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Unshin Sangaku

Purity is Neither Is Nor Not


In the Platform Sutra, Huineng says essence or purity is without mark. This means it is without form or substance. Rather it is the experience of "thoughtlessness." So what is thoughtlessness? Dogen Zenji says, to experience IT think non-thinking. This has been difficult for me to allow to unfold. Taiun-roshi quotes Matsuoka-roshi's "... IT is round and rolling, slippery and slick." I have come to sense IT as potential, not think of IT but intuit non-experience-non-thinking. Being without substance is tricky when we are addicted to form. Such an example is in front of you. Do you see the line of words? Do you see the non-line of space between them? When lines are not lines and space not space then they can be lines and space. And to again mix my Ancestors, Dogen would say fish-water, bird-sky no difference.

So zazen is enlightenment when it is neither Zazen nor Enlightenment. Life is a moment wherein everything is just such or thus...as is, period. Overarching Zen is dropping away of constructs and as Sensei says, that makes us in the subtraction not the addition business...

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Please note that we have now have a way for supporters to make contributions on our FSZS website: www.falmouthsotozenangha.net. Many readers receive weekly Dharma notes and you may wish to help us continue our work as we near our seventh year celebration. Remember we are a 501c3 through the STO and contributions go tour rent at UUFF and to support the Silent Thunder Order as well as our basic materials and supplies. Any amount is appreciated...

Dharma Talk for Tuesday September 19, 2017 is "Purity is Neither Is Nor Not "

As continued outreach in the Falmouth community, I will be working on a "Connectivity and Relationships" as a central feature of a group discussion fellowship on remaining sober and not using, as a path to address alcohol and drug abuse. More about this as it unfolds...

Please Add to your Calendar:

On Saturday November 4, 2017 will:

  • Have a Zazenkai from 6:30 AM until 11:00PM

  • 11:00-11:45 we will prepare for three FSZS members to take Jukai or Precepts

  • 12:00 Jukai conducted by Taiun-Roshi, via Skype from Atlanta

  • 12:45 Lunch and Celebration of the 7th anniversary of the founding of FSZS

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. 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.

2. 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>.

3. Meditation is also held each TUESDAY at 10:00AM at the Falmouth Senior Center.

4. We are now using two months to read more deeply our BBB selections please keep this in mind: Our next Book is Sit-down and Shut-up, by Brad Warner: The book received mixed reviews. MetroActive stated "At times Warner comes off as pandering, with his cutesy pop-culture tangents and I-know-what-you're-thinking-right-now comments" while Buddhadharma ultimately summed the book up with "Too much of an adolescent rant for most Zen readers and too much of a middle-aged strut down memory lane for most punk readers, Sit Down and Shut Up will likely get an enthusiastic reception only from the small group of readers who already identify as Zen punks." Razorcake, however, stated "Irreverent, cocksure, glib, and wise, this is one damn good book."

5. 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...


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