Practice

You are welcome to join in the practice by zoom, five mornings a week, Tuesday through Saturday morning, at 7:00 ET / 6:00 CT / 5:00 MT / 4:00 PT.

Our zoom morning practice may occasionally need to be cancelled. Check this page for cancellation notice.

CANCELLATIONS: Morning Zoom Practice is cancelled for the following dates (because I'll be out of town):
Thu Dec 5
Fri Dec 6
Sat Dec 7
Mon Dec 9
Tue Dec 10

Morning Zoom Practice at the link below resumes on Wed Dec 11.

ZOOM LINK.

You'll need this document: "One Earth Zen: Sutras, Chants, and Songs".

Format:
Opening Chants
Zazen (silent seated meditation): 25 mins
Kinhin (walking meditation): 6 mins
Sutra service (recitations): 9-10 mins
Dharma discussion: 10 mins
Closing chant

You may also use the audio files linked below to accompany your home practice on any schedule that works for you. Suggested times for use are indicated, though, of course, the audio can be used at any time.

The "Starter" file includes:

• Han sequence (7 mins)
• Inkin sequence (for offering incense and three prostrations -- 1:40)
• Verse of Kesa (p. 42 -- 2 mins)
• Opening Verse (from pp. 3-5 -- about 1 min)

The Day-of-the Week "Morn" file includes:

• Opening Day-of-Week Song (p. 38 or 42 -- 1-2 mins)
• Dedication, including either Gatha of Atonement (Mon-Wed-Fri) or The Three Refuges (Tue-Thu-Sat) -- (about 3 mins)
• Silence for Zazen (25 mins)
• Clappers to stand, begin Kinhin (4-5 mins), and return to place

The "Sutra Service" file includes:

• Sutra Service (7-9 mins), which changes each week. There is an "A" service for Mon-Wed-Fri-Sun, and a "B" service for Tue-Thu-Sat
• Closing Verse (from pp. 39-42 -- about 1 min)

This is to be followed by a Closing Day-of-Week Song. The audio files for these include only the song. The Morn practice, from the end of the Han sequence, is about 50 minutes.

The Eve practice consists only of:

• Opening Day-of-Week Song (p. 38 or 42 -- 1-2 mins)
• Silence for Zazen (25 mins)
• Closing Day-of-Week Song (p. 38 or 42 -- 1-2 mins)

The Eve practice takes just under 30 mins.

Autumn Week 11: Dec 2 - 8

Mon Dec 2

Morn
5:53 - Starter #10 (Dec 2 -29)
6:05 - Monday Morn
6:40 - Sutra Service 11A, followed by Mon Closing Song

Eve
17:53 - Mon Eve (Han, Opening Song, Zazen, Closing Song)

Tue Dec 3

Morn
5:53 - Starter #10 (Dec 2 -29)
6:05 - Tuesday Morn
6:40 - Sutra Service 11B, followed by Tue Closing Song

Eve
17:53 - Tue Eve (Han, Opening Song, Zazen, Closing Song)

Wed Dec 4

Morn
5:53 - Starter #10 (Dec 2 -29)
6:05 - Wednesday Morn
6:40 - Sutra Service 11A, followed by Wed Closing Song

Eve
17:53 - Wed Eve (Han, Opening Song, Zazen, Closing Song)

Thu Dec 5

Morn
5:53 - Starter #10 (Dec 2 -29)
6:05 - Thursday Morn
6:40 - Sutra Service 11B, followed by Thu Closing Song


Eve
17:53 - Thu Eve (Han, Opening Song, Zazen, Closing Song)

Fri Dec 6

Morn
5:53 - Starter #10 (Dec 2 -29)
6:05 - Friday Morn
6:40 - Sutra Service 11A, followed by Fri Closing Song

Eve
17:53 - Fri Eve (Han, Opening Song, Zazen, Closing Song)

Sat Dec 7

Morn
5:53 - Starter #10 (Dec 2 -29)
6:05 - Saturday Morn
6:40 - Sutra Service 11B, followed by Sat Closing Song

Eve
17:53 - Sat Eve (Han, Opening Song, Zazen, Closing Song)

Sun Dec 8

Morn
5:53 - Starter #10 (Dec 2 -29)
6:05 - Friday Morn
6:40 - Sutra Service 11A, followed by Fri Closing Song

