When is meditation not meditation-when it is Dhyana? In Zen we say we do not meditate we do zazen which means to just sit or "Just Be." In practice it is transcending object focused awareness to mind focusing awareness and then letting even that awareness fall away. We see this in the aspects of the awareness-process of impermanence-seeking, waiting, enjoyment, bliss, oneness and putting down/letting go (http://chancenter.org/cmc/wpcontent/uploads/2010/09/TheSixParamitas.pdf).
This form of wisdom arises in the Mahayana through the Bodhisattvas seeing the liberation of applying the six aspects of Zazen to others-freeing them first. All Paramitas are interweaves of the Three Marks of Buddhism, The Four Noble Truths and the Eight Fold Path and the first Five Paramitas in such away that these 24 points just mention become single pointed-prajna paramita. In a sense all of this is the fullness of just being. A way to ponder this is to know "Putting-Down,"awakens such or thus. In the perfections, Samadhi or full awaking is experience and awareness having no distinction. In Yoga it might be called the "Ohm-less Ohm," or as we say the gateless-gate. This is experiencing being balanced without thinking. To me this means what we experience on the cushion is being awake that becomes in turn Dhyana all the time...
MARK YOUR CALENDAR:
IMPORTANT: Our Silent Thunder Order Training Center, The Atlanta Soto Zen Center, will be celebrating it's 40th Anniversary on July 17, 2017. One of the fund raisers for the event is a raffle! I am asking you to consider buying and or selling these tickets-they are $5 a piece and you can buy in blocks of five. You DO NOT need to be present to win. The items in the raffle are being inventories and I'll get the list out asap. In the meantime, please consider and then email me if you would like to buy and or sell tickets
June 6 service will be on The Six Perfections and the fifth Prajna-Dhyana
Dokusan will be offered...
Our Beach sitting on the Bike-Path at Oyster Pond and Surf Drive has begun, from 6:30AM until 7:00AM then we all go to PIE-IN-THE SKY in Woods Hole for coffee.
1.Jacquline-ni will be hosting a picnic for our Sangha and friends on JULY 8. Details will be coming next week. PLEASE EMAIL JACQULINE IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS AND TO LET HER KNOW YOU WILL JOIN US... jacqueline Lee <jackiejane@comcast.net>
2. During May, we will explore The Six Perfections, or paramitas that are guides for Mahayana Buddhist practice. They are virtues to be cultivated to strengthen practice and bring one to enlightenment. The Six Perfections describe the true nature of an enlightened being, which, in Mahayana practice, is to say they are our own true buddha-nature. If they don't seem to be our true nature, it is because the perfections are obscured by our delusion, anger, greed, and fear. By cultivating these perfections, we bring this true nature into expression. For an excellent overview go to: https://www.thoughtco.com/the-six-perfections-449611
3. Like String for Beads, is a compilation of my Dharma talks, notes, poems and Facebook comments I have produced over the last five years. Special thanks to Enjitsu-san Chris Charyk for pulling the pieces together in this book! There will be copies available every Tuesday night, or let me know if you want me to mail you a copy. The book is $15 per copy.
4. Visit our new library named for Diane “Yugen” Tucker. The cart was a donation to the Sangha by Kyoshin Elin Kinney as Dana for her Jukai on November 5, 2016…many bows! The books will be added over the next few weeks and Kyoshin-ni has agreed to be our Librarian. A donation of $1 is recommend to check out books and magazines for up to three weeks. It really is a cute cart drop-by and see it soon. Oh, we wheel it out each Tuesdays and for zazenkai and sesshin, or if you would like to see if we have a book you want, get in touch with Elin <elinkinney@gmail.com>.
5. Meditation is also held each TUESDAY at 10:00AM at the Falmouth Senior Center.
6. Last night the Buddhist Book Bunch met and finished discussing Being Upright which we found to be practical and inspirational. Look for a copy in our rolling yellow library. (Thanks Phil!) At the meeting, Sensei announced our summer book. Remember that the Falmouth Soto Zen Buddhist Book Bunch does not hold meetings from June to August and we will resume our monthly meetings in September.
7. Over the summer, we invite you to read, The Fruitful Darkness by Joan Halifax. Grove Press describes the book published originally in 1993 as: Buddhist teacher and anthropologist Joan Halifax Roshi delves into "the fruitful darkness” --the shadow side of being, found in the root truths of Native religions, the fecundity of nature, and the stillness of meditation. In this highly personal and insightful odyssey of the heart and mind, she encounters Tibetan Buddhist meditators, Mexican shamans, and Native American elders, among others. In rapt prose, she recounts her explorations--from Japanese Zen meditation to hallucinogenic plants, from the Dogon people of Mali to the Mayan rain forest, all the while creating "an adventure of the spirit and a feast of wisdom old and new” (Peter Matthiessen). Halifax believes that deep ecology (which attempts to fuse environmental awareness with spiritual values) works in tandem with Buddhism and shamanism to discover "the interconnectedness of all life,” and to regain life’s sacredness.We will discuss The Fruitful Darkness at our meeting on September 24th from 6:30-8:00 at 41 Carol Avenue in East Falmouth.Gassho~Koin-ni (Sue)
8. Our Zendo is open at 6:30PM (good time for newcomers to get aquatinted) at the UUFF, 840 Sandwich Road, for our weekly service which starts at 7:00PM. Also feel free to stay afterwards to chat and or ask questions...