Temple News
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Temple News - Apr. 2010
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Temple News - August 2009
Temple News - July 2009
Temple News - June 2009
Temple News - May 2009
Busshin - April 2009
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Busshin - February 2009
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MAY & JUNE 2010 EVENTS
A DAY OF ZAZEN: One Day of Sitting Meditation
The Zazenkai is delighted to announce that our second one-day
sitting, “A Day of Zazen”, will be held on Sunday, June 6th, from
7:10am to 5:00 pm. It will include 8 periods of zazen, a Dharma talk
by Daigaku Sokan, breakfast, lunch, and so on. Please see the flyer
for a more detailed schedule. From now on, we are planning to have
“A Day of Zazen” every month. We look forward to seeing you all there.
ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP DRIVE
The 'MEMBERSHIP DUE' letters have been mailed and we are asking you to return it as soon as possible. Your dues are important for the operation of the temple. Just like your income is important for the function of your household, your membership is important to help provide supplies for the various services, postage for mailings, repairs as needed, ministers’ wages, office and kitchen supplies as needed, and many other expenses. If you don’t have the form, please download it here.
As a member, you are first to access all the information of events and activities happening at the temple. If you are planning an activity for yourself or family, you may rent one of our rooms or social hall. You are eligible to be nominated or self nominate to run for the Board of Directors, be chairman of a committee, or initiate a fund raiser or activity for the temple.
I would encourage all of you to really help by becoming a member of the temple. You can pay in one installment ($200.00) or 2 installments ($100.00 X 2 times). For those of you who are students, we do have the $100.00 Friends of Zenshuji Fund. Please participate in this membership drive and let's see if we can top last year's membership count.
Carolyn Abe Hashiba, President
SPECIAL FUNDS AND ACTIVITY FUNDS
Reminder: There are several funds that depend on your generous donation to continue their purpose in the temple organization. Here is the list:
Special Fund:
1. TOKUSHI: Special Donation other then the items listed
2. KIHONKIN: For repairs, replacement and renovation of the buildings and facilities.
3. BUSSHIN: For publication of Busshin News Letter.
4. CAR FUND: For maintenance and purchase of vehicles.
5. PARKING STRUCTURE FUND: For parking structure project.
6. GARDEN FUND: For maintenance of temple garden.
Activity Fund:
1. SBA FUND: To support the Senior Buddhist Association Organization. They purchase the monthly birthday cake for the monthly/memorial luncheon.
2. TERAKOYA: To support the young children (infant to 3 (Tues) and 3 to 5 years old (Sat.)) and adult support activity.
3. YBA/JR. YBA: To support the Young Buddhist Association; Youth activities.
4. ZENDEKO: To support the Taiko Group activities.
5. BUDDHIST LECTURE: To support the continuing of Buddhist Lecture Classes.
6. ZAZEN: To support Zazen and Zen Practice.
Every little bit helps. Your kind donation throughout the year is important to the various funds/organizations! Please use the same donation form as the membership due; download the form here.
A GREETING FROM NEW BISHOP, DAIGAKU RUMMÉ
“Those who think that mundane affairs hinder the practice of the Buddhadharma know only that there is no Buddhadharma in their daily life; they do not yet know that there is nothing ‘mundane’ in the Buddhadharma.” Dogen Zenji
One of my responsibilities as the new Sokan is to write articles for Busshin. Now and then, I have translated articles that Akiba Roshi wrote for Busshin, so I know how much time and effort he put into writing them, often staying up late at night the day before the deadline. To tell the truth, it seems like a formidable task for me to write an article once a month. Nevertheless, I also see this as an excellent opportunity for me to communicate with you. I look forward to your questions and comments. I hope you don’t mind that I will be writing in English.
The topic for this article arose from a question that I was asked after the last Zenshuji board meeting. The question was: what is it from your long monastic experience in Japan that you hope to use in your new role at Zenshuji? This is a question that could be answered in different ways, but the person asking the question spoke of her memories of visiting the monastery where I lived when she was young. She was deeply impressed by the size of the temple, the grandeur and strangeness of it, as well as meeting the abbot.
This immediately reminded me of my time at the monastery, particularly the experience I often had of serving guests such as she and her family members when they visited the temple at New Year’s, Obon, O-higan, and for their memorial services and so on. I thought of my master who was responsible for meeting with guests as they drank tea and the way in which he was able to respond to all of them in a kind and affable manner. At the same time, he was abbot of the monastery and responsible for guiding the monks who were training there. These were two different roles, but I think he demonstrated to me a way to handle the job I have accepted at Zenshuji, a job which certainly has more than one aspect to it. I would also like to say, however, that it is definitely not an easy thing to balance these two roles, much less to do even one of them well.
My first interest in going to live in a Japanese Zen monastery was in Zen practice and enlightenment, but during the time I was there, I came to realize the significance of the lay people and the importance they held for the temple. In the quotation from Dogen Zenji at the beginning of this article, I think we can see a way to discover the truth of the Buddha’s teaching in lay life. For many people, however, this is not apparent. For me as well, it was difficult for many years to understand that the Buddhadharma is fully present in lay life. Now I know that they are the same – it is simply a difference of emphasis and function.
It is my conviction that the role of monks (or priests, if you wish) is to practice and verify the Zen teaching and then be able to function as teachers and guides for lay people. The lay people, on the other hand, have traditionally supported the temples and priests through the financial contributions made possible through their work and endeavor. In a perfect world, these two groups mutually support and encourage each other. This is not necessarily an obvious thing, however, and requires that the temple priests fulfill their role.
Here at Zenshuji, it is my hope that we can provide a place of refuge for many different people. We live in chaotic, uncertain times. It is precisely in such times that the temple serves as a beacon, showing people that there is an island of peace within the difficulties of everyday life. Let’s work together to put the Buddhist teaching into practice, verifying for ourselves that “all sentient beings are buddhas” and “that this very place is the land of lotuses”, creating a harmonious environment where all people feel welcome.
Daigaku