IN THIS

ISSUE Buddha’s Enlightenment

Day 2015 Formal Dharma

Speech

Sangha Notes

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VISIT US 1423 New York Street

Lawrence KS

66044

kansaszencenter.org

Pictured: Participants of the November retreat.

WINTER 2015

Buddha’s Enlightenment Day 2015 Formal Dharma Speech

By Stan Lombardo (Zen Master Hae Kwang) (Hit) Master Song Weon asked, “Why is it that a man of great strength cannot lift his leg?” (Hit) Again he said, “It is not with his tongue that he speaks.” (Hit) No legs, no tongue, then what? KATZ! Thank you for coming and participating in this ceremony. Kong-ans have a way of throwing us off balance, and as such are useful training for the difficult situations we face in life. When we are challenged, can we keep our feet beneath us and our

wits intact? This kong-an, Case 20, A Man of Great Strength, in the Mu Mun Kwan, was one of the first kong-ans I was given to work on when I began train-ing with Zen Master Seung Sahn. Being a rational per-son, an academic even, my initial approach was to find a reason why a strong man could not lift his leg. Maybe it’s stuck in a crevasse, may-be he has had it amputated, maybe he’s been drugged. Our -brains can come up with an inexhaustible supply

of plausible scenarios. But plausible scenarios, as I soon learned when I presented them to my teacher during interviews, are not the point in kong-an practice—any more than they are in the rest of life. The point, always, in the interview room or wherev-er, is to go to the heart of the matter, beyond good and bad, positive and negative, and then, as my teacher used to say long before it became a Nike slogan, Just Do It. Correct function is everything. And, as the title of this kong-an collection suggests (“Mu Mun Kwan” means No Gate Barrier), there is nothing that obstructs our free and correct activity. There’s an old Zen saying: The Great Freedom is in the palm of your hand,

And the Great Way is at your feet.

Song Weon is telling us as much when he follows up with the statement, “It is not with his tongue that he speaks.” But great freedom entails great responsibility. So with the perfect free-dom of speech that is your birthright, what will you say?

Mu Mun adds a poem to the statement of the case:

Lifting his leg he crushes the Scented Ocean. Lowering his head, he looks down on the Four Dhyana

Heavens. There is no place to put this enormous body. Please add the last line yourself.

We suspect that Mu Mun may be leading us on a wild goose chase with his talk about the Scented Ocean and the Four Dhyana Heavens. In the Avatamsaka Sutra our cosmos floats in the Scented Ocean, which may be understood as the sea of con-sciousness; the Four Dhyana Heavens are successive realms of liberation achieved through meditation. What do these abstruse and fantastic notions from the extravagant world of Hwa Yen Buddhism have to do with ordinary Zen practice, or with the practicalities of how we lead everyday lives of compassion? Ac-tually, everything. Before each retreat in the Kwan Um School of Zen, we read the Temple Rules, a document whose lineage goes back through the great Korean teacher Chinul and ultimately to Pai Chang, who first organized Zen practice in China in a way that we still recognize. My favorite part has always been the two lines that read:

If you can break the wall of your self You will become infinite in time and space.

Without the kind of vast mind, the kind of gigantic reach, that these lines and Mumun’s poem suggest, how could we ever ful-fill the First Vow? “Sentient beings are numberless. We vow to save them all.” Yes, we have to proceed one step at a time and always in this present moment, with whatever presents itself and with whomever. But we have do this, engage with the world, with a mind that is no less open and interconnected than the universe itself. (cont’d on next page)

“Kong-ans have a

way of throwing us

off balance, and as

such are useful

training for the

difficult situations

we face in life.“

Sangha notes Congratulations to Adrian LeCesne on the birth of his daughter, and a fond farewell as he moves with his family to San Diego. We also will miss long-time member Richard Shank who has moved to Florida.

Condolences to Tom Davis on the death of his brother Mark.

Very belated but deeply felt thanks to Ed Canda for his extraordinary co-leading of our kido way back in April.

Welcome to new resident Justin Smith-Cantrell, and soon-to-be resident Marc Robinson.

We wish a speedy recovery to Judy Roitman from her broken hip. And we welcome back Steve Olson after his long recovery from foot surgery.

A big shout out to the folks who helped set up our new, highly navigable, gorgeous, completely revised website: Pam Hauser at Big Vision Design (bigvisiondesign.com) and Jason Spears at GMS Designworks (www.gmsdesignworks.com). Thank you, Pam and Jason.

