A Question of Membership (C)
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SNOW LION PUBLI C'ltl Olss JANET BUDD 946 NOTTINGHAM DR
M 17 BULK RATE U.S. POSTAGE PAID ITHACA, NY 14851 Permit No. 746 SNOW LION PUBLI C'lTl OLsS JANET BUDD 946 NOTTINGHAM DR REDLANDS CA SNOW LION ORDER FROM OUR NEW TOLL FREE NUMBER NEWSLETTER & CATALOG 1-800-950-0313 SPRING 1992 SNOW LION PUBLICATIONS PO BOX 6483, ITHACA, NY 14851, (607)-273-8506 ISSN 1059-3691 VOLUME 7, NUMBER 2 Nyingma Transmission The Statement of His Holiness How 'The Cyclone' Came to the West the Dalai Lama on the Occasion by Mardie Junkins of the 33rd Anniversary of Once there lived a family in the practice were woven into their he danced on the rocks in an ex- village of Joephu, in the Palrong lives. If one of the children hap- plosion of radiant energy. Not sur- the Tibetan National Uprising valley of the Dhoshul region in pened to wake in the night, the prisingly, Tsa Sum Lingpa is Eastern Tibet. There was a father, father's continuous chanting could especially revered in the Dhoshul mother, two sisters, and two be heard. region of Tibet. As we commemorate today the brothers. Like many Tibetan fam- The valley was a magical place The oldest of the brothers was 33rd anniversary of the March ilies they were very devout. The fa- with a high mountain no one had nicknamed "The Cyclone" for his 10th Uprising in 1959,1 am more ther taught his children and the yet climbed and a high lake with enormous energy. He would run optimistic than ever before about children of the village the Bud- milky white water and yellow crys- up a nearby mountain to explore the future of Tibet. -
Shinge Roshi VISION
FROM: http://www.zenstudies.org/abbot.html 11/20/10 Shinge Roshi: Biography and Vision After receiving a degree in Creative Writing from Vassar College in 1965 and studying painting at the New York Studio School, Roko Sherry Chayat began practice at the Zen Studies Society’s West Side apartment. She spent a year painting in the South of France, returning to find the New York Zendo newly established at 223 East 67th Street. Becoming an integral part of what is often referred to as the Dai Bosatsu Mandala, she was present at New York Zendo Shobo-ji when the decision was made to purchase the property in the Catskills, and served as co-director of the first residential community at Dai Bosatsu Zendo from 1974 to 1976. Moving to Syracuse, she became the spiritual director of the Zen Center of Syracuse Hoen-ji, which had been founded in 1972. In 1991, Shinge Roshi was ordained by Eido Roshi at Dai Bosatsu Zendo. He installed her as abbot of Hoen-ji in 1996, after the zendo moved from her attic to its current home on six acres along Onondaga Creek in Syracuse’s historic Valley district. In 1998, she received inka shomei, Dharma Transmission, from Eido Roshi. In 2008 he performed the shitsugo or “room naming” ceremony at Hoen-ji, recognizing her as a roshi and giving her the name Shinge, meaning “heart-mind flowering.” In addition to her work as a Zen teacher, Shinge Roshi is an award-winning writer. She compiled and edited Eloquent Silence: Nyogen Senzaki’s Gateless Gate and Other Previously Unpublished Teachings and Letters; Endless Vow: The Zen Path of Soen Nakagawa, with Eido Roshi and Kazuaki Tanahashi; and Subtle Sound: The Zen Teachings of Maurine Stuart. -
2019-Winter-ZCS-Medi
Seeking Inner Peace? Meditation Opportunities at Zen Center of Syracuse Deep Presence Class • Five Tuesdays, January 15 to February 19, 2019, 6 to 7:30 p.m. (no class on January 29) How often are we really present for what is happening in any one moment? Distractibility interferes with our ability to listen, to focus, to respond, and to feel fully alive. This course in the cultivation of attention without tension is offered regularly at the Zen Center and is taught by our Abbot, Shinge Roshi, Roko Sherry Chayat. Five evening classes include meditation instruction and practice, group discussion, and light refreshments. Fee: $125, Students: $85. Conscious Stress Reduction Class • Eight Wednesdays, January 23 to March 13, 6 to 8 p.m. Learn to develop resilience in the face of the demands and traumas of everyday life through meditation and mindfulness training, yoga and stretching and body awareness. The training helps with daily stress of many types; from high blood pressure, chronic pain and interpersonal conflict to major life-changing situations. The course is led by Dr. William Cross, a marriage and family therapist. Fee: $200. Please register by contacting the instructor by phone at (315) 474-3762 or email at [email protected]. Introduction to Meditation Mini-Retreat • Sunday afternoon, February 24, 1:30 to 5 p.m. What could be better than an afternoon of nurturing in an oasis of calm? This half-day retreat, led by Zen Center Dharma Teacher Jika Lauren Melnikow, will include meditation instruction, silent sitting and walking meditation, group discussion and refreshments. -
