Blog Archives

Sangha News for March 2025

3/15/2025

Commentaries

Dōgen’s Chinese Poems (86)
The Brush Mightier Than Rocks
Commentary by Shohaku Okumura

Dōgen’s Chinese Poems (86)
The Brush Mightier than Rocks
460. Dharma Hall Discourse for Appointing the [New] Scribe

Great Penetrating [Surpassing Knowledge Buddha] counts the numerous ink drops ground from three thousand worlds.
Although these are imagined as three thousand, they are [unreal] as a lotus in the twelfth month.
Elevate the three-foot brush made of tortoise hair
to inscribe the destruction of the tough rock body of the outsider.

In China, at large prestigious monasteries, which had several hundred monks and which were supported by the emperor’s government, the scribe’s responsibility must have been huge. He must write many official letters to the government, letters on behalf of the abbot to the supporters, fundraising appeals, etc. He must create calligraphy for the dedication prayers for all the ceremonies, public announcements to the community members, etc. He must possess a lot of knowledge about prose and poetry and the skill to make calligraphy.

In today’s Sōtō Zen monasteries, the position of scribe is almost like the assistant of the head monk (shuso), and the post is held only during a 90-day practice period. It is not specifically a large job for the whole monastic system. It is not clear how the scribe’s job was during Dōgen Zenji’s time. Dōgen does not write much about the scribe’s work and practice. There is no explanation in Eihei Shingi or Shōbōgenzō. We find only one more Dharma hall discourse in Eiheikōroku, on the occasion of appointing the scribe—Dharma hall discourse 336, given in 1249. READ MORE

I Vow With All Beings:
Crowds
Commentary by Hoko Karnegis

WHEN IN GATHERINGS OR CROWDS,
I VOW WITH ALL BEINGS
TO LET GO OF COMPOUNDED THINGS
AND ATTAIN TO TOTAL KNOWLEDGE.[1]

I love collections. There’s something really interesting about seeing variations on a theme. How many ways can we make the same object with different characteristics: color, size, shape, theme, materials? Or, how many ways can we use the same material to make different things? How many things can we make in the same color? The harmony of difference and sameness is right there in front of us.

We can think of the groups to which people belong in the same way. We’re constantly forming and dissolving communities. They may be families, work groups, sports teams, classes, audiences, lines at the checkout counter, passengers on a bus. We gather and something holds us together for a few minutes or a lifetime, and then that community dissolves and we’re on to the next one. We can think about and talk about a community as a singular thing, but of course we know that it’s made up of individuals, just as the body is made up of the five skandhas of form, feeling, perception, formation, and consciousness. Somehow these aggregates come together for the duration of a human lifetime and then move on to their next position. READ MORE

In this issue:

Commentaries: The brush mightier than rocks; Crowds
New on the web: 108 Gates; Sunday dharma talks on YouTube
From our directors: EAR Committee appointees
Practice recap: Tangible Thusness resources; March work day; Uchiyama Roshi memorial sesshin; Buddhist Essentials
Coming up: Rakusu sewing retreat; Buddha's Birthday; Virtual dharma study intensive
Sanshin Network: News from Japan

New on the web

108 Gates: Hoko's written commentaries on gate statements 60 - 67 of the 108 Gates of Dharma Illumination (Ippyakuhachi Homyomon) are now available, together with study/discussion questions for groups or individuals. New commentaries are posted to our 108 Gates page each Monday.

Sunday talks on Youtube:

Feb 16th: Hoko on Nirvana Day 2025 - "Death and the Robe"
Mar 9th: Boundless, well-rooted vows - Okumura Roshi on Opening the Hand of Thought (256)

Sanshin Source:

Shakyamuni to Sanshin: Buddhist essentials
Practicing in community
Sanshin's story
The precepts

