheduled sittings, if you would like to sit a retreat at Dainen-ji, that is now possible.

You would need to schedule your retreat a week in advance. You will also need to get a rapid antigen Covid test done the day before you arrive and email us to let us know that you are Covid negative.

You will need to wear an N-95 mask while in the monastery. This link will let you know where you can pick up a free rapid antigen test  https://covid-19.ontario.ca/rapid-test-locator

During the retreat, where the timing occurs along with scheduled sittings, you would join monastics and formal students in the Hatto on the second floor and wear a mask as we all do. During the other periods, you would sit in the Zendo on the first floor and would not wear a mask unless there are other students present.

You can sit a partial retreat, half-day retreat or full retreat for one or more days (providing you stay in the monastery and do not leave). The duration of retreats is as follows:

Half-day Retreat
You would need to arrive 15 minutes before the actual starting time. Begin at 6:00 a.m., end at noon. Or begin at 9:30 a.m., end at 6:00. Or begin at 3:00 p.m., end at 9:10.

Partial Retreat
You would need to arrive 15 minutes before the actual starting time. Begin at 6:00 a.m., end at 6:00 p.m. Or begin at 9:30 a.m., end at 9:10 p.m.

Full retreat
You would need to arrive by 5:45 a.m. Begin at 6:00 a.m., end at 9:10 p.m. 

Please remember to bring a change of clothes suitable for samu (caretaking practice). If staying overnight, please remember to bring a sleeping bag, a towel and other such necessities. If you have been diagnosed by a medical doctor as having allergies to specific foods, please contact the tenzo-anja, mishin godo at mishin at gmail dot com, a week in advance of your retreat to inform her of dietary restrictions as this affects food purchases and meal planning. The suggested dana for retreats is $50 for a full day or $40 for a partial day, which covers the basic cost of food and other materials. Donations above this figure are very welcome and all donations are tax deductible.

If you would like to schedule a retreat, please send an email to schedule@wwzc.org.
 


Monastery Room for Rent



Framing for the new room showing a nearby small kitchen area. A washroom is located to the far right and to the left is the entrance to the rooftop garden and seating area.
Framing for the new room showing a nearby small kitchen area. A washroom is located to the far right and to the left is the entrance to the rooftop garden and seating area.

We are in the process of building a new room in the monastery which will be available for rent in the Autumn. If you would like to engage in a period of long-term training, please contact Mishin godo at mishin@gmail.com for further details. 
 


Recorded Teachings Schedule


Saturday, July 30th to Saturday, August 6th

Saturday, July 30th: "Bodymind of the Way: Zen Master Anzan Hoshin's Commentaries on Eihei Dogen zenji's "Shinjin Gakudo":"The Embrace of Emptiness is the Ten Directions" (16 of 17)
Sunday, July 31st: SAkN “Root Cycle Five” by Ven. Anzan Hoshin roshi: “Unborn” (teisho 4 of 5)
Monday, August 1st: “Every Breath You Take” by Ven. Shikai Zuiko o-sensei: “Seeing a Capital" (Dharma Talk 100) 
Thursday, August 4th: "The Dragon in His Waters, the Tiger in Her Mountains, part 1" by Ven. Jinmyo Renge sensei (1 of 3)
Saturday, August 6th: "Bodymind of the Way: Zen Master Anzan Hoshin's Commentaries on Eihei Dogen zenji's "Shinjin Gakudo":"Arising and Disappearing" (17 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

Teishõ (J): "Tei" means to pick up or to carry; "shõ" means to present or proclaim. A formal discourse of a Zen teacher used to stir up recognition in students.

Posted July 22nd, 2022. New entries are posted every two weeks.
 

Tenzo sho by Ven. Anzan roshi, 1995
Tenzo sho by Ven. Anzan roshi, 1995


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:
Calrose medium-grain brown rice; steamed, cubed monastery-made soybean tempeh marinated in a sauce made from shoyu, rice vinegar, brown sugar, minced ginger, minced fresh parsley and coriander and chili sauce and then pan fried. The tempeh and remaining sauce was then added to sauteed strips of spanish onion, chunks of poblano peppers and red bell peppers; salad of finely cut red and green cabbage, thin strips of carrot and red onion, fresh coriander, bran oil, sesame oil, shoyu, ginger and honey, served with roasted peanuts. 

Tuesday Yakuseki:
Potato salad (boiled ‘little gem’ potatoes, steamed cut green beans and snow peas, baby green peas and corn, chopped radishes, red onion, capers, black olives, dressed with mayonnaise, apple cider vinegar and Dijon mustard; chicken thighs and drumsticks seasoned with a mixture of bran oil, onion powder, garlic powder, kashmiri chili powder, salt, pepper, and Madras curry powder; pickle of artichoke hearts with sweet gherkins. 

Thursday Yakuseki:
Calrose medium-grain brown and white rice; hiyayakko tofu (cubes of silken tofu on a bed of grated daikon, topped with a sauce made from shoyu, chili sauce and a small amount of brown sugar, topped with scallions; a salad of Romaine lettuce, radishes, tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion and celery, served with a dressing made from equal parts of mayonnaise, apple cider vinegar and Dijon mustard, seasoned with black pepper and a small amount of honey.

 

Gassho sign (hands in gassho in in a circle)

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 Mishin godo for fresh herbs, peppers and tomatoes from the rooftop garden; to Saigyo ino for refurbishing his computer for my use; to all of the residents who helped organize a donation to Diabetes Canada this week; to Saigyo ino for his work on building the new room which will become available to rent for residential training in the Autumn.

From Saigyo ino:
Thank you to the Roshi for help and advice as I build a PC and for introducing me to the Linux operating system over 20 years years ago, which I have used since. Thank you to Jinmyo sensei for making delicious ‘meat-free’ burgers and for learning to make tempeh, which was lovely. Thank you to Mishin godo for the harvest of garlic she planted and tended from last year. 

From Fushin shuso:
Thank you to Jinmyo sensei for sorting and categorizing items no longer in use and for organizing a charity organization to collect it all from the Monastery. Thank you to Mishin godo for ensuring the packing of the charity items was done efficiently. Thank you to Saigyo ino for starting the construction of new walls on the third storey residents floor.

From Julien Jefferson:
Thank you to the Roshi for translating selections of the Lankavatara in "The Way of Intimate Knowing". Each re-read brings new understanding. Thank you to Jinmyo Renge sensei for meeting me in telephone daisan and for suggesting that I place a towel under my zafu to elevate it. Thank you to Mishin godo for a practice interview.

 

 

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