UNSUI

Archive for the ‘Special Events’ Category

On May 2nd we will celebrate Buddhas Birthday with an early start for the Sunday schedule, 7 am. There will be sitting until 9 am, followed by a break with informal, self-serve silent breakfast. The schedule will resume with the usual 10 am sits, and end early at 11:15 am to prepare for the Hanamatsuri Ceremony, which will follow around 11:30 am.

Hanamatsuri (Flower Ceremony) commemorates the birth of the historical Buddha. It is usually held on or around April 8, but some temples delay it. Shuko and Dokuro had the pleasure to participate in Hanamatsuri at Rinzai-ji in Los Angeles on April 8. The CBA Hanamatsuri has been a tradition since Houn-an Dharma Cloud Hermitage started to attend the Zazen-kai.

The ceremony involves lots of flowers, petals on the altar, and the standing baby Buddha in a bowl of sweet tea. In the beginning the Abbot opens the ceremony with prostrations while everybody chants, then four celebrants circumambulate the altar and chant. After each line of the chant the baby Buddha is bathed with a scoop of sweet tea. When the circumambulation ends after the third repetition of the chant, everyone in the community is invited to bathe the Buddha. This is especially popular with the children, who love the color of the flowers and the bathing.

After the ceremony there will be an informal light lunch served. To offset the cost of the food and the flowers a donation for the participation in the ceremony and the early schedule is requested. No sign-up is required, but let us know that you will come so we can prepare enough food.

Shinge Rōshi (Roko Sherry Chayat) will be giving a Guest Teacher Talk on Sunday, January 10, 2010 at the Cambridge Buddhist Association. Shinge Rōshi practiced at the CBA under Myōon Chikō Maurine Stuart and later became a Dharma successor to Eidō Tai Shimano Rōshi. It is our privilege to welcome Shinge Rōshi back to her former place of studies and to hear her speak about a portion of the Rinzai Roku.

Please note that the CBA is subject to a strict 35 people limit of occupancy, which will be strictly enforced. Seating is on a first come basis. The talk is part of the regular Sunday schedule, which begins at 10 am. If you plan to come just for the talk, please arrive by 10:45 am. We are able to provide chairs for those who choose not to sit on the meditation cushions.

On Sundays parking on Sparks Street is not restricted, so please feel free to park close to the center. A donation of ten dollars is suggested.

Please join us on December 31, 2009 to say good bye to the old year and to welcome 2010.
We will have a three hour program from 6pm through 9pm at the Sparks Street Zendo. There will be some formal cleaning to help us realize to not leave traces, followed by zazen, a brief talk, and the communal ringing of the large bell. The program finishes at 9pm so you’ll have a chance to celebrate the ‘scientific’ new year with your friends and families.

Please come and get your turn ringing out the old and welcoming the new.

Jodo-e is the celebration of Shakyamuni Buddha’s enlightenment. We are holding this special event in the evening of Monday, December 7, 2009. While the celebrations are traditionally held early in the morning – to reflect the Buddha seeing the morning star on the eighth day of his sitting under the Bodhi tree -we will have the ceremony in the evening to accommodate the sangha.

Celebrating this event is a celebration of our innate ability to walk the same path the Buddha walked and the possibility to realize the same fundamental insights and be enlightened to the nature of the universe. Guests are welcome.