Online Sangha, Netcast Zazen Sittings (Vow to Meditate Online Every Day for Next 9 Years)
ju...@treeleaf.org
I hope it is okay if I pass this on.
Gassho, Jundo Cohen
______________________________________________________
ANNOUNCEMENT
We would like announce that the doors are 'officially' open on our
ONLINE ZENDO & SANGHA, featuring DAILY NETCAST ZAZEN SITTINGS.
The website, blog and netcast sittings are meant for people who cannot
travel or easily commute to a Zen Center. Some have serious health
concerns, some are elderly and do not drive, some live in remote
areas, or need to stay home to take care of their kids or other family
members. Each has been cut off from participation in a Sangha on a
regular basis. Now, by 'tuning in' to our 'Daily Zazen' broadcast, all
can join in a Soto Zen sitting and Sangha. Our Zazen sittings and
Sangha will always be close by.
As part of this effort, I (Jundo Cohen) have made a personal vow to
sit Zazen online, every day (rain of shine) for the next 9 years. It
is and will be netcast from wherever life takes me, on happy days and
sad, no difference.
The broadcast is very simple: We chat online for the first 5 minutes
about Zen practice and life in general, laugh and cry together. People
send in emails, and I respond to them as best I can. After those first
few minutes, we sit Zazen. A bell rings, there is 20 or so minutes of
silence, then the bell rings again. At that point, the sitting is over
until we sit again the next day. The program is meant to be
participatory: After the 5 minute chat, the viewers and I are meant to
actually sit together ... all without thought of 'near' or 'far'. I
will do it no matter what life brings that day.
(I mention the following, if it is important to some people): I am a
Soto priest in the line of Gudo Wafu Nishijima, and I live and teach
in Ibaraki, Japan. (I am a member of both the American Zen Teachers
Association: http://americanzenteachers.org and the Soto Zen Buddhist
Association: http://www.szba.org/ The only reason I mention that is
because those organizations are attempting to uphold basic standards
for Zen practice and teaching in the West). We also will soon start
live broadcasts of Sesshin and the like, that people can join in from
home.
We also have online and Ipod-ready Zazen timers, free to download.
Although our online Sangha is meant mainly for people who cannot
travel far from home, we hope anyone and everyone will feel free to
use and download our timers and join in broadcast sittings sometimes
if they find them encouraging to practice. They are our gift to
everyone who finds them helpful (for example, who might wish to use
the Ipod/Mp3 version for some Zazen during breaks at work).
www.treeleaf.org/meditation.html
Please have a look at our daily broadcast, and sit-a-long with us.
I thank you for letting me post this here, as we have no other way of
letting know the people we are trying to reach: those shut in or
otherwise cut off from people able to sit with others. We hope to
establish a true community. If you know anyone who, due to health
concerns or the like, cannot commute to sit with others, please
introduce them to our site.
Gassho, Jundo Cohen,
Treeleaf Zendo