Sangha News for July 2023

7/15/2023

Not designing Buddha

Shohaku Okumura

Dōgen’s Chinese Poems (67)
Not Designing Buddha
338. Dharma Hall Discourse

In seeking for Buddhahood through Zen practice, have no designs on becoming a buddha.
If you practice Zen by designing a buddha, Buddha becomes increasingly estranged.
When the tile is shattered and the mirror vanishes, where is your face?
Thereupon we understand that reaching here requires some effort.

“Having designs on becoming a buddha (圖佛, zu butsu),” and “the tile and mirror” are taken from the kōan story of “Polishing a tile for making a mirror (磨塼作鏡, masen sakyō),” a kōan important to Dōgen Zenji for expressing the meaning of zazen practice. He quotes this story twice in Shōbōgenzō: Kokyō (古鏡, Ancient Mirror) and Zazenshin (坐禅箴, Acupuncture Needle of Zazen). In Dōgen’s Extensive Record (永平広録, Eiheikōroku) he mentioned this expression in seven dharma hall discourses. All of them were given after he moved to Echizen and established Eiheiji. The first four jōdō (270, 277, 279, 281) were given in 1248. The next two (338, 345) were given in 1249, and the final one (453) was given in 1251. In Volume 9, Juko (Praising verses of ancient kōans), case 38 is about this story. In Volume 10, he used the expressions from this story in the poem given to a monk from Mt. Koya (see Kuchūgen 34). Dōgen also talked about this story in Zuimonki, 3–17

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In This Issue:

Okumura Roshi: Not designing Buddha
News: 20th anniversary celebration and leadership transfer successfully concluded; 1708 moveout nearly complete; zendo ceiling upgrade
Practice recap: Shuso ceremonies demonstrate dharma mastery; three kaitei take precepts
Coming up: September sesshin; save the date for virtual November dharma study retreat
Sanshin Network: Visitors in Bloomington for the Platinum Celebration

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News

20th anniversary celebration and leadership transfer successfully concluded

About 60 in-person attendees participated in a much-anticipated weekend of reconnection, updates, discussions, and ceremonies during the Platinum Celebration, marking Sanshin's 20th anniversary as well as the transfer of practice leadership from Okumura Roshi to Hoko and the importance of nyoho sewing practice led by Yuko Okumura.

World renowned pianist and 2007 lay precepts recipient Yael Weiss kicked off the weekend with a Concert Conversation featuring her commissioning project, 32 Bright Clouds. The following day included morning zazen and liturgy, a presentation and discussion of the five strategies of Sanshin's strategic plan, and author readings from the just-published collaborative book Adding Beauty to Brocade, before founder Shohaku Okumura's stepping down ceremony as abbot. The final morning featured a display of dharma robes curated and presented by Yuko Okumura, and Hoko's stepping up ceremony. The event concluded with the drawing for an art piece donated by well-known artist Mayumi Oda, from which Shinko Hagn of Vienna emerged the delighted winner.

If you participated in person or virtually and have feedback and messages to share, please do that here.
Relive the weekend's events on our YouTube channel.
Stay tuned for a revamped Platinum Celebration webpage, which will become an online memory book.

North American Sokan Gengo Akiba recalls many years of dharma work with Okumura Roshi.

Reading from and discussing "Adding Beauty to Brocade"

With her display of robes along the wall, Yuko tells the story of nyoho sewing practice at Sanshin.

Okumura Roshi says a few words after the stepping down ceremony.

From our FAQ: What do I call the teacher?

Hoko is now the senior dharma teacher, succeeding founder Shohaku Okumura, who was formerly called the abbot. Just call her Hoko.

We used to call Okumura Roshi "Hojo-san" when he was at Sanshin itself; now we call him "Todo-san" when he's there. ("Todo" means Eastern Hall, and is the traditional name for a retired abbot.) "Okumura Roshi" is used in all other cases. We do not call our founder by his first name. In Japanese culture, the use of a first name indicates a fairly close personal relationship. READ MORE

Michael Komyo Melfi and Apriel Fusatsu Jessup-Searcy served as overall managers for this massive series of events, beginning their work nearly a year in advance. There was universal agreement that success would not have been possible without their diligent practice, professional skills, and love of sangha.

