Winter Week 5: Jan 18-24

Join the BoWZ-Westchester Sangha via Zoom on Saturday mornings:
(Times: US Eastern)
9:45-10:00 -- Informal conversation
10:00 -- Opening Dedication, Readings, Zazen, Kinhin, Zazen
11:00 -- Sutra Service
11:15 -- Dharma Talk and Conversation
12:00 -- Closing Readings

https://zoom.us/j/2898507899
Audio Only: telephone 646-876-9923 & Enter Meeting ID: 289 850 7899

Passcode: 468468

Sat Jan 23: Practice to be led by Meredith Garmon

Zoom with Boundless Way Zen Temple in Worcester, MA at any of these times:
Mon-Fri, 7-8am
Tue, Thu, Sun, 7-8pm
Zoom link: CLICK HERE

This video of the Heart Sutra chanted in Sino-Japanese is provided by Sangha member David Bauer:

For Winter Week 5: Jan 18-24

This Week's Reading

For Sat Jan 23:

• Taizan Maezumi, Appreciate Your Life: The Essence of Zen Practice, "On Life and Death," p. 112.
• See Reading Schedule.

This Week's Raven Tale

• "Forgetting"

This Week's Sutras

Dedication

• For odd-numbered days, begins with Gatha of Atonement (AUDIO)
• For even-numbered days, begins with The Three Refuges (AUDIO)

Opening Verse for Mon Dec 28 - Sun Jan 24 (11th Fourweek) (AUDIO)

• The Fruit of the Bodhisattva Way, p. 6

Sutra Service for Week 5 (AUDIO)

• The Compassionate Heart of Wisdome, p. 16
• Harmony of Relative and Absolute, p. 17
• Hakuin's Song of Zazen, p. 17

Closing Verse for Mon Dec 28 - Sun Jan 24 (11th Fourweek) (AUDIO)

• On Zen, p. 41
• The Four Bodhisattva Vows, p. 42

Next Week's Sutras: Winter Week 6: Jan 25-31

Dedication

• For odd-numbered days, begins with Gatha of Atonement (AUDIO)
• For even-numbered days, begins with The Three Refuges (AUDIO)

Opening Verse for Mon Jan 25 - Sun Feb 21 (12th Fourweek) (AUDIO)

• Into the Dark with Empty Hands, p. 6

Sutra Service for Week 6.B. (AUDIO)

• Hakuin's Great Doubt, p. 19
• Guidance in Zazen, p. 20

Closing Verse for Mon Jan 25 - Sun Feb 21 (12th Fourweek) (AUDIO)

• Queen of the Lake of Awareness, p. 41
• Save All the Beings, p. 42

Sutra Book

For printing (double-columned pages):CLICK HERE. (Page references are to this double-column version.)
For reading on your computer screen (single-column pages):CLICK HERE.
Chant Along with these Audio Files: CLICK HERE.

Home Practice

Practicing every day, or nearly every day, is a crucial aspect of the Zen path. Other central aspects include sangha (meeting weekly or so to practice with a group), and sesshin (going on occasional week-end or week-long Zen retreats).

Home practice ideally includes Zazen, study of zen text (or listening to a recording or podcast of a dharma talk), and chanting/reciting some of Zen's central texts.

Recommended:

• Sitting supplies: A zabuton (mat) and either a zafu (round cushion, usually of kapok or buckwheat hulls), or a seiza bench (kneeling bench); or a chair that is your meditation chair
• A dedicated space: A corner of a room that is used only for Zen practice, where your sitting supplies and a small altar reside
• An altar: a small table with a Buddha statue and maybe an incense holder, candle, or sacred items.

There are many ways to structure home practice. Here's one:

• Light a candle, stick of incense, or both, on your altar.
• Standing in front of altar, facing it, make three bows (prostrations or standing bows) to Buddha.
• Recite "Gatha of Atonement" (odd-numbered dates) or "The Three Refuges" (even-numbered dates);
• Recite Dedication and Opening Verse (see Sutra Book)
• Zazen (25 mins)
• Recite the Sutra Service Readings for the week (see Sutra Book)
• Dharma Study time: reading a dharma book or listening to a dharma talk recording (15-30 mins). (Check out "A Quarterly Study Plan" on the Reading/Videos page.)
• Recite Closing Verses (see Sutra Book)

Additional Practice Opportunities

White Plains Zen Center:
Tue evenings: 7:30 PM
https://zoom.us/j/122286388

Hudson River Zen Center:
http://hudsonriverzencenter.org/

Insight Meditation with Nina Nagy
Mon evenings: 6 PM
https://www.awakeabiding.com/