Today's talk was offered during our September ZAZENKAI to make the start of our annual JUKAI (Undertaking the Precepts) season of Rakusus sewing, sitting and Precepts study, as well as the continuation of our ongoing ANGO (90-Day Special Practice Period) at Treeleaf Sangha ...

If I were pressed to describe the heart of all our Practices in one word ... Zazen, living by Precepts, all we do from sewing a Rakusu to bowing to chanting a Meal Gatha ... that one word is WHOLENESS.

This way allows us to realize ... and to make real in this life ... that Wholeness that is all things, that is you and me too. It is a Wholeness that sweeps in even the seeming broken pieces, both the happy and sad, the ups and downs, the beautiful and ugly. Somehow, this Way allows us to experience the Wholeness that is each and all, all along ... and to avoid perspectives and behavior that cause us to see and make this world, our lives, as broken into shattered pieces. It is a Wholeness often hidden in the divisions and frictions of the ugly mind, yet never truly hidden to a Buddha's Eye.

................ WHOLENESS

TODAY'S TALK (ABOUT 20 MINUTES) WAS PART OF OUR MONTHLY ZAZENKAI, AND IS FOLLOWED BY A SHORT PERIOD OF ZAZEN and KINHIN

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