January 5, 2011 Shinge Roko Sherry Chayat Abbot Zen Center Of
DaiAn January 5, 2011 Shinge Roko Sherry Chayat Abbot Zen Center of Syracuse Syracuse, New York Dear Shinge Roshi: I am writing at last in response to an email I received from you a while back asking for the support of the Zen Center of Syracuse sangha as you take on an additional role as Abbot of Dai Bosatsu Zendo. As you can see, it has taken me a long while to gather my thoughts and find words to express them to you. Early last Spring I discovered the details of Eido Shimano’s long history of remorseless anti-social behavior, including the sexual exploitation of his female students over a period of several decades. I also learned that you and many of your colleagues had been aware of his conduct and dangerous propensities for many years. You nevertheless continued as his student and sent your students to study with him at Dai Bosatsu Zendo. Being a survivor myself, this information affected me profoundly. I wish that this information could have been in some way been shared with me when I joined ZCS and became your student, rather than having to be hit with it out of nowhere. My immediate reaction combined all of what one might expect from a survivor: Shock, anger, fear, shame and profound sadness. It made me ill. As an attorney who has spent almost thirty years serving abused and powerless people, my reaction was outrage. I sensed immediately that I could not continue to sit at ZCS. I wrote to you, the Board and some close sangha members with a vague description of what I was experiencing. -
“Zen Has No Morals!” - the Latent Potential for Corruption and Abuse in Zen Buddhism, As Exemplified by Two Recent Cases
“Zen Has No Morals!” - The Latent Potential for Corruption and Abuse in Zen Buddhism, as Exemplified by Two Recent Cases by Christopher Hamacher Paper presented on 7 July 2012 at the International Cultic Studies Association's annual conference in Montreal, Canada. Christopher Hamacher graduated in law from the Université de Montréal in 1994. He has practiced Zen Buddhism in Japan, America and Europe since 1999 and run his own Zen meditation group since 2006. He currently works as a legal translator in Munich, Germany. Christopher would like to thank Stuart Lachs, Kobutsu Malone and Katherine Masis for their help in writing this paper. 1 “Accusations, slander, attributions of guilt, alleged misconduct, even threats and persecution will not disturb [the Zen Master] in his practice. Defending himself would mean participating again in a dualistic game that he has moved beyond.” - Dr. Klaus Zernickow1 “It is unfair to conclude that my silence implies that I must be what the letters say I am. Indeed, in Japan, to protest too much against an accusation is considered a sign of guilt.” - Eido T. Shimano2 1. INTRODUCTION Zen Buddhism was long considered by many practitioners to be immune from the scandals that occasionally affect other religious sects. Zen’s iconoclastic approach, based solely on the individual’s own meditation experience, was seen as a healthy counterpoint to the more theistic and moralistic world-views, whose leading proponents often privately flouted the very moral codes that they preached. The unspoken assumption in Zen has always been that the meditation alone naturally freed the accomplished practitioner from life's moral quandaries, without the need for rigid rules of conduct imposed from above. -
DK Program 9 17 11
THE ZEN CENTER OF SYRACUSE HOEN-JI SHINGE ROSHI, ROKO SHERRY CHAYAT, ABBOT 266 West Seneca Turnpike Syracuse, New York 13207 (315) 492-9773 www.zencenterofsyracuse.org Welcome to the Dharma Kids (DK) program at the Zen Center of Syracuse, Hoen-ji. This program is designed teach children (ages 5 and up) about Buddhist practice and how to live life according to the teachings of the Buddha. What to expect and how to prepare before coming to a DK session: Please enter the main house from the back door entrance. It is easier for us to manage one door than two. All doors need to be locked during our program, and will be locked by 10:10 am each session. You are welcome to arrive early, from 9:50-10am, but if you arrive late we will not be able to let you in. The program begins promptly at 10 am. This is a family style program that allows parents/caregivers to participate or not. If you would like to be in the room with us but not be involved, please sit outside the circle. If you would like to be part of the program, please join us the circle for doing prostrations, meditation and walking meditation (*kinhin) with us. Also, feel free to participate in discussions, share personal stories and answer questions. The children learn from adults and LOVE to hear stories about our lives, mistakes we have made and lessons we have learned. If you have a skill or talent that you would like to share with the group (i.e, music, poetry, art, yoga, ecology, etc.) please let me know and I will incorporate that into a class. -
