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1726 S. Olive St., Bloomington, IN 47401

WHY OUR FORMS ARE SIMPLE

1/22/2020

 
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Our practice includes a relatively small number of the forms and formalities present in other places of Soto Zen practice.  This is not because forms are not important.  We do a few forms and do them simply so that we can understand why we’re doing what we’re doing and keep the connection between forms and the mind of shikantaza. 

Sanshin holds only a few ceremonies:
  • weekday ryaku choka (abbreviated morning service)
  • monthly ryaku fusatsu (renewing our aspiration to follow the precepts)
  • monthly brief chanting service for world peace
  • short chanting services for Nirvana Day, Buddha's Birthday and Buddha's Enlightenment Day
  • annual zaike tokudo (receiving lay precepts)
  • shukke tokudo as needed (ordination as a novice)
  • annual honsoku gyocha and hossenshiki (ceremonies ending the term of the shuso, or head novice)
  • dharma transmission as needed (authorization to function independently as clergy)

Likewise, our manners and customs are uncomplicated but we try to do them thoroughly and without separation into an "I" that's "performing" a "ritual."  Without engaging in extras like using them to build our egos or compare ourselves to others, we just engage in forms and ceremonies and fold ourselves seamlessly into the activity of the community.  They are done wholeheartedly and sincerely as a genuine expression of gratitude and respect, and thus they are alive as the complete functioning of practice-realization.

Our larger Soto Zen tradition includes a number of elaborate and decorative ceremonies and rituals, and in some times and places these are completely appropriate.  Our particular aspiration at Sanshin is to keep the intention, meaning and spirit of our simple forms without letting them become empty gestures, done simply because custom dictates that they be done.

Sanshin inherits this simple style from Antaiji, the temple in which Okumura Roshi practiced with his teacher, Uchiyama Roshi.
  'One of the unique aspects of Antaiji, compared to other Zen temples, was that we conducted almost no ceremonies," Okumura Roshi explained.  Other than in special circumstances for visitors, there were no daily services and no chanting during the formal meals using oryoki.  "We Antaiji monks had a bad reputation when we went to other monasteries for practice because we could not chant even the Heart Sutra without seeing a sutra book."

Because Antaiji was established in 1921 as a place for Komazawa University graduates who wanted to study Dogen's teachings, it didn't have a group of donor families providing financial support and expecting funeral and memorial services for its lay members.  "Uchiyama Roshi decided not to have even daily morning, noon and evening services to make it clear that Antaiji focused on the practice of zazen alone."  [Handbook of Zen, Mindfulness and Behavioral Health, p. 55]


Uchiyama Roshi himself warned that we can get caught up even in the forms related to shikantaza, "When [some] people practice zazen, they consider rituals such as turning clockwise or counter-clockwise essential.  They make zazen a kind of ceremony.  Ceremonies [can be] empty forms that have no real content.  They simply become authority.  Zazen shouldn't be [such] a ceremony, but we should live by zazen." [The Wholehearted Way, p. 148]

ELEMENTS OF STYLE

1/7/2020

 
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For the first two decades of its existence, Sanshin Zen Community has been synonymous with its founder, Shohaku Okumura.  As he moves away from day-to-day leadership of Sanshin and into a Founding Teacher role, the Sanshin Network is stepping forward to carry on the practice tradition he brought to the West. 
The leadership transition is about more than naming a successor to the abbot’s seat.  It’s actually quite a major shift from a focus on the activities of one person to the creation of a network of largely Western dharma leaders in the Sanshin lineage who are prepared to embody and carry the founder’s core practice vision and style while manifesting them in myriad ways that are appropriate to each teacher and sangha.

In other words, as beloved as Okumura Roshi is, the future of Sanshin is the message, not the man.  But, in order to be committed to carrying on the Sanshin style of practice he established, we have to understand what that is.

As a temple recognized by the Soto Zen denomination (Sotoshu) and led by clergy who are also recognized, Sanshin functions within the denomination's teachings.  According to the Sotoshu Constitution, "Abiding by the True Dharma singularly transmitted by the Buddha-ancestors, the Sotoshu doctrine is to realize shikantaza (just sitting) and sokushin zebutsu (the Mind itself is Buddha)."  

The Sanshin style emphasizes particular aspects of this tradition.  It's based on core elements and themes such as:
  • The practice of shikantaza in the style of Uchiyama Roshi
  • The study of the meaning of zazen in the context of Buddha’s teachings, understanding the common thread that runs from the teachings of Shakyamuni through the Mahayana tradition, the teachings of Dogen Zenji, Sawaki and Uchiyama Roshis, down to Okumura Roshi and the practice of shikantaza at Sanshin today.
  • Keeping forms and ceremonies simple in order to understand what we're doing and why, and to maintain their connection with zazen.  Forms should be an expression of our zazen mind, particularly respect and gratitude.
  • Finding the significance of zazen and study in modern daily life so that we can find the middle way between progress and peace of mind..
  • Deep study of Dogen Zenji’s teachings
  • Commitment to beneficial action

All of our practice activities are tied in some way to this practice vision.  Understanding the Sanshin style helps us to stay focused on the things Okumura Roshi put at the center of our practice when he established Sanshin -- the things he learned from his own teacher and is handing on to us to carry forward.

    WHAT IS THE SANSHIN STYLE?

    In this lineage we look to a core group of principles and elements that make up the backbone of our particular style of practice—that in which we ourselves engage and the practice in which we lead others.  These come from the teachings of the Buddha, Dogen Zenji, Uchiyama Roshi and Okumura Roshi.  Learn more here.

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