Dharma Week: Day 1

Original Post: Life Slips Quickly By
Date: May 7, 2010 at 10:23 AM

[NOTE: This is week three of the thus i have seen retrospective (see Retrospective). The category this week is Dharma. For the benefit of all beings].

The sound of the han opens the period of seated meditation, or zazen, in a zendo. The slow, methodical cadence gets progressively faster and faster and faster. And then stops. A forceful reminder that the clock is ticking and that there is work to be done. The inscription on the han reads:

Great is the matter of birth and death
Life slips quickly by
Time waits for no one
Wake up, wake up
Don't waste a moment

[NOTE: The han shown in the clip is in the Empty Hand Zen Center (EHZC); the hand on the striker is that of Susan Jion Postal, main teacher and founder of the EHZC (gassho)].

View From The Floor

After a day and a half of doing zazen on a hard, kapok zafu, I took a moment on Saturday afternoon to stretch out on the hardwood floor in my room (No. 359) at the Garrison Institute. Did wonders for my back and shoulder muscles. And the view was pretty nice, too. [NOTE: I practice shikantaza, or "just sitting" style zazen and sit cross legged in the Burmese position].

Life Slips Quickly By

The sound of the han opens the period of seated meditation, or zazen, in a zendo. The slow, methodical cadence gets progressively faster and faster and faster. And then stops. A forceful reminder that the clock is ticking and that there is work to be done. The inscription on the han reads:

Great is the matter of birth and death
Life slips quickly by
Time waits for no one
Wake up, wake up
Don't waste a moment 

[NOTE: The han shown in the clip is in the Empty Hand Zen Center (EHZC); the hand on the striker is that of Susan Jion Postal, main teacher and founder of the EHZC (gassho)].