So many people help make the Zen Center beautiful! Outside the official workdays, resident David Whitaker and his son Wyatt raked leaves; James Kizer used 50 bags of dirt and uncounted quan-tities of stone building up the south end of the wall in the front yard; Ben Graham stained the fences, and also graded, tamped, laid down gravel, and improved the drainage at the northwest corner of the house. The folks who worked so hard on our October and/or December workdays were: Edna Bag-insky, Jennifer Balke, Bill Bunn, Mary Kirkendoll, James Kizer, Chelsie Laughlin, Stan Lombardo, John Lytton, Steve Olson, Judy Roitman, Carol Salisbury, Cara Saunders, Richard Saunders, Richard Shank, Justin Smith-Cantrell, Charlie Vitale, David Whitaker, Todd Wyant. Plus there are the many good folks who keep us supplied with supplies (from candles to Kleenex), who wash robes and napkins after re-treats, and so on and on. Thanks to all!

(Dharma Speech cont’d) I think it is profoundly significant that Buddha attained enlightenment when he saw a star, when his mind connected clearly and directly with the pure light of the vast cosmos. We have to attain that mind, and we commit to doing so when we take the Fourth Great Vow. “The Buddha Way is inconceivable. We vow to attain it.” We all know in our hearts, we all sense within ourselves this inconceivable, inexhaustible mind. The cultivation, through practice, of this kind of awareness is fundamental to Dae Ja, Dae Bi, great love, great compassion, the great Bodhisattva Way that is our universal guide through life. Mu Mun points us in that direc-tion, and then he invites us to write the last line of the poem. What will we write?

(Hit) The Scented Ocean and the Four Dhyana Heavens, where are they right now? (Hit) When you break through the wall of your self, where will you go, what will you do? KATZ! Today we enjoy each others’ company at the Kansas Zen Center, celebrating Buddha’s enlightenment.

500 prostrations for the New Year. Friday January 1 10 a.m.

2-day retreat with Zen Master Hae Kwang (Stan Lombardo). Friday January 8 6:30 p.m. to Sunday January 10 noon Cost: $50/day (for a total of $100).

Annual Meeting and Potluck Dinner. Saturday January 23 6:30 p.m. This is when members vote on next year’s board and we hear reports about the past year’s finances and happenings. Everyone is welcome.

1-day retreat with Zen Master Bon Hae (Judy Roitman). Saturday February 20 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Be sure to bring a brown bag lunch. Cost: $25.

2-day retreat with Zen Master Bon Hae (Judy Roitman). Friday March 18 6:30 p.m. to Sunday March 20 noon Cost: $50/day (for a total of $100).

Buddha’s birthday and precepts ceremonies. Sunday April 10 10:30 a.m. , followed by a potluck.

2-day retreat with our 2016 guest teacher Barry Briggs JDPSN. Friday May 20 6:30 p.m. to Sunday May 22 noon Based for many years in Seattle, Barry recently became the teacher-in-residence at Cambridge Zen Center, and has taught in many Zen centers in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Cost: $50/day (for a total of $100).

Keep an eye out for spring workday(s) and other events, announced as they are scheduled, over MailChimp (send us your email address if you’re not already getting our notices), on our webpage, and on Facebook.

Contact the Zen Center to register for retreats.

On multi-day retreats, it is possible to join for part of the retreat.

Multi-day retreats are $50/day; one-day retreats are $25.

Scholarships are available for retreats. No-one is ever turned away for lack of funds.

Contact the Zen Center to register for retreats if you need financial assistance or special arrangements.

Lawrence Tuesday and Thursday mornings, 6:30 to 7:30 a.m.

Wednesday 7 to 8 p.m. with special chanting at 6:30 p.m.

Saturday 6:30 to 8:00 a.m.

Sunday 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. with orientation for beginners at 9:00 a.m.

Kong-an interviews during Sunday practice.

Regular practice is suspended during retreats and ceremonies. We have 5 or 6 retreats a year,

and two ceremonies. Please check the events schedule for ceremony and retreat dates.

Kansas City

Kansas City Zen Group

Unity Church on the Plaza

Tuesday evenings 7:00 to 8:00 pm

First Tuesday of every month: talk and questions at 8:00 pm.

Kong-an interviews are the 3rd Tuesday of the month.

Severe weather notice: For everyone’s safety, practice is not held during severe weather, i.e.,

during national weather service warnings or advisories.