One of the SFZC members that lives on the east coast asked why he didn't see any of my photos among these pages and i found i didn't really have an answer other then i've just not done it. So ... in response to Peretz's question i am going to begin posting photos i've been taking over the years at GGF which i shall call "Meandering around GGF." The first is a California quail who was driving me a bit crazy as it had been sitting/walking along the wall for hours, giving its lookout call every 20-30 secs while i was working in the teahouse. I wanted to chase it away, instead i took its picture.
Mission
accomplished! There they are, from left to right: The Reverends Trevor
Maloney, Steven Davidowitz and Shundo David Haye. This lovely
photograph was taken by our official photographer for the event,
Catherine McPhee. Thanks Catherine! Thanks everybody who helped with
the ceremony and reception! Thank you ordaining teachers! Thank you
sewing teachers! Thank you lineage of Buddhas and Ancestors! What a
lovely day it was last Saturday. What a lovely ceremony.
I am keeping crazy busy gearing up for a Shukke Tokudo ceremony this
coming Saturday at 3:00 p.m. here at City Center. Shukke Tokudo means,
well, I'm not sure I know what it means now...What
Myo said, eh? Anyway it is a priest ordination ceremony; Shundo David
Haye, Steven Davidowitz and Trevor Maloney will be ordained as priests
in our order by our Abbot Paul Haller, Dairyu Michael Wenger and Kosho
McCall, respectively. A very XY affair! I don't have time to spend
writing about it much. But the joke is that in several meetings such as
senior staff and practice committee, I have checked in about how
excited I am to be involved in this ceremony as Ino, and then said
"It's my favorite ceremony! No, wait it's my second favorite ceremony.
My favorite ceremony is a wedding where I'm the officiant!" I'm quite surprised at myself
for having this public forum (not that I'm kidding myself that very
many people are reading it!) and not having yet mentioned how much I
love to do weddings! So if you're planning on getting hitched, and you
think you may want a Buddhist service, think of me! The jolly Zen
wedding officiant! I can provide references.
Well what's the use of having a blog if I never post to it?! I have
been one very busy Ino to be sure. Last week was the 7-day sesshin that
ended our Spring Practice Period. Sesshin means (roughly) gathering the
heart/mind. It is a traditional time for more concentrated and intense
practice, a time to get very settled and very quiet. This was my first
sesshin as Ino, and although I can certainly say it was intense, on the
other hand for this monk it did not feel especially settled! There were
so many details to be concerned with! But that after all is the
practice of the Ino. The Ino works real hard so that others can have a
settled experience. No problem!
The theme of this Practice Period was Vow, and every noon service we
chanted the Eihei Koso Hotsuganmon, the beautiful vows of our Founder
in Japan, Eihei Dogen Daiosho. Sometimes when I chant this I get so happy! so allow me to share that happiness with you here...
In my last post on this blog (my first post on this blog!) I included a link to Ango,
a Japanese word meaning "Peaceful Abiding" which is a Zen monastic
training period, usually known around these parts as a Practice Period,
typically lasting 90 days as it says in the Wiki entry. However, not
every practice period in Zen Center lasts 90 days. In Tassajara
they do, or at least they try to. The Practice Period currently in
progress at Tassajara will be 88 days. The Practice Period currently in
progress here at City Center will be 62 days long. Practice Period is a
time in which Zen students practice intensively together. The
historical origins of Practice Period are in the “rains retreats” of
the early Buddhist monks and nuns when they could not travel due to
heavy rains. During that time they settled down for more intensive
practice. The Sangha making a mutual commitment to intensified practice
and study is the main mark of a Practice Period. Another such mark is
the leadership of a Shuso, or Head Student/Head Monk. While not every
Practice Period at City Center has a Shuso, we are blessed in this
current one to be enjoying the kind leadership of Shuso Bernd Bender,
whose Dharma name is Kichu Chika, meaning Joyful Devotion, Wisdom Song.