Hoko makes offerings at altars around Sanshin as part of her stepping up ceremony.

Participants came from around the world to attend the events.

1708 moveout nearly complete: A sangha crew has put in several long days of packing, moving and cleaning in order to clear the rental space next to Sanshin in time for the end of the lease on July 17. Some items have gone into storage until they can be used again, while others have been given to charity or merged into Sanshin's life at 1726. The move has touched off another round of sorting, reorganizing and divestiture at 1726, since space is already limited there.

The funds that had been going toward the monthly rent at 1708 will be redirected to other areas of the operation as the board of directors continues its work to ensure Sanshin's financial sustainability. Over the years, 1708 has served as a short-term guest facility, a storage space, the kitchen and meals area for sesshin and retreat, a workshop space for robe sewing retreats, a meeting area, and, most recently, housing for three residential practitioners.

Zendo ceiling upgrade: Just in time for the opening of the Platinum Celebration, Hosshin completed work on the redesigned zendo ceiling. On the opening day of Rohatsu sesshin last December, water leaking from the ceiling into the middle of the floor closed the zendo for a couple of days. The new ceiling, made of wood panels and strips of wood molding, is stronger and much better looking than the original, and ties together the look of the bamboo wainscoting, the darker trim and the sage green walls. Hosshin has also begun work on a wooden valance over the altar that helps to delineate the space.

Practice recap

Shuso ceremonies demonstrate dharma mastery: Shinko's term as shuso ended with a weekend of ceremonies. During the honsoku gyocha, or formal tea, Konjin Godwin, Director of the Soto Zen Buddhism International Center in San Francisco, gave a talk on Shinko's chosen case from the Shoyoroku, or Book of Serenity. On the following morning the sangha gathered for the hossenshiki, at which he answered questions on the case. Completion of the hossenshiki and the term of service as shuso is a necessary step for novices as they move toward completing their training and dharma transmission to become fully recognized dharma teachers authorized by the denomination.

Though Shinko had to return to Vienna directly following the ceremonies, the ango itself continued through the precepts retreat and jukai-e a few weeks later.

Three kaitei take lay precepts: Following a five-day retreat focused on studying and practicing with the sixteen bodhisattva precepts, three people received them from Hoko in the annual jukai ceremony. Kaitei also received a dharma name and a rakusu, or small robe, which they sewed beforehand, as well as the lineage chart they copied themselves by hand during the retreat. All three recipients are local or regional to Sanshin.

The next opportunity to receive lay precepts will begin next spring. Full in-person attendance at both the weeklong sewing retreat in April and the precepts retreat in July are required.

L to R: Clark Kuon, Neil Neido and Sawyer Jisho received lay precepts.

Coming up

Three-day sesshin (August 31 - September 3): Sesshin at Sanshin is an opportunity to practice without distraction. We set aside the usual activities -- or entertainments -- of temple life, like work periods, meetings with teachers and dharma talks, and focus completely on zazen. We practice in complete silence following a 4 am to 9 pm daily schedule that consists simply of fourteen 50-minute periods of zazen with one-hour periods for meals and a bit of personal time. This sesshin-without-toys style of practice was created by our founder's teacher, Kosho Uchiyama Roshi, and practiced at Antaiji in Kyoto, Japan.

Save the date for November virtual dharma study retreat: Plans are underway for Dogen Institute to sponsor Okumura Roshi’s virtual ten-day dharma study retreat in November 2023. This once-a-year event is meant as a successor to Okumura Roshi’s genzo-e retreats, which will no longer be held. The format for this new retreat includes one morning lecture a day for ten days. This format will provide a less strenuous schedule for Okumura Roshi as he transitions into the Founding Teacher role. In November 2023, he plans to lecture on Dogen’s Shobogenzo fascicle “Zazenshin.” Registration for online attendance will open sometime after mid-July. In-person attendance will be restricted to support personnel.

Sanshin Network

Since a number of network members were on hand for this month's many community events, in this issue we content ourselves with a gallery of their visit to Bloomington.