Newsletter of the Prairie Zen Center    -    515 S. Prospect, Champaign, IL 61821   -    June 2002

Current Schedule
All sittings are at 515 S. Prospect, Champaign (NW corner of Green and Prospect). See note below for changes in the summer schedule.


Weekdays: (Monday-Friday): 6:00 to 6:50 a.m.
Tuesdays: 7:30 to 8:45 p.m.
     Daisan available
Thursdays: 7:30 to 8:45 p.m.
     Unstructured during summer. Daisan available
Saturdays: 8:00 to 9:00 a.m.
     Unstructured, sit or do slow kinhin as you wish
Sundays: (daisan available)
     8:45 a.m. Samu (cleaning/set up)
     9:00 a.m. Zazen (sitting)
     10:00 a.m. Zazen/Introduction for Newcomers
     10:45 a.m. Service
     11:00 a.m. Dharma talk

You are welcome to join Sundays sittings at the beginning of any sitting period. An introduction to Zen practice is available during the 10:00 a.m. sitting period. This schedule is approximate; please arrive early. Please wait in the living room area on the 2nd floor until the beginning of walking meditation and enter the zendo at that time. During sesshin, the regular schedule is suspended.

 

Phone Interview (Daisan) Schedule 
Out-of-towners can reach Elihu at these times:
Mondays: 9:00 to 10:00 a.m.
Tuesdays: 7:20 to 7:55 p.m.
Thursdays: 7:20 to 8:00 p.m.


The Center is closed the day before and the day after sesshin, all phone interviews are also canceled on those days.

Also, Elihu will not be available for phone interviews the following days:

  Mondays: June 17, July 8, August 19. Thursdays: July 4, August 15.

 

Phone and Web 
(217)355-8835

e-mail: pzc@priairezen.org
http://www.prairiezen.org
Use the e-mail address above to request the newsletter electronically.

 

Schedule of Upcoming Events
June 8 PZC Board Meeting, 9:00 a.m.
June 15 All-day Sitting, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
June 16 Father's Day Service, 10:45 a.m.
July 11-14 Sesshin
Aug 28-Sept 2 Sesshin
Sept. 10 Fall class begins
Nov 7-10 Sesshin

 

 

Summer Schedule Changes
The Tuesday night class will be suspended for the summer. Zazen and interviews will be available on Tuesday evenings from June 4 to August 20.
Beginning June 6, the Thursday night sitting will be unstructured. Beginning and ending bells only will be rung. You may do zazen or kinhin as you wish. The regular Thursday night schedule will resume September 5.

 

 

Precept Talks Available
"Ordinary Life, Wondrous Life," a written collection of talks on the ten Bodhisattva Precepts by Elihu Genmyo Smith are available at PZC for $10. The talks can be mailed for an additional $4 for shipping and handling.

 

 

Tuesday Night Class
The Tuesday night class will resume on September 10. This class will be an opportunity for exploration/study/practice of the ten Precepts using the "Ordinary Life, Wondrous Life" text mentioned above. More information about this class will be forthcoming.

 

 

July Sesshin
The July sesshin is scheduled for July 11 to 14 at the Center. Please register for this sesshin no later than June 28 so that plans may be finalized.

 

Dawn Zazen


The summer is a wonderful time for dawn zazen in the zendo, 6 to 6:50 a.m. The warm weather and early light make it easier to come to the zendo and enjoy sitting as a start to our day. If time is limited, one may leave at the first bell (circa 6:30 a.m.). In any case, sitting with others as the day wakes is a firm base for our daily life and ongoing practice.

 

Recent Publications
Two of Joko Beck's Dharma successors have new books:

BEING ZEN: Bringing Meditation to Life,
by Ezra Bayda

ORDINARY MIND: Exploring the Common Ground of Zen and Psychotherapy. By Barry Magid

 

From Joko:
"When you sit, don't expect to be noble. When we sit with what is, even for a few minutes, then this presence that we are is like a mirror. We see everything. We see what we are: our efforts to look good, to be first, or to be last. We see our anger, our anxiety, our pomposity, our so-called spirituality. Real spirituality is just being with all that. If we can really be with who we are, Transformation occurs."

Charlotte Joko Beck

 

 

 

Please support the Center in its upcoming fund drive.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are newcomers welcome?

Yes, newcomers are welcome to attend any scheduled sittings. Generally, we encourage newcomers who have never practiced Zen or who have sat to attend an orientation held each Sunday morning at 10 a.m.

 

What should I wear to the Zen Center?

Wear loose comfortable clothes, something you would feel comfortable wearing to sit on a cushion on the floor or on a chair.

 

I belong to a church/synagogue. Is that a problem?

No, Zen practice does not require believing in specific doctrines. There are Zen Center member who practice/sit and also attend church/synagogue.


Do I have to read anything/know anything about Zen before coming to the Center?

No, Zen practice is not about "knowing" something in the usual intellectual, conceptual sense. Zen practice is experiencing life directly. The best way to "know" Zen practice is to "do" it.

I am stiff/older/injured and can't sit on a cushion. Can I still do Zen practice?

Yes, many people sit on chairs rather than cushions. 

Do I have to become a member of the Center to sit at the Center?

No, the Center is open to all. Those who regularly attend sittings and interviews or call for phone interviews are asked to become members and support the Center.

