UNSUI – Dharma Cloud Hermitage

Dear friends,

Please join us for an end-of-season informal lunch and gathering on Sunday June 5 at 12:30 pm at 75 Sparks Street.The imminent sale of the CBA gives us much to reflect upon as we simultaneously look forward to a new beginning. Our meeting will bring you up-to-date on the latest developments regarding our physical space and will offer an opportunity for you to share ideas with one another and the Board, as we formulate goals and strategies for the year to come.

The informal lunch will begin at 12:30 pm, following the Sunday morning schedule. Please feel free to join and bring friends and family. If you plan to attend please RSVP via email or by calling 617-491-8857. This will help us plan accordingly for the lunch.

If you are unable to attend and would like to learn more about our future direction or ways that you can contribute, please contact us. We hope you see you soon!

Shuko M. Rubin, Vice-abbess
Kyo-on Dokuro, Abbott

Dear Dharma friends,

As some of you may be aware, the Board of the Cambridge Buddhist Association has decided to sell the house at 75 Sparks Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts. The CBA, as we have known it, will no longer exist as a place for Buddhist study and practice. The current plan is to continue our activities at 75 Sparks Street until the end of July 2011, at which time we will need to relocate our sangha.

The Cambridge Buddhist Association has a very rich history in terms of both study and practice. The Zazen-kai dates back to 1957, even before the CBA was officially incorporated as a non-profit organization (1959). Many prominent scholars and religious leaders have been affiliated with the CBA over the years including Mrs. Mitchell, Dr. D.T. Suzuki, the Japanese Zen Philosopher Dr. Shinichi Hisamatsu, Shunryu Suzuki, and Dr. Huston Smith.

The dwelling at 75 Sparks Street was purchased with the help of Mrs. Elsie Mitchell in 1979 in order to house the Zazen-kai. Maurine Stuart, Myoon Chiko, led the Zazen-kai beginning in the early seventies and continued as the Spiritual Director at Sparks Street until her untimely passing in 1990. Subsequently George Bowman led the Zazen-kai from 1991 until 1999 followed by a succession of resident monks (Dharman Stortz, Bhante Pannyaloka). From 2004 until the present time Dharma Cloud Hermitage has had the privilege of being responsible for the Zazen-kai with Dokuro at the helm as the Spiritual Director and Abbot of the CBA.

For all of you who have meditated at 75 Sparks Street over the years, there is still an opportunity to visit and participate for a few months. Please feel welcome to join us and to help keep alive the spirit and 54-year tradition of the Zazen-kai. The Board of Directors of the CBA has requested our help in conducting a Closing Ceremony which transitions the use of the space from one as a Buddhist temple to a place of secular use. Details will be forthcoming. We, Dharma Cloud Hermitage, will continue our practice in the Boston area in an effort to carry on the history and mission of the Zazen-kai. This Zen community will survive with your commitment and generous support.

Respectfully,

Shuko and Dokuro

We are faced with an important challenge of having to find a new home for our temple, although we are not able to speak further about the details at this time. Therefore we are calling an all sangha meeting for Sunday, April 3, at 12:00 pm, directly following the Hanamatsuri ceremony. The meeting is called by the Board of Houn-an, Dharma Cloud Hermitage, and will be chaired by Peter Crawley, the President of the Board.

We invite you to attend this meeting to learn more about these impending  and significant developments regarding Dharma Cloud Hermitage and the future of Zen practice offered by our temple. Your participation is vital and will offer an opportunity to help steward us through a very important transition. We realize that this is a last minute announcement and that everyone may not be able to attend this first meeting. There will be additional meetings open to the wider sangha and public at a later date. However, if possible we urge those who are able to attend.

Please join us to celebrate the historical Buddha’s Birthday with a day retreat on Saturday, April 2nd. The retreat starts at 9:00 am with formal tea, followed by morning chanting. At noon a formal vegetarian meal will be served in the traditional manner, eating in the Zendo.The afternoon schedule includes more seated meditation, walking, chanting, and the opportunity to meet with the abbot individually. The day program concludes at 5 pm.