Here to Learn to Be Bodhisattvas, with No Desire for Other Ranks at All.” (Eloquent Silence, “The Ten Stages of Consciousness,” P
the zen studies society Dear Students of the Way, Several of you have inquired about Jukai, receiving the Buddhist precepts. I am now accepting applications. The deadline is December 31, 2019. Jukai will be held on the last day of Nyogen Senzaki Sesshin at Dai Bosatsu Zendo May 2-7. All Jukai candidates must attend the first group meeting, which will be held at Martin Luther King Jr. Sesshin, New York Zendo Shobo-ji, January 17-19, and at Winter Sesshin, Zen Center of Syracuse Hoen-ji, January 23-26. It is recommended that you also attend HoOn Holy Days Sesshin at Dai Bosatsu Zendo, April 4-11, and/or Spring Sesshin at Zen Center of Syracuse, April 23-26. You are required to attend all of Nyogen Senzaki Sesshin. Participating in Jukai is devoting oneself to the Three Treasures: Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. In every-day life, this means committing to the relationship with one’s Teacher, Temple, and Community. While living by the Precepts begins with Jukai, the real significance is manifesting this relationship throughout the rest of your life. How do you do this? Through consistent Zen practice at home and at NYZ or ZCS, including Sunday mornings; frequent sesshin participation; reading and study of Dharma texts, including memorization of sutras and dharanis chanted in morning service; and volunteer work. If you wish to join this upcoming Jukai group, you may do so by submitting a letter of request c/o Togan, [email protected]. He will follow up with an informational packet, including a list of recommended readings. -
Welcoming the Bitterness
From the Abbot Welcoming the Bitterness In Case 40 of The Iron Flute, a monk goes to see Master Seppo and asks, “When the old creek of Zen dries up and there is not a drop of water left, what can I see there?” Seppo answers, “The water is bottomless, and you cannot see it.” The monk asks, “How can one drink that water?” Seppo replies, “One cannot use one’s mouth to do so.” This monk is imagining what it would be to enter fully into MU-shin, no-mind. Maybe he’s a little afraid of what might happen when there’s no trace of Zen; no trace of self. What happens when distracting notions about practice, about life, disappear? Of course like most of us, he’s using his mind to speculate about no-mind. When zazen is so deep that even zazen is gone, let alone all thoughts, concerns, worries, concepts, inner doubts about one’s ability to practice, when it’s just MU—what then? The monk wants to know how it will be. What will I understand? When everything’s all gone, what will I see? It’s rather funny when it’s put that way! The dried up creek, the withered tree—he knows the metaphors. They don’t sound very appealing, do they! Where’s the life force, the juice, you might ask. There’s a koan about a woman who has supported a monk in a hut for 20 years, bringing him food, taking care of all his simple needs. One day, she decides to check him out, see if his practice has matured. -
Spring Summer 1998 Wind Bell
Publication of San Francisco Zen Center Vol. XXXII No. 1 Spring/Summer 1998 Contents Dharma Talks Our Everyday Life Is Like a Movie BY Shunryu Suzuki, p. 5 What We've Learned BY Norman Fischer, p. 41 Feature Articles The Life, Times and Teaching ofSuzuki Roshi BY Gil Fronsdal, p. 3 The Santa Cruz and Monterey Zen Centers BY Bill Anelli, Santa Cruz and Monterey Zen Students and Katherine Thanas, p. 10 The Zen ofEnding War BY Kaz Tanahashi, p. 26 The Agony ofHat e BY Rachel Carr, p. 30 Books and Translations The Soto Zen Text Project BY Carl Bielefeldt, p. 8 Dogen's "Miracles" TRANSLATED BY Katherine Thanas and Kaz Ta11ahashi, p. 16 Zen Center News Buddhism at Millennium's Edge, p. 36 Marin Charity Gives $100,000 for Green Gulch Housing, p. 39 Tassajara Raffle Raises $25,000, p. 40 2 The Life, Times and Teaching of Suzuki Roshi Conference in Palo Alto May 30- 31, 1998 Gil Fronsdal ~OUGH I NEVER MET SUZUKI ROSH!, I heard many stories about him during my years as a student at Zen Center. Most often, I heard that people felt that he met them with a remarkable degree of accep tance and appreciation. It was as if he saw everyone-as they were- as an equal expression of Buddha nature. Stories about Suzuki Roshi are still being told. Some of these were perhaps more legendary than true to who he was. I frequently heard that Suzuki Roshi sat simply and quietly at Soko-ji, allowing interested Americans to join him for zazen. -
Dharma Connection2012.Pdf
