We seem to be caught in the habit of running from one thing to another.

When we do this, the next moment will not provide freedom from this urgency.

Here we practice together, breathing in “coming home”, breathing out “arriving”. Learning to resist the urge to react, we can become settled in restful attention. We also notice what happens when we stop running and slow down.

This talk explores some of the history and mythology behind the development of zazen (including Shikantaza or just sitting) meditation, and how it has been described as a way of practice. Broadly following the historical timeline of Zen development, it draws on several key sources such as Red Pine’s translations of Bodhidharma’s sermons and the work of Guo Gu on Chinese Chan ‘silent illumination’ practice. This sets the scene for the travels of Dogen Zenji to China in the 13th Century and the eventual transmission of the Shikantaza zazen practice to Japan. Dogen would go on to establish Soto Zen and his important practical and philosophical teachings still resonate in Zen practice today. The talk explores both historical facts and the interesting and sometimes amusing mythology that has evolved around Zen over the ages.

In this guided meditation we will be exploring the Japanese aesthetic philosophy of wabi sabi and how we can integrate it into our just-sitting practice. Wabi is about finding beauty in imperfection, simplicity, things that are aged and broken and cracked. Sabi is the appreciation of the beauty of impermanence and transience and the kind of melancholy feeling which comes with that which is kind of a sweet feeling. Sabi is concerned with the passage of time, with the way in which all things grow and decay and how aging alters the visual nature of those things.

This guided meditation explores our core practice of just-sitting and the encouragement to leave everything alone. Even though we're in different geographical locations with different visuals, different sounds, we share very similar bodies. One thing all humanity has in common is breathing. We all share that together. Welcome the breath. Become one with the breath, our constant companion and friend, right to the very end. Not trying to change anything, fix anything. Just allowing our Zazen to do its work for us. Sitting relatively still allows us to go deeper and deeper into just simply experiencing this moment. Allow the breath, the unity of us all, sitting together, breathing together, to connect us to the sense of life itself.

Christianity has the star of Bethlehem. We have the morning star.

There is nothing special or supernatural about our morning star, yet the morning star is perfect just as it is, and it twinkles and changes from moment to moment – and we are all just like that morning star!

During this guided meditation I will take you on a metaphorical journey through three phases of Zazen as we sink deeper and deeper into being just moment and how this moment discloses itself to us – leading us into our core practice of Shikantaza:

1. Settling in and building the Dwelling: Settling and claiming our sense of home leading to a sense of stability or samadhi.

2. Forgetting the self that you came with.

3. Receiving, attuning and befriending – receiving guests – inner and outer – which prepares us when we end our formal zazen to respond to the calls of the world.

THE CASE

Wu-Tsu said, “Sakyamuni and Maitreya are servants of another. Tell me, who is that other?”

WU-MEN’S COMMENT

If you can see this other and distinguish him or her clearly, then it is like encountering your father at the crossroads. You will not need to ask somebody whether or not you’re right.

WU-MEN’S VERSE

Don’t draw another’s bow;

Don’t ride another’s horse;

Don’t discuss another’s faults;

Don’t explore another’s affairs.

The title of today’s contemplation “our original face is always changing” comes from the story of the sixth ancestor, Eno, retold in case 23 of The Gateless Barrier collection of koans:

“Don’t think good, don’t think evil. At this very moment, what is the original face of Ming the head monk?”

“What is your original face before your parents were born?”

In other words, just sit and your original face immediately appears.

Finally, we could say our world self is also embedded in the great Cosmos. We could say -

We are the Cosmos, experiencing itself in human form.

Yogacara part four by Andrew Tootell

This guided meditation explores our personal relationship with mistakes. Mistakes are a fertile ground for learning. Dogen says ‘Life is one continuous mistake.’ Changing our attitude to our mistakes can change our life. Mistakes are exactly the path.

In this guided meditation we explore what is it to do zen practice together and to wake up together. in supporting each others practice, we support our own; in practicing together we discover our uniqueness within the simultaneous discovery of how important we are to each other.