Sunday morning the schedule begins at 9 am with the traditional Sunday program: chanting, sitting, walking. At 11:30 am there will be the Hanamatsuri ceremony, in which the Baby Buddha is bathed in sweet tea by everyone who wants to participate. Please come and participate in this yearly event that has been tradition at the CBA for the last seven years. It is a unique experience that nobody should miss!

Due to the inclement weather predicted for Wednesday, February 2, 2011, we are moving the February Open House to Wednesday, February 9. Since the weather forecast indicates the very high likelihood for dangerous travel condition the Wednesday night sitting is canceled. We rather cancel the sitting than putting those who plan to come here in danger.

On November 28 at about 10 pm local time (Vienna, Austria) Seiun Genro, Osho (清雲玄朗和尚), passed away. Genro was my first Zen teacher in Austria and I have known him for over 28 years. Learning about Genro’s passing brings up the main issues that Joshu Roshi asks us to study: sickness, old age, and death.

I sat my first sesshin in Austria with Genro, having had no prior sitting experience. We exchanged some letter beforehand – me looking for advice how to go to Japan and enter a monastery for training. Genro responded immediately, telling me there is no need to go to Japan, just come and try sitting with him first. I trusted him – without any preparation I signed up for a 7-day retreat and ended up sitting right in front of his seat – the prime spot to be corrected and yelled at at any moment. I survived the sesshin, much thanks to my stubborn nature to go through with this. My early Zen education is based on what Genro taught me. He was a great disciplinarian, with a lot of attention to detail. He also was a great teacher to instill the basic attitudes to enter into the practical aspect of Zen studies. His talks came from his experiences in life, filled with usable advice, clear instruction, and the authority of someone who had lived through what it takes to arrive at what he was talking about.

Training at Mt. Baldy I remember a few Summer Seichus in the late 80′s when Genro still participated in training, holding the tanto position. I recall the fellow students sitting on the tan cringing when he hit me with the keisaku - freely putting himself fully (yes, fully) into using Manjushri’s sword to cut off any ideas and thinking. Commuting between Baldy and Austria was an interesting experience, helping Genro with sesshin after I was ordained by Joshu Roshi in 1989. It went on until I moved to the US in 1994, I practically participated and helped out in all retreats that Genro gave in Austria and Germany.

Last October Rinzai-ji hosted a special Dai-sesshin for the European sangha – and Genro came. It was nice to be with him again, after so many years that had passed since we sat together. Great gratitude is in my heart for having been introduced to this path by Genro – without that I would not be who and what I am today, nor would I be where I am. This shall stand as my expression of my deepest respect for the teacher Genro, who gave birth to me as a practitioner. In a book to commemorate 15 years of Bodhidharma Zendo in Vienna I wrote something like: “I see Genro as a father, who helped conceive me as a Zen practitioner, and Joshu Roshi as a mother who is now trying to make a man out of the child.” This hold true to this day.

Genro -

Countless thanks and my deepest gratitude shall be expressed here for your life, your work, and your teaching. You have touched many lives, and as for me, given me a life full of meaning, wonder, and the foundation to move towards a more mature human being through Zen practice.

Thank you,

Kyoon Dokuro, Osho
杏園獨樓和尚

This year we are offering our first “Urban Rohatsu”. As an urban place of practice we are here to meet the needs of working people who want to take advantage of the possibility to practice Zen. The Rohatsu Sesshin is the most intense practice period in the traditional monastic setting and we are attempting to bring that intensity into the daily schedule of those who cannot participate in a residential Rohatsu retreat.

We start out on Monday, December 6 with the regular evening schedule. Throughout the week there will be morning sitting from 5:30 am till 7:30 am. The morning schedule includes choka, the morning chanting, and a lot of sitting. Participants will leave, go to work, to school, or whatever their day demands of them and return in the evening for the regular 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm schedule. There will be a Dharma Talk on Monday evening, Wednesday morning, and Friday evening; the Tuesday and Thursday sittings will offer the opportunity for informal interviews with the abbot.

The high point of the Urban Rohatsu will be the weekend: Saturday from 6:00 am – 9:00 pm, three formal meals, a full sesshin-like schedule that consists of zazen, kinhin, Dharma Talk, informal interviews, and a short cleaning period called nitten soji. Unlike other retreats we hold during the year, there will be no work period (samu) and that time will be replaced with sitting. Following this strict schedule will allow for an intense opportunity to relate to the spirit of Rohatsu. Sunday morning we’ll begin at 7:00 am, have an informal silent breakfast at 9:00 am, sit a little more, and end with the jodo-e (成道会) ceremony, celebrating Buddha’s enlightenment.