Eve
17:53 - Fri Eve (Han, Opening Song, Zazen, Closing Song)

* * *

Directory for all audio files: HERE

AUDIO CREDITS

AUDIO CREDITS

Spoken recordings by Meredith Garmon and LoraKim Joyner. "Universal Dedication" also includes voice of Allie Freed.
From Youtube:

• "Jizo Darani," and "Sho Sai Myo Kichijyo Darani," from Francisco Casaverde, "Canticos Budistas."
• "Shigu Seigan Mon," from Maheyo Music.
• "Buddha Vandana," from Be Nhat Trung.
• "Filled with Loving Kindness," from UUCC Music Director Anna Hamilton; performed by Tapestry: Anna Hamilton and Elizabeth Harris.
• "Dedication of Merit" from Rev. Heng Sure and Friends, "Paramita: American Buddhist Folk Music"
• "Enmei Jukku Kannon Gyo" from Chris Burrows, "Zen Buddhist Chanting"

"Gate of Sweet Nectar" by Krishna Das, sung by Starry Mountain Singers for Amidon Community Music.
"The Four Bodhisattva Vows" and "Diamond Sutra Gatha": music composed and performed by Meredith Garmon.
"Save All the Beings": music by Boundless Way Zen; performed (piano, guitar, and vocals) by Meredith Garmon.
"Verse of the Kesa" and "Shantideva's Way of the Bodhisattva": music by Soten Lynch; vocals by Soten Lynch, Kosho Ault, Maggie Medlin, and Eric Hertz. Recorded at Great Vow Zen Monastery, Clatskanie, OR, 2020.

For credits for the words/lyrics, see "One Earth Zen: Sutras, Chants, and Songs".

Raven 183: Moving On

183 of 183

It's foolish to trust what isn't trustworthy. Chance you've got to take.

Case

Raven took her perch on the Assembly Oak and addressed a special meeting of the Tallspruce community, saying, “It’s time for me to be moving on.”
Porcupine asked, “Where will you be going?”
Raven said, “Where cedar roots stand bare in the creek.”
A hush fell over the circle. Grouse could be heard sniffling.
At last Porcupine asked, “Do you have any last words for us?”
Raven said, “Trust.”

PREVIOUS   ☙   INDEX

Raven 182: Taking Over

182 of 183

What kind of Zen do you teach, with your wiggling fingers and warm breath. What does your gait teach? Your smile, frown, shrug? You can make a guess, and even if there is some insight there, the Zen you teach will change.

Raven called Porcupine for a private meeting. “It’ll soon be time for me to be moving on. Are you up for taking over?”
Porcupine said, “It won’t be Raven Zen.”
Raven asked, “What kind of Zen will it be?”
Porcupine said, “Don’t touch.”
Raven said, “Exactly.”

PREVIOUS   ☙   NEXT   ☙   INDEX

Raven 181: Foresters

181 of 183

All things are impermanent, yes. Don't let this obscure from you that you exist now; you have done things, and loved, and perhaps, for a bit longer, will continue to. It will eternally be the case that you were in this place at this time. You might leave behind some impress or bone that fossilizes, or you might not. Doesn't matter. Whether anyone in the future knows anything of it or not, it will always be true that you were here on this day, felt what you felt and did what you did.

Case

Owl spoke up the next evening and said, “I’ve been brooding about your remark to Mallard that the foresters are closing in. [#175] I think we aren’t facing things. It’s always been hard to find food and raise a family but now the forest is shrinking and folks like Wolverine can’t even find a mate.”
Raven said, “Yes.”
Owl said, “I feel despair about those foresters.”
Woodpecker interrupted and said, “The problem is that they aren’t really foresters.”
Raven said, “Yes.”
Owl asked, “What can be done?”
Raven did not respond, and the group was silent.
Finally Porcupine said, “Their children will remember us.”
Owl said, “Small comfort.”
Raven said, “Brontosaur lives.”

PREVIOUS   ☙   NEXT   ☙   INDEX

Raven 180: Wise Counsel

180 of 183

We remember "great ones of the past" for our own purposes, not for theirs. We do not understand their deeds, but rather imagine ourselves doing them.
As for forgetting yourself: safety first!
Reality is made of nothing but gratitude and compassion.

