New Year's Day 2024 - Zazen as usual!

Just a quick note to say that we will be meeting on Monday 1st January 2024 for our usual zen meditation schedule. Let's start the New Year the same way we mean to go on! 

Genku-ji Temple Bell, Higashi-ueno, Tokyo

In the Japanese tradition, New Year is celebrated from 1-3 January and there can be various rites associated with it - a fire ceremony to symbolise the burning away of our old karma, the writing of New Year's resolutions in Japanese calligraphy, putting up new decorations around the entrance to the home, and many others. 

The one that has always struck me (sorry, terrible pun...) is the ringing of the temple bell 108 times to see the New Year in - starting at midnight. The number 108 comes up frequently in Zen and in Buddhism more broadly, and amongst other things is said to be the number of imperfections that we need to rid ourselves of. So, plenty of work to do then!

Clearly, in the New Year, we have a chance to set our intentions for the immediate future, and I encourage you to reflect on how you want to life your life over the coming year. 

Wishing you strong practice, peace and happiness for 2024!

Zazen is...

This is from the wonderful Zen Mind, Beginners' Mind, a collection of talks from Shunryu Suzuki that has absolutely become a modern classic of Zen literature. It's easy to read, but full of profundity, and I recommend it to anyone who's got the slightest interest in Zen. I think for many people this is the first book on Zen they get for themselves or are given, and it's a wonderful way into this oddity we call Zen!

Suzuki writes:

Zazen practice is the direct expression of our true nature. Strictly speaking, for a human being, there is no other practice than this practice; there is no other way of life than this way of life.

What does he mean by this? Is this one of those "my thing is so much better than your thing" things? I don't think so, not for a moment. Our true nature isn't reserved for Zennies or for Buddhists or for people who've left their old faiths behind. It's not for male or female or any other gender or sexual identity. It's not bound by ethnicity or nationality... not even limited to humans. It is expressed in every passing moment of the world and is entirely unavoidable! We might not always recognise it, but we manifest it without the slightest effort.

In zazen, we carry on manifesting it - just perhaps for a moment we stop doing all the other things that we do in our lives and minds!

Research request...

 You may know that in my 'other life' I'm an academic psychologist... so with that hat on...

How do we shape our homes and lives as Zen practitioners? I’m a cultural psychologist and Zen practitioner, and I’m looking for people to share photos with me of your home practice spaces (and any other areas in your home that show a Zennie/Buddhist influence) to help understand how Zen is adapting to UK culture and how we as Brits are adapting to Zen.

To participate, please go to https://form.jotform.com/alasdairgordonfinlayson/10000-things-of-western-zen. To ask any questions, please email me at alasdair.gordon-finlayson@northampton.ac.uk.

Only fair I show you mine if I want you to show me yours!

 

Views of a Zendo

 Nothing world-shattering to post today... just thought I'd share some photos of the zendo on Abington Street. 

We've been here for a couple of months now - there have been some issues with access but hopefully that's now all sorted. The zendo is spacious and we've got access to a separate room for interviews which is a real help. 

Plenty of room - come & join us!

The "direct assault on the Citadel of Truth"

Some people seem driven to Zen practice. For others, like me, it was more like being drawn in*... and this was the quote that first grabbed my attention... 30 years later, I'm not blind to the shortcomings of CH's view of Zen... but these words still bounce around the inside of my head!

In fact, this is only a short part of a longer quote from his 1951 book Buddhism, which goes on:

Zen is the apotheosis of Buddhism. This direct assault upon the Citadel of Truth, without reliance upon concepts (of God or soul or salvation), or the use of Scripture, ritual or vow, is unique...

He also says in that book:

The purpose of Zen is to pass beyond the intellect. All that we know, we know but about. The expert, a wit has said, learns more and more about less and less; Zen wearies of learning about it and about, and strives to KNOW. For this a new faculty is needed, the power of immediate perception, the intuitive awareness which comes when the perceiver and the perceived are merged into one...

