Practice/Study Circle with Sensei Joshin

July 25, 2010
11:15 amto12:30 pm
August 1, 2010
11:15 amto12:30 pm

We’ll work with the following paragraph from Dogen’s text “ Instruction for the Tenzo”:


In performing your duties…. You should maintain joyful mind, kind mind and great mind.

‘Joyful mind’ is the mind that rejoices. …. I hope you will do your work and cook the meal this very day at this very moment with this body, the fruit of myriad births and thousands of lifetimes, thereby creating merit for myriad beings. To penetrate this is joyful mind. ….

‘Kind mind’ is parental mind…. Even poor or suffering people raise their children with deep love…. They do not care whether they themselves are poor or rich; their only concern is that their children will grow up. They pay no attention to whether they themselves are cold or hot, but cover their children to protect them from the cold or shield them from the hot sun. This is extreme kindness…. Therefore, you should look after water and grain with compassionate care, as though tending your own children….

‘Great mind’ is a mind like a great mountain or a great ocean. It does not have any partiality or exclusivity. You should not regard a pound as light or a ton as heavy.

Choose a word or phrase that resonates for you and say how it relates to your practice. We’ll sit in a circle, council format for those who’d like to speak, surrounded by another circle by those who’d rather listen. I’ll begin with a few words about what comes to mind for me. And we’ll take it from there.

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