Pictures of What I'm Sewing

When I put up my last post I had trouble adding photos of the vestments that I'm preparing to sew. Fortunately I found a workaround so here they are...

The gentleman in the top picture (my teacher's teacher, Shohaku Okumura Roshi) is wearing the rakusu I described and the one seated in meditation (Kodo Sawaki Roshi, Okumura Roshi's teacher's teacher!) is wearing the okesa...

The rakusu is actually the first thing I'm sewing and mine will be black (as will my okesa). It takes about 40-60 hours to complete based on one's skill level. The okesa takes longer (I think I read three months or so) but it all depends on how much time you have to spend on it...

The third photo in the collage is of the zagu (bowing cloth). The one I'm making will be the same colors as shown but the grey part will be square-shaped rather than cross-shaped...

Feel free to ask any questions you might have about this whole process and I'll do my best to answer. Take care!

Cheers,
Chris

Confessions of a Failed Blogger

It's been a long time since I've posted anything on my blog so maybe you are wondering, "What happened?" Well, literally nothing... :)

Seriously, I thought that I would post more regularly but after writing an entry or two that I never put up, I realized the timing wasn't quite right for blogging. Or at least not at the frequency I anticipated. Realistically I expect the frequency to be more like every few months or so given our schedule and my desire to largely "unplug" while being here. In the meantime I'll continue to communicate with folks via letters, emails, and the occasional phone call (except for my dad who I'll call every 10 days or so because he's just not an email/internet kind of guy)...

Anyway, here I am 8+ months later writing this next entry and having just marked my first full year here at the monastery. The simplest way to express how I feel regarding my experience thus far is with the word "gratitude." I'll say something more about ordination and what it means another time (partly because I'm still learning about it and discovering its meaning for me) but it feels wonderfully fitting to be heading in a direction that I've wanted to walk for a good many years and with the support of dozens of people...

On a purely practical level, I'm grateful that I survived a mild winter (it only got down to 9 degrees and we had little snow so it was a good warm-up for the really cold, snowy ones!) and a hot and humid summer (I've never known what it was like to live in 100% humidity -  or that 100% humidity was really possible, in the mountains especially!). Oh, I survived chiggers and poison ivy, too. All joking aside, there's a lot for which I'm grateful; I could go on about the virtue of the daily schedule, my teacher's generosity, the folks I've met over the last year, the rare opportunity to train largely one-on-one with a teacher, etc. There are innumerable ways in which I am supported in being here and each deserves my honor. Thank you... _/\_

Now that I've been here a year and have completed ten retreats with my teacher, I can begin hands-on preparation for ordaining as a Zen priest/monk. Largely this means that I'll spend a lot of time hand-sewing the religious vestments which I'll use almost daily. The three garments I'll be making are an okesa (a rectangular robe worn around the body during meditation and services), a rakusu (a small version of the robe worn around the neck for more informal occasions), and a zagu (a bowing cloth used during services/ceremonies). [For whatever reason, I'm not able to upload a picture of these but our friend Mr. Google can help you out if you want to see photos]...

It looks like the actual ordination ceremony will take place in about a year so I have that much time to complete all the sewing. We recently purchased the cloth with which I'll sew. I then had it washed, dried and pressed at a dry cleaners (all eight yards of it!) while visiting my dad at the end of August, so I'm ready to dive into this next stage. Probably I'll actually start making stitches in the next week...

Perhaps the next time I sit down to blog I'll have some pictures to show you of where I'm at with all this sewing (which a friend of mine has accurately described as a combination of origami and quilting). In the meantime, be well and thank you...

Warm bows,
Chris

Breathing Under Water

Well, after saying that I would probably only be blogging on "4" and "9" days, here I am on a "5" day writing! Yesterday would normally have been an off day for us but we had to take the monastery truck in to have the 4-wheel drive serviced otherwise we would be stuck out here in the woods should inclement weather come along (we have quite a steep driveway!). So yesterday was a work day and today is a day off...

I've spent a great deal of today reading. That's one of the things I like most about living out here. Our daily schedule includes an 80-minute study period and it's one of my favorite parts of the day but I also find myself reading quite a bit on my days off, too. Actually I wasn't planning on reading a lot today but after breakfast I found myself gravitating toward a book by the Franciscan priest Richard Rohr entitled "Breathing Under Water."

I first learned about Richard Rohr when a couple of folks I know doing 12-Step work recommended his writings to me. Given that he is a non-dualist and part of the Perennial Tradition, I find his presentation of Christian teachings quite exciting and a nice complement to the Zen/Buddhist reading that is a large part of my life. "Breathing Under Water" is about spirituality and the 12-Steps, looking at addiction from a broader sense. In the first chapter, he lists four assumptions about addiction that are the basis for the book:

1) We are all addicts;
2) "Stinking thinking" is the universal addiction;
3) All societies are addicted to themselves and create deep codependency on them;
4) Some form of alternative consciousness is the only freedom from this self and cultural lies.

By "stinking thinking" he means our usual, binary, dualistic ways of looking at the world. I think an essential point of the book's message can be summed up in these two sentences: "You will not learn to actively draw upon a Larger Source until your usual resources are depleted and revealed as wanting. In fact, you will not even know there is a Larger Source until your own sources and resources fail you." I think this is pretty much what Zen Buddhism is pointing to as well but using different language.

Anyway, I'll say no more so as not to spoil it for anyone who might want to read it. His book "Eager To Love: The Alternative Way of Francis of Assisi" is also fantastic and currently I'm working through his book of daily meditations called "Yes, And..." which gets two thumbs up.

So there ya have it: I'm living in a Buddhist monastery, moving toward ordination, and digging the writings of a modern-day Catholic contemplative as well as a lot of good Zen stuff (and even some fiction!).

Happy Friday!

The Blog Experiment

First of all, "Happy New Year"! I hope 2016 turns out to be filled with many spectacular moments for you and those you love...

Secondly, welcome to my blog! This is somewhat of an experiment (as the title implies) aimed at keeping friends and family in the loop as I live and practice at a monastery located in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas. I've never blogged before and I'm hoping it will also serve as way for me to reflect on my time here at Gyobutsu-ji. In the end, though, it may be neither of these things or both. Who knows?

The title of the blog refers to the traditional days off at a Zen monastery. Basically I'm off on any day that ends in a four or a nine. There are other days too, like today, Christmas, Thanksgiving - the typical holidays that folks have off. But, by and large, I'll mostly be posting on four and nine days, a couple of times a month or so. And maybe I'll throw in a picture or two now and then...

On that note, consider this the official ending of my first official blog post. Be well! :)