dharma CONNECTION The Zen Center of Syracuse Hoen-ji 2012 Table of Contents Letters .............................................................................................. 4 Daily Schedule FEATURES Sundays, 9 a.m.-noon: chanting service, zazen, teisho or dokusan Mondays, 7-7:45 a.m.: short service, zazen Teisho - Nansen’s “This Flower”....................................................... 5 Tuesdays, 8:30-9:30 a.m.: zazen This Day Is Special ............................................................................ 12 Wednesdays, 6-7:45 a.m.: chanting service, zazen Thursdays, 7-7:45 a.m. and 6-8 p.m.: short service, zazen PRACTICE First Thursday of the month: tea and discussion following zazen Second Sunday of the month: Dharma Study, 7-9 p.m. Sangha’s New Monks and Nun ....................................................... 17 Tibetan practice: Saturdays, 10-11 a.m. Losing Your Mind ............... ................................................................ First Saturday of the month: Tibetan Dharma Study, 11:30 a.m. 19 Where It All Begins ........................................................................... 24 Newcomers welcome; please arrive at least 20 minutes early for instruction in sitting posture and zendo procedures Leaving Home .................................................................................... 24 The Gift of Loving-Kindness ............................................................. 28 Sesshin Schedule 2012-2013 The Missing Link ........................................................................... -
A Buddhist Declaration on Climate Change
The Time to Act is Now A Buddhist Declaration on Climate Change May 14, 2015 Today we live in a time of great crisis, confronted by the gravest challenge that humanity has ever faced: the ecological consequences of our own collective karma. The scientific consensus is overwhelming: human activity is triggering environmental breakdown on a planetary scale. Global warming, in particular, is happening much faster than previously predicted, most obviously at the North Pole. For hundreds of thousands of years, the Arctic Ocean has been covered by an area of sea-ice as large as Australia—but now this is melting rapidly. In 2007 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) forecast that the Arctic might be free of summer sea ice by 2100. It is now apparent that this could occur within a decade or two. Greenland’s vast ice-sheet is also melting more quickly than expected. The rise in sea-level this century will be at least one meter—enough to flood many coastal cities and vital rice- growing areas such as the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. Glaciers all over the world are receding quickly. If current economic policies continue, the glaciers of the Tibetan Plateau, source of the great rivers that provide water for billions of people in Asia, are likely to disappear by mid-century. Severe drought and crop failures are already affecting Australia and Northern China. Major reports—from the IPCC, United Nations, European Union, and International Union for Conservation of Nature—agree that, without a collective change of direction, dwindling supplies of water, food and other resources could create famine conditions, resource battles, and mass migration by mid- century—perhaps by 2030, according to the U.K.’s chief scientific advisor. -
Dear President Trump and Members of Congress, As Religious Leaders from a Variety of Backgrounds, We Are Called by Our Sacred
Dear President Trump and Members of Congress, As religious leaders from a variety of backgrounds, we are called by our sacred texts and faith traditions to love our neighbor, accompany the vulnerable, and welcome the sojourner. War, conflict and persecution have forced people to leave their homes, creating more refugees, asylum seekers and internally displaced people than at any other time in history. More than 65 million people are currently displaced – the largest number in recorded history. This nation has an urgent moral responsibility to receive refugees and asylum seekers who are in dire need of safety. Today, with more than five million Syrian refugees fleeing violence and persecution and hundreds of thousands of civilian casualties, the United States has an ethical obligation as a world leader to reduce this suffering and generously welcome Syrian refugees into our country. We call on the Trump Administration and all members of the U.S. Congress to demonstrate moral leadership and affirm their support for the resettlement of refugees from all over the world to the United States. This nation has a rich history as a leader in refugee resettlement, with significant precedent, including after World War II and after the fall of Saigon, when we resettled hundreds of thousands of refugees. It is important to recognize that the United States has the most rigorous refugee screening process in the world, involving the Department of Defense, Department of State, Department of Homeland Security, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and National Counter Terrorism Center. The process includes biometric checks, medical screenings, forensic testing of documents, DNA testing for family reunification cases, and in-person interviews with highly trained homeland security officials.