Intro to Zen by Harada Roshi

(Subtitles. After starting video, click lower right hand button for full screen. In class, we started at about 4:30)

Abbot of Sogenji monastery in Okayama, Japan, Harada Roshi is a Zen teacher in the direct lineage of Hakuin. The Sogenji website, onedropzen.org is a wonderful source of information and great place to get the vibe of life and study in a formal Zen setting.

Harada's clear message:

1. Put your body in order.

2. Put your mind in order.

3. Put your life in order.

Simple?

As you take in the teaching on onedropzen.org, you will notice that while most is perfectly in line with our own, there seem to be some contradictions.

Most notably: Harada Roshi teaches to carefully regulate the breathing, while we usually just take a few nice breaths and then let the breathing happen naturally. Also, if you go deep enough into the Q & A's on the site (recommended!) you may discover the Harada Roshi calls drifting away from conscious awareness a "gap", we have been calling the spaces in between thoughts the gap.

Fun site. Lots there that is interesting, authentic, beautiful and useful.

The Emptiness Poem

"Old P'ang requires nothing in the world:

All is empty with him, even a seat he has not,

For absolute Emptiness reigns in his household;

How empty indeed it is with no treasures!

When the sun is risen, he walks through Emptiness,

When the sun sets, he sleeps in Emptiness;

Sitting in Emptiness he sings his empty songs,

And his empty songs reverberate through Emptiness:

Be not surprised at Emptiness so thoroughly empty,

For Emptiness is the seat of all the Buddhas;

And Emptiness is not understood by the men of the world,

But Emptiness is the real treasure:

If you say there's no Emptiness,

You commit a grave offense against the Buddhas".

P'ang Chu-shih

Zen Master, China, 9th Century

Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche

Rinpoche's first talk providing meditation instruction to a public audience in a large group (New York, 1974).