I don't live in Champaign-Urbana. How can I participate?

More than half of our members do not live in the Champaign-Urbana area. These members phone for interviews on a regular basis, come to sit at the Center from time-to-time, and maintain their sitting practice with groups in their area or on their own. Most of the members attend sesshin (3-5 day sitting opportunities) as their lives permit. You are welcome to call during the times scheduled for phone interviews.

 

Right Here Now

Dharma Talk by Elihu Genmyo Smith
January 20, 2002


Now

Now you read this.


What is "now"? Is "now" a continuation of "before"? Is life a stream in which "I exist"? Am "I" passing through time?

Let us explore practice. Do you believe "I have habits of mind, problems, that I must work with and change?" Right now - what do you lack? Being present, is it "Now I'm different than I was before?" Appreciating sitting, is there a sense, "I've been sitting for a few days and now I can feel more presence, more samadhi, I am better?" 

Right now, the past does not move to the present and the present to the future- past moving to present, present to future, are constructs of a self centered way of seeing and functioning. Our practice is being present. Whether we emphasize mindfulness, emphasize mindlessness, or emphasize no-mind, practice is awareness, experiencing; this is the practice of now. Holding to self-centeredness, to thoughts, beliefs and reactions, cuts us off from experiencing life, from freely responding. We are cut off from the joy, peace and satisfaction that is our life, and instead live in the midst of the limits of beliefs and reactions and the resulting suffering, pain and harming. Noticing holding thoughts, being present, allows the holding self-centeredness, allows the beliefs that are dissatisfaction, to be transparent, to not limit life; responding now, we are life as it is.

Now contains past, present, future, all right now. Because it is now, I practice. Because it is now, practice reaches far beyond what I figure out - beyond figuring out "how does this work", and even "how does being present affect my thoughts and habits." Body-mind-moment, being present now, is not limited by my understanding. Right now is the joy, peace and satisfaction of life. Now is exactly this, being just this moment. Now is healing of seeming self-centeredness, the rift of self and other, of past-future. Ongoing practice is at-one-ment, at one noticing held thoughts, at one being bodily moment, at one functioning. Now heals holding to self; it is noticing holding thoughts of what was done to me, what I did, anger, hurt, should haves, all the stories and suffering of actions and reactions. Expressing sorrow and regret, accepting blame and consequences, now. Being now as this is!

There is a nice koan (in Mumonkan Case 28) about an old woman who sells snacks at the roadside. A traveling monk (Teshan) comes by and asks her for a snack. She asks, "what is it you are carrying in your backpack." He says, "Oh, it is the Diamond Sutra and my commentaries on it. "Oh," she says, "good, good. The Diamond Sutra states, 'past mind is unattainable, present mind is unattainable, future mind is unattainable.' Which mind are you going to refresh with this snack? Answer and I will give you the snack. If you can't, you can't have it." How do you respond?

The sutra states "past mind is unattainable, present mind is unattainable, future mind is unattainable." What is it that is not the past, present or future? Right now. What is this? This sitting - it does not matter whether you know it or not. No need to figure out sitting, it is not about figuring out. Being this functioning life is our practice, is our sitting.

In a commentary of the Mumonkan (Gateless Gate) there is the phrase "if you realize this (koan) you will walk hand in hand with Joshu, you will walk hand in
hand with the ancestors." They lived three to five centuries before the Mumonkan was compiled; they lived more than ten centuries ago. Is Mumon being metaphorical? No, it is not metaphor, not magic. Zazen right now heals "past", atones "past"; being at one right now truly is being at one with the seeming past. The past is right now. This is the opportunity of sitting, of noticing the held emotion-thought, of being present. Zazen is to be the joyful present, jumping into the water of our life, being the water of life in which we swim. This is who we are. At times of discomfort and problems, we may think suffering and dissatisfaction result from conditions - if I practice then I will go from conditioned to unconditioned, from suffering to non-suffering. Thinking this way, we separate conditioned and unconditioned. Right now, conditioned and unconditioned are not two, Absolute and relative are not two; it is only holding to self-centered thoughts that makes them distinct. Because experiencing is boundless, it is straightforward, everyday activity. Preparing food, eating, cleaning up. Being sick, taking medicine, being well. Unborn is this born moment. Practice is ordinary life; being the unconditioned conditioned functioning that we always are, this. So Shakyamuni Buddha says "All beings of the great earth are at this moment enlightened with me; All beings are the wisdom and the perfection of the Tathagatha." Right now, past, present and future are now. 

To try to make zazen, our life, fit into a 'past to present to future movement' perspective, limits us, limits our practice, limits this moment here now. Holding to such thoughts turns practice effort into a way of changing this to something else, believing the self-centered ideas, even if it is a self-centered improvement idea. Experiencing, being present, is not somewhere else. It is beyond these seeming limits, the limits and parameters of our thoughts. Thoughts are just thoughts, no more, no less; they are not what is so. Practice is not getting new ideas or new feelings, not about figuring things out, but being, noticing, responding, functioning. Responding to circumstances, being this body-mind world as it is. It is being thoughts/feelings "I like", thoughts/feelings "I do not like", pleasurable, painful; responding in the midst of this, experiencing this emotion-thought physical moment as it is. Giving our self to our self. This moment functioning. Now. Please enjoy this wonderful life that you are.

(c) 2002 Elihu Genmyo Smith