A Dispatch from Japan
⚡️ ACZC Happenings, 6/8 - 6/14 ⚡️
Hello Sangha!
This was a special week for ACZC HQ as a few of us were able to pop over to Japan to visit Dave (aka Daibu) at Toshoji monastery, where he’s been doing an ango since April.
We visitors arrived on day four of sesshin, which is akin to what we would call retreat, with lots more zazen than usual, but on the other days we also got to experience an average day in the life of the monastery and all the attendant rituals, practices, and chores.
There’s so much more to say than anything I can crack out right now on hotel wifi, but here are the highlights: Dave is hanging in there, spending time at Toshoji really is like being in medieval Japan in both good ways and bad, the chorus of bells, drums, and clackers is one of the best ambient soundtracks this writer has ever experienced, and our friends in the dharma are absolutely incredible people from all over the world.
Case in point! Here’s a note one of the monks gave us when we left. (He’s from Great Tree Zen in North Carolina, go visit them if you’re nearby!)
It’s been an incredible experience and you can expect to hear lots more about it in upcoming talks. So stay tuned!
No podcast this week, but speaking of friends from Japan, be sure to save the date for a sit & talk with Shinryu Okuma, who will be visting from Hokkaido and sharing a different type of practice called Baikaryu or Goeika. He’ll be at ACZC on Monday, 6/17. Don’t miss it!
Your koan for the week, courtesy of Kodo Sawaki:
Kids always want to do what other kids do. When their friends eat a sweet potato, they want to eat a sweet potato. When others eat a certain kind of candy, they want it. When many kids have a bamboo whistle, they ask their parents, “Please buy me a whistle.” And not only kids do this.
This Week in Zen! All times posted in Pacific time zone, all sessions hosted in person and on Zoom unless otherwise marked (email us for quick and easy Zoom access info):
Saturday - 6/8, 10am - 12:30pm
Sit & Discussion w/Chris Arnett - Our biggest day of the week! Two half hour rounds of zazen, one walking meditation in the middle, and then our friend from the great nation of Canada Chris Arnett takes the hotseat to lead us through a discussion of some wondrous dharma wisdom. Join us!
Monday - 6/10, 7:30pm - 9pm
Sit & Discussion w/ Jordan Mylet - We’ll sit zazen for 30 minutes and then Jordan takes the hotseat. In her words: “I’m gonna do a some kind of history of Zen circa the 1940s and 1950s, and how Beat writers made some early stabs at Americanizing Zen by bringing it out of the lecture halls and scholarly texts and into popular culture - and then the various dramas (like when Watts wrote against the Beats in “Beat Zen, Square Zen, and Zen” in 1958), debates, and potential lessons/points of interest for us today.” Sign us up! We’ll see you there.
Wednesday - 6/12, 7:30pm - 9pm (Zoom Only)
Sit & Koan Discussion w/ Emily Eslami - Emily is back to lead us in a discussion of Chapter 13 of The Zen Teaching of Homeless Kodo, including the shade-filled bit above. Join us!
Friday - 6/14, 8am
Morning Chanting Service - This week we’re chanting Zazenshin and paying tribute to the female ancestors in our lineage. Poetry for the ages! Come on out and lend us your voice.
Tuesday - Friday, 7am - 8am
Morning Sit - One simple hour of what we do best - just sitting. Optional five minute stretch break offered in the middle.
See y’all soon!
Love,
ACZC
p.s. Here are a few more shots of Toshoji for the road.