Case

Mole continued pressing Raven. “How would you like to be remembered?”
Raven said, “If you can forget yourself even once, then I can be forgotten.”
Mole said, “I learned with my mother’s milk that if I forget myself even once, something will consume me.”
Raven said, “Wise counsel. Wise counsel.”

PREVIOUS   ☙   NEXT   ☙   INDEX

Raven 179: Last Will and Testament

179 of 183

Love what is. That's all. Love what is and everything that brought it to be. Then your legacy, your will and testament, last and first, will be entirely gratitude.

Grammar purveys delusions: common nouns, that categories are real; past conditional modal verbs ("could have been"), that something that is, isn't necessarily. Reality knows no such.

Case

Mole and Woodpecker came together to see Raven one afternoon.
Mole said, "Woodpecker and I have been noticing that you're getting on in years, and wondering -- have you made your last will and testament?"
Raven said, "Thank you."
The three of them sat together silently for a while.
Then Woodpecker asked, "Looking back, is there anything you would like to have done differently?"
Raven said, "How could I?"
Mole asked, "Each time you decided which way to go. Are you sorry about any of those decisions?"
Raven said, "How could I?"

PREVIOUS   ☙   NEXT   ☙   INDEX

Raven 178: Zazen for the Young Ones

178 of 183

"Tomorrow, after my death, some men may decide to establish Fascism, and the others may be so cowardly or so slack as to let them do so. If so, Fascism will then be the truth of man, and so much the worse for us." --Jean-Paul Sartre

Maybe no one's watching. Maybe you're not modeling anything for anyone. Maybe the Fascists take over, and your own child supports them. Even if no one is watching, that you bowed, that you practiced, that you sat and chanted and studied sutras, that you glimpsed your nature -- these will be eternal facts. They will be written in the book of reality, even if no one ever reads your page. Now, bow. Just bow in the knowledge that at that moment nothing else matters.

Case

One evening Badger asked, "Do you encourage the young ones to do zazen?"
Raven asked, "What happens when they see you sit down to practice?"
Badger said, "They go out to play."
Raven said, "Well?"
Badger said, "Maybe I can do something now, and later they will remember and take up the practice."
Raven said, "Bow."

PREVIOUS   ☙   NEXT   ☙   INDEX

Raven 177: Confidence

Zazen is the universal solvent. It's not that problems dissolve away in the sustained abiding in silence, but the problematicity of every problem dissolves.

Grouse came by one day for a private talk with Raven. She said, "My problem is that I have no confidence."
Raven said, "Aren't you quieter these days?"
Grouse said, "Yes. I guess I am."
Raven said, "There you go."
Grouse said, "I guess I can do it."
Raven said, "It's total silence that removes all doubt."

PREVIOUS   ☙   NEXT   ☙   INDEX

Raven 176: The Memorial Service

Death has to happen, and we have to mourn when it does. Do we need to blame? Sometimes it's functional. What about blaming (self or others) for blaming?

Badger's little daughter Furry was caught by Cougar and eaten. The Badger family went into mourning, and the community held a memorial service. Folks came forward and offered flowers at the altar and spoke. Cougar did not attend.
While folks were eating grubs and leavings after the service, Mole said to Badger, "I grieve at your loss, and I'm deeply upset with Cougar. To think that a member of our own community could do such a thing."
Badger said, "He didn't know. And I eat baby mice, after all."
Mole said, "Over at the Little Church in the Grotto they say the lion shall lie down with the lamb."
Raven sighed and said, "The raven, too."
Wolverine said, "I need my meat. I can't magine just eating grains and fruits like some of the birds around here."
Raven said, "Bushes and grasses are even slower."

PREVIOUS   ☙   NEXT   ☙   INDEX

Raven 175: Weird

Magpies -- and corvids generally, including ravens -- have a reputation for being attracted to shiny objects. It turns out that this reputation does not withstand empirical scrutiny. It isn't true.

Humans, however, are attracted to shiny objects. Is there a connection between that weird obsession and the diminishment of the Earth (foresters closing in)? If so, what does that mean for your practice?

Case

Mallard flew in one evening and reported, "Miners keep coming to Beaverdam to wash for gold. I think that's a pretty weird activity."
Raven said, "Magpies wouldn't think so."
Mallard said, "Magpies are weird."
Raven said, "The foresters are closing in, too."

