Mar 15 - 21

Winter, last week

"Our practice must be careful, meticulous, patient. We have to face everything." --Joko Beck

Saturday Zen. Our next Zen service is Sat Mar 17, 10:00 - 11:45am, room 24
Community UU, 468 Rosedale Ave, White Plains, NY.
Practice to be led by Meredith.

Morning Zen. Mon-Fri, 6:00 - 7:15am. BASEMENT ZENDO (in the Parsonage, 466 Rosedale Ave, the house down the hill from CUUC -- door into Basement Zendo is in back of house). Morning practice is subject to cancellation on short notice. Check our Facebook page HERE for notices of cancellation.

Chants for Thu Mar 15 - Wed Mar 21:

• Hakuin's Song of Zazen, p. 17
• Self and Other the Same, p. 37
• Field of Boundless Emptiness, p. 37
• Yuibutsu Yobutsu 4, p. 48

See Boundless Way Zen Sutra Book, 4th ed. and
BoWZ Westchester Chant Schedule

Reading this week: Charlotte Joko Beck, Nothing Special: Chap. 11, "The Eye of the Hurricane," pp. 67-71.

Question. How do the needs of protection and control manifest for you?

At Boundless Way Temple, 1030 Pleasant St, Worcester, MA:

• Sat Apr 14, and Sat May 12, 9:00-17:00. "Buddhism 101." INFO HERE.

Raven Tale: Raven Roshi

In my dreams of trees
Maples, pines, et al
Deny themselves nothing.
The world imposes limitations,
Constrains indulgence,
So they don't have to --
   in my dreams of trees.

I, however, self-deny:
Cruel desires, like bacon,
Or the merely self-destructive ones, like doughnuts, sometimes.
It falls to me to weigh competing desires,
To determine which conflicting urge prevails.
Thus I am fraught as oaks are not,
   in my dreams of trees.

I forget that sycamore, birch, and all have stratagems.
The pushing root, the turn of leaf,
the velocity of sap,
are imperfect perfect
responses to circumstance --
exactly as my choosings are,
   in my dreams of trees.

Koan Post: Blue Cliff Record #24, Book of Serenity #60: Liu Tiemo, the Old Cow

The sun, low in the western sky, asks, "Have you come?"
I ask back, "Will you go?"
The sun, low in the eastern sky, asks, "Will you go?"
I ask back, "Have you come?"

What strange beauty there is in this:
That the blunt true answer to all four questions,
Is both "Yes, obviously,"
and "Quite impossible."
I dodge so as not to spoil it.

KOAN INDEX