I have just returned from three weeks away from Falmouth. Part of this was at our annual Silent Thunder Conference in Atlanta. Another week with daughter and grandkids and a final week at Cape San Blas on the Florida pan handle. Shin is a Japanese word that can be interpreted as either 'Heart" or "Mind," as well as "Genuine, Core or Faith." These shifting meanings remind me of moving around from place to place. Places maybe different by some measure but place is not home. Home means for us in the U.S. where we belong- a scared appeal.
However, it is the Japanese "Shin as Core" that strikes me. This centrality to the physical body is our physical heart. However again, this heart means essence or love from our awareness and emotional perspectives. "Home-Leavers" were the names used to describe people becoming Buddhists. Ironic in that they left home to find themselves, to forget themselves, in order to find Shin or essence their core.
So as Zen Buddhist we open our heart which I feel makes us aware in a larger sense that heart-felt-ness, Dogen's 'Whole-Heartedness," is neither time or place bound but the boundless heart of THE matter. So leaving one place and finding another we carry this ''hearted-ness" with us. Leaving Falmouth is not possible nor is finding newness the point when we are in the shin/heart of THE matter...
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Boundless Bows to Koin-ni, Jikai-san, Ejitsu-san and Kyoshin-ni for acting as Doan while I was away _/\_
Dharma Talk for Tuesday August 1, 2017 is "Home/Heart" and Dokusan will also be offered...
DATES SENSEI IS AWAY: Sangha Services will be lead by different members who have taken Jukai.
In November I will be away on a 30 day Priest's Ango or teaching sesshin, but will Skype in Dharma Talks...
November 7, 14, 21 and 28
December 5
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. starting at 1PM at 39 Happy Hollow Road. PLEASE EMAIL JACQULINE IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS AND TO LET HER KNOW YOU WILL JOIN US... jacqueline Lee <jackiejane@comcast.net>.
2. During May and June, 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...