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dharma CONNECTION The Zen Center of Syracuse Hoen-ji 2013 Table of Contents Letters ................................................................................................. 4 Daily Schedule Sundays, 9 a.m.-noon: chanting service, zazen, teisho or dokusan FEATURES Mondays, 7-7:45 a.m.: short chanting service, zazen Every Day Is a Good Day ..................................................................... Tuesdays, 8:30-9:30 a.m.: zazen 5 Wednesdays, 6-7:45 a.m.: chanting service, zazen On Red Pine and the Heart Sutra ....................................................... 10 Thursdays, 7-7:45 a.m. and 6-8 p.m.: short chanting service, zazen Indra’s Net for the 21st Century ......................................................... 13 First Thursday of the month: tea and discussion after zazen Battling World Hunger ......................................................................... One Sunday every month: Dharma Study, 7-9 p.m. 15 Celebrating 70 Years ........................................................................... Tibetan practice: Saturdays, 10-11 a.m., newcomers arrive by 9:45 18 First Saturday of the month: Tibetan Dharma Study, 11 a.m. In the Moment: A Zen Portrait ............................................................ 21 Newcomers welcome; please arrive at least 20 minutes early PRACTICE for instruction in sitting posture and zendo procedures Gratitude ............................................................................................. 23 Sesshin Schedule 2013-2014 “The Pause” at DBZ ............................................................................. 28 Shinge Roko Sherry Chayat Roshi – abbot of the Zen Center of Syracuse Hoen-ji in Syracuse, NY, Mortgage Liberation at Last ............................................................... 31 and Dai Bosatsu Zendo Kongo-ji in the Catskill Mountains – leads sesshins at both settings. On the Occasion of the ZCS Mortgage Burning Ceremony .............. 34 ZCS retreats begin at 7 p.m. Thursdays and end at 5 p.m. Sundays. The Bodhisattva Tumbler .................................................................... Dates and times vary for DBZ retreats. 38 For details, fees or to purchase jihatsu (meal bowl sets), e-mail [email protected]. I Quit ...................................................................................................... 40 More information also is available on the websites, A Prison Journey ................................................................................... 42 www.zencenterofsyracuse.org or www.zenstudies.org. Amazing of Buddha Happen to Me .................................................... 45 Rohatsu 2013 W-A-T-E-R ............................................................................................. 46 Sesshin Nov. 30-Dec. 8, 2012 at DBZ; daily morning and evening sittings at ZCS Crimson Memorial .............................................................................. 49 Dharma Teacher Authorization for Jikyo Tairo .................................. 51 Zen Center of Syracuse 2014 sesshins Winter Sesshin: Jan. 9-12 The Saturday Sitting Group ................................................................. 52 Spring Sesshin: April 24-27 Community Meditation Programs ...................................................... 53 Summer Sesshin: July 24-27 Fall Sesshin: Oct. 16-19 Residential Training at Hoen-ji ............................................................ 55 Dai Bosatsu Zendo 2014 sesshins SANGHA ACTIVITIES Holy Days Sesshin: April 5-12 Nyogen Senzaki Sesshin: May 3-7 Board of Trustees Report .................................................................... Anniversary Sesshin: June 28-July 5 56 Golden Wind Sesshin: September 20-27 Treasurer’s Report ............................................................................... 59 Harvest Sesshin: November 1-6 Sangha Passages ................................................................................ Rohatsu Sesshin: November 30-December 8 59 Donors ................................................................................................... 62 POETRY Dharma Connection is published annually by DBZ Anniversary Sesshin 2013 ......................................................... 15 The Zen Center of Syracuse Hoen-ji 266 West Seneca Turnpike, Syracuse, New York 13207 The Gardener ..................................................................................... 22 Telephone and Fax: 315.492.9773. Residence: 315.469.6029 Winter and Summer ........................................................................... 31 Website: www.zencenterofsyracuse.org Untitled ................................................................................................ 