What is the goal of Zen? The answer is Satori, the Zen term for Enlightenment. As Satori lies beyond the intellect, which alone can define and describe, one cannot define Enlightenment. It is that condition of consciousness wherein the pendulum of the Opposites has come to rest, where both sides of the coin are equally valued and immediately seen. Silence alone can describe it, the silence of the mystic, of the saint, of the artist in the presence of great beauty; of the lover and the poet when the fetters of time and space have for the moment fallen away.

Christmas Humphreys was a hugely important figure in the development of Buddhism in the UK, but is far less well-known than other figures of the age - e.g. Alan Watts, who Humphreys introduced to the Buddhist Society. His conceptualisation of Buddhism at times is redolent of the trappings of the Theosophists with whom he was also involved. And his writing does seem like a relic from a bygone era - and indeed perhaps it is - but if you come across Buddhism or one of his many other books, don't overlook it or dismiss it as outdated or irrelevant. His words can still inspire, 40 years after his death, and still bring people to the Way.

* This driven/drawn thing was actually one of the topics I wrote about in my PhD thesis on how people in the West get into Buddhism. It's called Becoming Buddhist and for the curious is out there on the internet. You'd have to be pretty damn bored to read the whole thing though! 

Zen quote: Love!

 Wow been a while since I posted! Our practice carries on, we meet each Monday evening in the new place on the high street. Join us! Drop me a line if you're curious. Anyway, here's a quote I was just via a publisher's mailing list, it kind of struck me:

To love, in the context of Buddhism, is above all to be there. But being there is not an easy thing. Some training is necessary, some practice. If you are not there, how can you love? Being there is very much an art, the art of meditation, because meditating is bringing your true presence to the here and now. The question that arises is: Do you have time to love?

(Thich Nhat Hahn, True Love)

 

Beginningless

I talked online on Saturday about the Verse of Atonement, the gatha with which we start the online Saturdays and, of course, we chant first thing every morning on sesshin. 

All evil karma ever committed by me
On account of my beginningless greed, anger and ignorance
Born of my body, mouth and thought
Now I atone for it all. 

I won't say anything here about any of this except to share some exploration of the word 'beginningless'. I have always been struck by the idea that Buddhist cosmology is so utterly different from that of, say, the Abrahamic faiths, in that it does not posit a point at which the world comes into being, there is no creation myth in the canon. This is a topic for another day, perhaps. But for what it's worth, this is what came to me on the topic of 'beginninglessness':

There is something of the eternal about us – don't make too much of this, it is not personal! But under the layers of habit and personality and history, under our joys and sorrows, our guilts and our vindications, under our cherished notions of who we are and our loves and losses... under all that is timeless being. Our original face before our parents were born. Our primal conscious matrix, which is not individual, which is part of the warp and woof of the universe. Our fleeting glimpses of this are like the slightest touches a mayfly leaves, tapping the surface of the pond. And while we return to the light of our conscious lives, the dark depths of that eternal and unchangeable AMness is unmoved and undifferentiated by it. 

(This is what image creation tool ideogram.ai produced
when I gave it just the word 'beginningless' to work with.
Not sure what it was 'thinking', but it's pretty enough!)

New venue (again!) - but not far...

 We're moving - again! This time it's because the zendo space we rent is itself moving... and not far, the distance between the two front doors is probably only about 30m! The new place is right on the pedestrianised high street (Abington St), though it's at the back of the building and seems very quiet.

The new venue is also lighter and with higher ceilings, and the entryway and corridors & stairs as less dark & forbidding! We start sitting in the new place this coming Monday, 4 September 2023. 

I'll add details about how to access the building to the "when & where" section of the website as we learn them ourselves. In the meantime, here's part of a screenshot from Google Maps Streetview to show you how close the new place is to the old... the "Fone Box" is now a "Vape Store", I'll try to take a more up-to-date shot for the website soon.

 Our schedule remains unchanged - still meeting every Monday (including Bank Holidays), arriving 7.15pm for a 7.30om start.

Still here! (I really need to post more regularly...!)