PREVIOUS   ☙   NEXT   ☙   INDEX

Raven 174: Saved

"Beings are numberless; I vow to save them." What does this vow mean if some beings don't want to be saved? What if you yourself are among those who don't want to be saved?

Among other things, perhaps it means that the saving might want to be...how to say this?...gentle. Not covert, exactly, but not heavy-handed. Certainly, we don't "save" beings by enticing them to join our zen group. Generally.

Case

Woodpecker said, "We don't have a very big membership -- not like Stag Sensei's group. Their place is so crowded with folks that they're talking about enlarging it. What can we do to attract more members?"
Raven said, "The Blue Planet is only so big."
Woodpecker asked, "But what about our vow to save everybody?"
Raven said, "I don't want to be saved."

PREVIOUS   ☙   NEXT   ☙   INDEX

Raven 173: The Underlying Scheme

Why is Porcupine putting his question in the mouth of a hypothetical "student"? Why doesn't he just ask the question?

"Underlying scheme of things." Don't be silly. The scheme that underlies is the scheme that's right there on the surface. But tell me: is it the weather? Or is it idle chat about the weather?

Case

Porcupine, conferring with Raven privately, asked, "What if a student asks about the underlying scheme of things -- how would you respond?"
Raven said, "It's cooler tonight. It'll rain tomorrow."
Porcupine said, "Sometimes it rains after a hot spell."
Raven said, "We'll all take shelter with Mole and his family."

PREVIOUS   ☙   NEXT   ☙   INDEX

Raven 172: What the Practice Teaches

We live in forgetfulness of what we know. Sati is a central teaching in Buddhism. This Pali word is typically translated into English as "mindfulness." While "present-moment mindfulness" is a key practice, sati also means remembering. ("Mindfulness" also has this meaning, as, for example, when we say "be mindful of the slippery steps." We're saying "remember that the steps are slippery," combined with "exercise present-moment care when you get to the steps.")

We live in forgetfulness of what we know. Practice tends to orient us toward more often living in remembrance of what we know. Like the fact that you're dying. Or the cup there on the table.

Case

Gray Wold dropped by again and asked, "What can the practice teach me?"
Raven said, "Whay you already know."
Gray Wolf asked, "What do I already know?"
Raven said, "You're dying."
Gray Wolf said, "I try not to think about it."
Raven said, "Not thinking about it is OK." Gray Wolf said, "But there it is."
Raven said, "There it is."
After a short silence, Woodpecker asked, "Isnt' there a moment of understanding that seems to change everything?"
Raven said, "Day to night."
Woodpecker asked, "What does that moment teach me?"
Raven said, "The Assembly Oak."
Woodpecker said, "But I knew about that before."
Raven said, "Like I said."

PREVIOUS   ☙   NEXT   ☙   INDEX

Raven 171: The Best Presentation

Raven doesn't mean that you should try to be splashy. Everything you do -- from brushing your teeth to falling asleep -- is plunging right in. The teaching is simply to understand this fact.

Case

Porcupine met with Raven in private one afternoon and asked, "What is the best presentation of the great matter?"
Raven said, "The thing."
Porcupine asked, "How do you present the thing?"
Raven said, "Splash."

PREVIOUS   ☙   NEXT   ☙   INDEX

Raven 170: Talking About It

About. See it as an adverb rather than a preposition. We say that we talk about this and that, and it's the object of this preposition that fools us: this or that, as if there were such things. About, the adverb, has no object: we walk about, going here and there. Or, since words are tools, not representations, think of what it would mean to hammer about, or go wrenching about for an afternoon. Suppose talking were like that. Isn't it?

So, then, is Owl's silence indicative of her inability to meet Raven's command? Or is this silence Owl's way of continuing to talk about?

Case

One evening Owl spoke up first during the question period and asked, "Is there anything we can't talk about?"
Raven said, "We can't talk about anything."
Owl asked, "Aren't we doing it now?"
Raven said, "It disappeared."
Owl asked, "How can we retain it?"
Raven said, "It's not a matter of retaining. Speak!"
Owl was silent.

PREVIOUS   ☙   NEXT   ☙   INDEX