From our directors

Ethics and Reconciliation (EAR) Committee appointees: As part of carrying out Sanshin's Ethics Policy, Sanshin's board of directors appointed three members to an Ethics and Reconciliation (EAR) Committee at its February board meeting. This is a standing committee tasked with implementing restorative justice principles to assist in resolving conflicts, clarifying ethical issues, and responding to allegations of misconduct, in the event that more informal attempts at conflict resolution and restoration of wholesome relations within the sangha are not sufficient. The appointees are Shoryu Bradley, a dharma heir of Okumura Roshi who leads practice at Gyobutsuji in Arkansas, Dennis McCarty, a retired Unitarian Universalist minister who lives in Bloomington, IN, and Sonia Leerkamp, who brings extensive experience and expertise in restorative justice, law, and public service and currently lives in Brown County, Indiana. You can find full bios and contact information of EAR Committee members, as well as the full text of our Ethics Policy (grounded in the sixteen bodhisattva precepts, with more specific guidance) HERE.

Practice recap

Tangible Thusness resources available: As part of our yearlong focus on nyoho teachings and practice throughout 2025 here at Sanshin, recorded clips from our nyoho workshop with Koun Franz in January are now available. From January through April, we're focusing primarily on nyoho teachings related to clothing, from traditional Buddhist robes to what we wear to work. More clips from Koun's workshop on nyoho in general will be released in the coming weeks and months, posted to relevant pages within the nyoho section of Sanshin Source:

March work day: On Sunday, March 2nd, practitioners emerged from our Quiet February practice schedule with a full sangha work day. Much of the work practice was focused on "spring cleaning" inside the temple, with Hoko and Sawyer reorganizing our administrative office, Esho cleaning Okumura Roshi's office, Will updating our office computer setup, Reghan painting the zendo kitchen, and Hosshin and Clark working together on routing electrical wires in the zendo. Our next work day is scheduled for April 13th.

Uchiyama Roshi memorial sesshin: Seven practitioners carried out sesshin at Sanshinji from March 6 - 9, with several others participating for a portion, in-person and virtually. Because this sesshin falls near the anniversary of Uchiyama Roshi's death each year, we dedicate it in his honor and carry out a memorial service for him with the sangha during Sunday practice immediately following sesshin. Even here at the end of winter, much of the produce for this sesshin was sourced locally, from Wilderlove Farm and public farmers' markets in Bloomington.

Ongoing Buddhist essentials series with Hoko
Wednesday evenings, Mar 5 - Apr 9, 6:30 - 8:30 pm

About thirty practitioners, in-person and virtually from home, have participated in the first two of six planned lecture and discussion sessions on Buddhist essentials, led by Sanshin's senior dharma teacher Hoko Karnegis. So far, Hoko has introduced such fundamental Buddhist study topics as the life of the Buddha, the four noble truths, and the precepts, with attention to how we practice with all of this within the Soto Zen tradition at Sanshin. See Hoko's brief overview of the Three Treasures at right.

Recordings of Hoko's remarks on each study topic as well as text summaries of the material presented will be posted HERE as they become available in the coming weeks. Beginning and experienced practitioners are welcome to participate in upcoming discussions, whether or not you've been present for these early sessions. LEARN MORE about how to participate, virtually or in-person (no registration or fee).

Coming up

Buddha's Birthday (Sunday, April 6th): Following regular zazen and Okumura Roshi's dharma talk on Sunday, April 6th, we will mark the occasion of Shakyamuni Buddha's birth with a brief ceremony and a potluck lunch.

seated by 9:05 am - Zazen
10:10 - Dharma talk
~11:10 - Buddha's birthday ceremony
followed by sangha potluck lunch

All are welcome to join us for the joyous occasion and opportunity to practice with one of the sanbukki, or Three Buddha Days.

Rakusu sewing retreat: As part of the process for formally receiving the precepts this year, five practitioners will gather to sew rakusu, practice together, and learn about nyoho-e in the Soto Zen tradition during a retreat at Sanshin from April 7th - 14th. [Note: registration is closed]. Esho Morimoto will lead the sewing instruction, and Hoko Karnegis and Yuko Okumura will offer teachings on practicing with robes in our tradition.