 Just a quick note to keep this blog 'current' - we continue to meet every week, and are growing into the new space comfortably. The most important thing for a Zen group is regularity, and I think we have now sat every week since moving into the new venue (bar one because of illness). Not all of us every week of course, but all of us that can make it! 

One advantage of the new space is the ability to have regular interviews in a private room, and we've taken to scheduling interviews on the first and third weeks of the month, either to support those doing koan practice, or just to have a chance to reflect on your ongoing meditation and your life as a practitioner in general.

In fact, as we've been finding out way in the new venue, we've tried various arrangements. Currently, we're having a 'formal' week on the first and third weeks, with interviews as mentioned but also a chanting service after zazen before we have our usual tea & chat. On other weeks, we're keeping it more plain - the usual two periods of sitting, no service, just tea & talk before heading home. Seems to be working for now, we'll see how it goes.

So, if you're reading this and have thought about joining us to sit, I'd encourage you to give it a try. No time like the present!

May Bank Hols reminder - we sit!

Just a quick note to confirm that we will be sitting on the Monday of the May Bank Holiday. Please do join us, even if it's your first time or you've not sat for a while - arrive at 7.15ish to be seated for a 7.30 start.

Our usual 2 x 30mins zazen will be followed by a chanting service, tea and discussion. 

The rhythm of life...

 

A quote from Tim Burkett's Zen in the Age of Anxiety: 

As we follow the natural rhythm of our breath, we begin to discover in an experiential way that our thoughts, sensations, and emotions come and go as naturally as the breath if we do not cling to them or try to avoid them. Of course emotions are more viscous and slow-moving than breath, but they come and go nevertheless, because this is the natural rhythm of life.

This came from a promotional email, haven't read the book itself so no idea if I can recommend it or not - but I was really struck in just this quote by the image of the way that our emotions cycle up and down over the course of our days and weeks and years... and how this is in one sense no different from the rise and fall of our breathing.

We become so familiar with our breathing on the cushion! And we never question the next breath, or whether it 'ok' or 'acceptable'... and once a breath has been released, we don't spend ages regretting that breath, or trying to recapture it! The breath has passed, and we move to the next one. If only we could do the same for our emotions - just have them manifest in our lives as a natural and appropriate response to the circumstances that life throws at us... and then move on from them.

And of course, our practice does help us do this - even if it's not immediately obvious. But over time, we invest less and less of our identity, effort and thought into hanging onto or judging our passing emotions, and move into a more spacious way of engaging with the world.

Moving in at the Fish Street dojo...

 So this Monday we finally made the move, after a few weeks of 'test sittings. The cupboards are now full of zafus and zabutons, the keys have been handed over into my grubby paws, and the website updated with the new details.

I will not miss having to lug heavy bags and boxes up the stairs each week - let alone between different venues!

There are still a few things to sort out, some bits & bobs to buy to make sure we're properly kitted out (some chairs are a must, but mugs for tea and coffee are the absolute priority, naturally).

But we're in! Really pleased that we've moved, and looking forward to more activity in the group and hopefully meeting more folk keen to 'settle the great matter of life and death'... or at least join us for some zazen.

Last meeting at the Quaker House

This morning I sent an email to the Northampton Quakers to tell them that we'll be moving in April to a new venue, and to send my thanks and the thanks of the group for all they have done to support us and so many other small community groups in Northampton town.

We met for the first time at the Quaker House on Monday 4 July 2011 - the day after the first post on this blog! - almost 11 years and 9 months ago. It seems like a lifetime ago! I remember how nervous I was that first evening that no-one would come, but also determined that even if no-one came I'd continue to sit there and maintain the space all on my own for as long as I could afford it.

It turns out, I needn't have worried! I don't remember exactly, but there were at least three or four other people that evening, and while we've never exactly drawn the crowds, we've maintained a steady group over the whole period. We've practised together nearly every single week ever since that first meeting, with only occasional breaks for retreats, the odd summer or winter break (not often!) and of course the pandemic.

So many people have been through the doors - many finding out straight away that Zen wasn't for them! - and to each and every one of you, no matter how many times you came, I want to pass on my gratitude for the energy, curiosity and friendship that has been put into this enterprise. 

