Sanshin Zen Community

We are an international Soto Zen Buddhist sangha founded in 1996 by Shohaku Okumura. Our practice is centered on zazen and the study of Eihei Dōgen.

[Sanshin Zen Community @Sanshinji]

"In general, there has never been a time that has not yet arrived, nor buddha-nature that is not yet manifested." - Dōgen, Shōbōgenzō Busshō

[Sanshin Zen Community @Sanshinji]

New talk by Shohaku Okumura on Youtube: Kosho Uchiyama's Life, Death, and Practice https://t.co/qnlfDq1s2d via @YouTube

[Sanshin Zen Community @Sanshinji]

Okumura Roshi will participate in a symposium this Saturday organized by the temple Shinnyoji in Florence, Italy. His talk will be at 10:45 am EDT. Interpretation is available for the other talks in Italian. Registration is free but required: https://t.co/wRstbgGseb

[Sanshin Zen Community @Sanshinji]

Just a reminder that the 2022 May Genzo-e is coming up. Okumura Roshi will give only three more Genzo-e before retiring next year. Check it out here:
https://t.co/nN6qMfuU3L

[Sanshin Zen Community @Sanshinji]

Registration for May Genzo-e 2022, in which we will study Shobogenzo Busshō (Buddha Nature), is now open! Okumura Roshi will retire next year, so we will only be able to do a handful more of these.
https://t.co/nkqbDGomvy

[Sanshin Zen Community @Sanshinji]

Hoko's talk from this past Sunday on Dogen's take on Right Mindfulness is now up on our YouTube channel. Check it out here: https://t.co/ru42EWGhpu

[Sanshin Zen Community @Sanshinji]

Hoko is wrapping up her talk now. If you'd like to tune in to our future Dharma talks, check out our website (https://t.co/bV4yxpqLfW) to get the Zoom links for next time. They are also posted on YouTube a day or two after as well.

[Sanshin Zen Community @Sanshinji]

Dōgen's comment on right mindfulness comes from Shōbōgenzō Sanjūshichihon Bodai Bunpō (Thirty-seven Factors of Awakening) close to the end of the fascicle if you'd like to check it out.

[Sanshin Zen Community @Sanshinji]

It's important to note that Dōgen also says, "to say that being without mindfulness is right mindfulness is non-Buddhism." It's not that mindfulness isn't important, it's simply that it is always manifesting right before our eyes.

[Sanshin Zen Community @Sanshinji]

Dōgen says that "to think that wisdom is containted within mindfulness is to be fettered in the extreme." For Dōgen, wisdom is reality itself. It is not the result of any practice; it is already right in front of us.

[Sanshin Zen Community @Sanshinji]

Dōgen also says that mindfulness is completely expressing our ignorance. Dōgen always points out that samsara and nirvana are completely interpenetrating. Therefore, only by seeing our unending ignorance can we actualize wisdom.

[Sanshin Zen Community @Sanshinji]

For Dōgen, mindfulness goes beyond distinction of the person being mindful vs. the object of minfulness. Instead, the interconnected whole beyond divisions is itself mindfulness. It is never hidden.

[Sanshin Zen Community @Sanshinji]

Hoko is delivering the Sunday Dharma talk at the moment. She is speaking on Right Mindfulness from the eightfold noble path. She'll explain why "mindfulness" in Soto Zen is a bit different from the popular understanding.

[Sanshin Zen Community @Sanshinji]

Ever wonder what "Right Effort" means in a Buddhist context? Sanshinji Vice Abbot Hoko Karnegis talks on what it means on our YouTube channel. Check it out: https://t.co/SzDbBiT7Fg

[Sanshin Zen Community @Sanshinji]

"If you aren’t careful, you’ll spend your whole life doing nothing but waiting for your ordinary-person hopes to someday be fulfilled." Kōdō Sawaki

[Sanshin Zen Community @Sanshinji]

Dōju Layton spoke this morning on whether Dōgen Zen fits into the framework of "sudden" or "gradual" awakening. Check it out here:
https://t.co/ufNGe2ORDH

[Sanshin Zen Community @Sanshinji]

For those of us on social media all day: "Reading while ignoring the way of practice is like a person studying a perscription but forgetting to take the medicine. What is the benefit?" - Dōgen Zenji, Bendōwa

[Sanshin Zen Community @Sanshinji]

"The world that humans beings know is only the world they can glimpse through the peephole of karmic delusions." - Kodo Sawaki

[Sanshin Zen Community @Sanshinji]

@robosovami https://t.co/Ql5lWSPJur

[Sanshin Zen Community @Sanshinji]

In Dōgen's poem, although the bright leaves are covered with snow, both are still there. The conventional truth of the human world perfectly interpenetrates with the absolute non-discriminative truth. This is our zazen: both are there, and we are not trying to remove anything.

[Sanshin Zen Community @Sanshinji]

@robosovami 長月の / 紅葉の上に / 雪ふりぬ / 見ん人誰か / 歌をよまざらん
Naga-tsuki no / momiji no ue ni / yuki furinu / min hito dareka / uta wo yoma zaran

In the month of long nights
it snowed
on the bright leaves
Why don’t those who see this
compose a poem?