REGISTRATION NOW OPEN: Virtual dharma study intensive on Ejo's Komyozo-Zanmai
May 1 - 10, 2025, 10 - Noon with Okumura Roshi

Over the course of ten mornings this May, Okumura Roshi will offer ten lectures on his own new translation of Komyozo-Zanmai (The Samadhi of the Radiant Light Treasury), attributed to Koun Ejo Zenji. Koun Ejo (1198 - 1282) was Dogen Zenji's close attendant, principle dharma heir, and the second abbot of Eiheiji following Dogen's death. He transcribed and compiled many of Dogen's writings and discourses, but Komyozo-zanmai is the only original writing attributed to Ejo. In it, Dogen's shikantaza (our practice of zazen) is discussed as the samadhi of the radiant light treasury. LEARN MORE AND REGISTER

For full information about Sanshin's practice schedule, see our Schedules & Calendars webpage.

Sanshin Network

News from Japan: Doju Layton, an ordained student of Okumura Roshi who usually lives in Bloomington, recently spent three months (108 days to be exact) practicing in residence at Kotaiji in Nagasaki prefecture, Japan, as part of his ongoing dharma leadership development and clergy credentialing process with Sotoshu, the official Soto Zen Denomination in Japan. Upon leaving the temple, he embarked on foot on a section of the Shikoku 88 temple pilgrimage.

Shinko Hagn, who leads practice at Daijihi and is an ordained student of Hoko Karnegis, offers the following report and reflection on his own recent travels in Japan with fellow Daijihi practice leader Koryu:

Only 8 days for a trip to Japan! Well, actually it was a business trip. Koryu and I were invited by the Japanese External Trade Organization to Shiga Prefecture to taste and perhaps buy the famous Omi tea from various tea farmers. Of course, we also took the opportunity to extend the trip to Kyoto, Tokyo and Izumo in Shimane Prefecture, where our current tea partner is based. The trip was a great success for our tea business, we learned a lot and were even on Japanese television. I was able to see Mount Hiei, where Dogen Zenji's journey began, from a distance on the other side of Lake Biwa and in Kyoto we visited Kennin-ji, the temple where Dogen lived before and after his trip to China. In Izumo we visited the second oldest shrine, Izumo Taisha, which was very important for the development of Japanese culture, the development of an architectural style independent of China began here.

In Tokyo, we were welcomed by our Dharma friend Rev. Hojun Szpunar, who is in charge of the Zen Class for Soto Zen International. He is originally from Poland but has lived in Tokyo with his Japanese wife for over 15 years. Hojun showered us with gifts in the first ten minutes. These included a beautiful picture scroll showing Shakyamuni after his enlightenment. We also received kotsus. We then went to Shogaku-ji, a temple where he helps to support lay people. There was a training session for ceremonies that day. We met the abbess, Yuko Yamada, who has been in office since last fall. She is very well known as she is the first woman to be allowed to teach in Eiheiji. Her specialty is Chan in China. Her English is excellent, she has been to the USA and also to Europe. In order for her to become abbess, she was adopted by her predecessor and the temple now belongs to her.

After we sat zazen together, she invited us to give a talk. We talked about our center and how we spread and express Soto Zen in Austria. We also talked a bit about Shishobo and about Zen in Austria and Europe in general.

Afterwards there was a very stimulating discussion, Hojun translated everything for us. Afterwards we ate using oryoki for lunch and got to know another new style. Shogakuji has been run by women only for many years. The temple was built in the 17th century and there is a black Kannon figure, a true rarity, on the altar instead of a Buddha. However, the temple was destroyed during the Second World War, the figure was rescued and the temple was rebuilt. Another very nice detail is that Yamada Roshi received a new Manjushri figure from a neighboring artist for her inauguration. The big surprise: Manjushri's face is modeled on her face.

It was good to see that the temple in the middle of Tokyo faces very similar challenges like we do here in Vienna. Only two people, Yamada Roshi and another nun, run the temple, just like we do in Vienna. However, the funding is different. We try to do it with our tea business and in Japan it is mainly ceremonies and rituals for the community, especially funerals, or taking care of the home altars of the Sangha members. We are very grateful for the generous donation we received for our talk.

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