The work of sitting together to express our true natures continues! We are sitting from now on in a different venue, and one that in many ways fits our physical needs better than the Emmeline Davis room at the Quaker House, but our time with the Quakers will always be part of the history of this group and of the wider StoneWater Zen sangha.

We end our time with one final sit and service this Wednesday at the usual time in the usual place, and you're all invited to join us. We'll express our gratitude to those who have made this possible, the Quakers and their community, by "dedicating the merits" of this service to them.

From April, we meet on Mondays at 7.30 at the Warrior Quest Dojo at 6 Fish Street, and a new chapter begins.

With a deep bow!

Alasdair

The Emmeline Davis room set 
up for Zazen in January 2012

Not many Zen neighbours...!

http://bit.ly/ZenMapUK

I posted something to a Zen group on Facebook the other day using this image of a Google map of UK & Irish Zen groups that I helped develop a while ago.

I took a closer look at the map today, and realised that SWZ Northampton isn't really at the centre of a hotbed of Zen activity in the UK!

As far as I can tell, the closest Zen group to us is in Oxford, 35 miles (57km) away as the crow flies. It's a shame, would be nice to have some Zenny neighbours!

For now, though, we're it as far as I can tell - so join us to learn about and practice Zen meditation in an authentic lineage right here in good ole Shoetown.

New Venue - our trial at Warrior Quest dojo

Starting this week, and for the next three weeks (i.e. 14, 21 & 28 March), we are sitting on Monday evenings on an experimental basis at Warrior Quest dojo on Fish Street in the town centre. Very happy for anyone to come and join us whether you've sat with us before, or are completely new to Zen.

We meet at 7.15 outside the dojo (see photo below for exact location), and the sessions run from 7.30 to 9.30 including tea and a chat/reading on a Zen topic.

Note that our usual Wednesdays continue as usual.

This week, Valentina shared some images and even one short video to give you a flavour of the place... scroll on...

Zen and Relationships - According to our new overlords!

 Out of curiosity this evening, I asked the occasionally scary and occasionally uncanny ChatGPT AI bot to write a blog post about Zen Buddhism and relationships. Here's what it came up with...

Zen Buddhism is a spiritual practice that originated in China and spread throughout East Asia, including Japan, where it has had a significant impact on culture, including the way people approach relationships.

At its core, Zen Buddhism emphasizes the interconnectedness of all things and encourages individuals to develop a deep sense of compassion and understanding for others. These teachings can be applied to relationships in several ways, including how to approach conflict, how to communicate, and how to cultivate a sense of intimacy with others.

One of the fundamental teachings of Zen Buddhism is the concept of non-attachment. This principle encourages individuals to let go of their attachments to material possessions and desires, and to live in the present moment. This can be applied to relationships by encouraging individuals to focus on the present moment with their partner, rather than being preoccupied with the past or the future.

In addition, Zen Buddhism emphasizes the practice of mindfulness, which involves paying attention to one's thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations in the present moment. This practice can help individuals to be more aware of their emotions and how they are affecting their relationships. For example, if someone is feeling angry or frustrated with their partner, they may be more likely to act out of these emotions if they are not aware of them. By practicing mindfulness, individuals can become more aware of their emotions and choose how to respond in a more constructive way.

Another key principle of Zen Buddhism is the concept of "mu-shin," which translates to "no mind" or "empty mind." This principle encourages individuals to let go of their preconceptions and judgments and to approach situations with an open mind. This can be applied to relationships by encouraging individuals to approach their partner without judgment and to be open to their thoughts and feelings.

Overall, the teachings of Zen Buddhism can be a valuable resource for individuals looking to cultivate healthy relationships. By emphasizing the importance of non-attachment, mindfulness, and an open mind, Zen Buddhism can help individuals to develop a deeper sense of compassion and understanding for others, which can lead to more fulfilling relationships.

I'm not going to respond about this yet - going to let it sink in a bit and figure out how I feel about it. Might come back in a few days with some follow-up thoughts to this lesson from ChatGPT Roshi!