The sittings during the week are free, as usual we ask for a voluntary contribution of $3 – $5 for a sitting. For Saturday and Sunday we are asking for contributions to cover the food expenses.

Saturday

All day: $85 ($75 for members)
Part-time: $30 per meal ($25 for members)

Sunday

All day: $25 ($20 for members)

Signup is required for the weekend portion to allow for proper food planning. Please contact us to sign-up via e-mail or leave a message at 617-491-8857.

On Sunday, September 19, 2010, Kyōon Dokurō ordained his first disciple and also the first nun of Hōun-an, Dharma Cloud Hermitage. The ordination ceremony was attended by members of the Sangha, guests and ended with an informal vegetarian lunch.

We welcome Myōki (明気) McTighe to our sangha as an ordained disciple in training and wish her all the best in her Zen training within the Rinzai-ji tradition. Myōki started her practice with Teido Stephens, who is a disciple of Kozan Gentei Stewart, who studied with Sasaki Roshi and teaches in North Carolina. When Myōki moved to the Boston area for a new job she searched for a place to sit and joined the practitioners at Dharma Cloud Hermitage in 2005. Since then she has been a steady presence in the Zendo and attended several week-long retreats with Sasaki Roshi. Her training will continue locally but also include frequent participation in Dai-sesshin at training facilities where Sasaki Roshi teaches.

The ordained sangha at the temple now consists of the Vice-abbess Shūko, Myōki, and the Abbot, Dokurō. Together with the other practitioners we will continue to further a strong place of Zen practice that is sincere, genuine, and welcoming.

Weekly Schedule

The Fall 2010 schedule starts on Monday, September 13, 2010. The schedule is like last year’s schedule, offering Monday and Wednesday evenings from 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm, and the traditional Sunday morning schedule from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm. The Sunday schedule includes chanting the entire Sutra Book,  including Chapter 25 of the Lotos Sutra. Tuesday morning sitting from 7:00 am to 8:00 am is held as announced in the schedule listing.

At the bottom of the current schedule page the events for the upcoming 30 days in advance are displayed. The list updates automatically. Please check the schedule should you be unsure if there is sitting, like on Monday holidays or holiday weekends.

Open House

Once a month the Open House offers guests and newcomers a glimpse of formal Zen training. An abbreviated schedule is followed by refreshments and the opportunity to ask questions and chat with sangha members. The dates for the Open House events are: October 6, November 3, and December 1. The Open House begins at 7:30 pm and ends around 9:00 pm. Everyone is welcome, no prior arrangements need to be made, just stop by and bring a friend along!

Urban Rohatsu Retreat

The monastic practice of celebrating the historical Buddha’s enlightenment is by sitting seven days in the most severe retreat of the yearly calendar. In the urban setting that Hōun-an serves, we adjust the format and offer our first “Urban Rohatsu” from Monday, December 6 through Sunday, December 12. The commemoration of Buddha’s enlightenment will begin with the Monday evening schedule, at 7:30 pm. Throughout the work week sittings will be offered from 5:30 am to 7:30 am in the morning, and every evening from 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm. Saturday will be a full day of sitting, starting at 6 am through 9 pm (including three meals), Sunday will begin at 7 am (with breakfast) and end in the celebration of Jodo-e at 11 am.

Participation in the weekday sittings of the Urban Rohatsu is on a donation basis, no registration is required. The weekend portion of the retreat requires registration and a deposit to participate. Details about the requested contribution will be posted.

On Sunday, September 19, the Fall/Winter season opens. A very special event will be included in this opening sitting: an ordination ceremony, Tokudo-shiki  得度式. The regular sitting schedule will begin at 10 am with formal tea, followed by a period of Zazen. The ordination ceremony begins at 11 am.

Please feel free to join us for the sitting or the ceremony. The ordination marks an important event for Dharma Cloud Hermitage, we are taking on the first ordained disciple that is directly affiliated with the temple. Join us in welcoming the newly ordained member of our sangha.