37 Shinge Roko Sherry Chayat Roshi, abbot The Weather Is Always Changing ....................................................... 46 Editor: Meigetsu Rebecca Beers Copy editor: George Bain Untitled ................................................................................................ 57 Designer: ShiOn Pat Yingst Haiku ................................................................................................... throughout Cover: Togan Tim Kohlbrenner’s photo of Shinge Roshi and the Sangha after Fall Sesshin Ho En calligraphy: Eido Tai Shimano Roshi __________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ 2 DHARMA CONNECTION 2013 3 Letters irst, I’d like to refl ect on what a remarkable year this Every Day has been for visiting teachers at Hoen-ji. In February, Dear Sangha, FHiruta Sensei visited from Japan and spoke on the Is a Good interrelationship between Zen and the Shinto breath I would like to thank you for your wonderful response in support of Shinge Day practice of Misogi, as well as the intersection of science Roshi’s birthday energy portrait event, with Alok Hsu Kwang-Han. Whether you and Buddhist consciousness from his perspective as a supported with your presence, from a distance or through contributions toward professional physicist. His senior Aikido disciples from By Shinge Roshi the gift, your loving spirit was felt. Ann Arbor, Long Island and Brooklyn Aikikai, as well I also would like to thank Jisho Enro for introducing me to the Mary Oliver as residents from Dai Bosatsu and New York Zendo, volume of poems A Thousand Mornings. Jisho’s readings, deeply resonating accompanied him. with her spirit, are a gift I continue to treasure. Shortly after that, we had a I offer one poem, in particular, that so beautifully speaks to the meaning of weekend with Glenn Mullin, a Ca- the student-teacher relationship expressed in the calligraphic portrait that was nadian-Irish Tibetan lama who is a born of that evening. It is on page 22 of this journal. renowned translator of Tibetan Bud- Gassho, dhist teachings. He also has studied Jika Lauren Melnikow with a Korean Zen master, and he told us about a calligraphy given to The following letters were written by third- him by the late Keido Fukushima grade pupils at Ed Smith School, where Roshi, abbot of Tofuku-ji, whom I Jika Lauren Melnikow taught meditation in met several times. The calligraphy early 2013. was of Ummon Zenji’s well-known koan, “Every day is a good day.” Hi Mrs. Lauren, Amit Goswami, a scientist who has plumbed the depths of con- Shinge Roshi. I am Luis Menendez. I want to thank Photo by Togan Tim Jika Lauren Melnikow with third-graders sciousness from a Buddhist perspective, addressed us in you for teaching me how to breath right. I at Ed Smith School. March at Syracuse University and joined us for Tuesday Kohlbrenner did it last night in the middle of my home morning zazen and an informal gathering. work! In April we spent several wonderful days with Red Pine (Bill Porter), a Zen practitioner who has taken many Dear Lauren, pilgrimages to ancient Buddhist sites in China and has translated some of the most important Mahayana texts. I am a third grader in Mrs. Fiacchi's classroom. Thank you for coming and In June, the Chinese artist Alok Hsu Kwang-Han painted teaching me how to deep breathe. a special Zen calligraphic energy portrait of me based on You gave me some good information. I learned how to stay calm when I am reflections by assembled Sangha members, to be mount- really angry at someone. ed and presented at my seventieth birthday gathering on Meme Scott Bodhidharma Day, Oct. 5. Alok and his partner, Raylene DBZ Abbott, spoke about and exhibited their work on the third Late autumn windstorm floor of Forman House. A short film of the evening was Everything has blown away made by their friends and fellow Sedona, Ariz., artists Jerry Dawn comes undeterred Hartleben and Shaeri Richards, which may be seen on our -- Shinge Roshi website. And in September, an unforgettable presentation, “Engaged Buddhism: Listening and Responding to World __________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ 4 DHARMA CONNECTION 2013 5 Hunger,” was given by the Venerable Bhikkhu Bodhi, leading off Syracuse Uni- can somehow just get the right techniques. versity’s Symposium series. The founder and chairman of Buddhist Global Re- “Every day is a good day” is a perfect expression of inner equanimity. It lief, he called for “conscientious compassion inspired not merely by a feeling comes about through the realization of no separation. Suppose there’s some of empathy with those who suffer but by the insight that much of this suffering