September 2022, Issue 89

Editorial

Welcome to the September edition of Myoju magazine. The theme for practice in this third quarter has been Harmony: Practice and Study, reflected in much of the content of this issue.

At the time of writing the Jikishoan sangha has just concluded a five-week hybrid retreat period, our 70th retreat to date, combining online and face to face practice, training and study. In the final week of retreat we gathered together for intense, intimate practice centred each day around four periods of zazen, from early morning to late evening, Teisho study and community practice.

At our March-April retreat Ekai Osho taught on Master Sekito Kisen’s Sandōkai – The Harmony of Difference and Equality. The themes of lineage, transmission and actualisation in practice continued during the latest retreat period, with Ekai Osho teaching on Hōkyō Zanmai – Jewel Mirror Samadhi by Zen Master Tōzan Ryokai. Both are important texts in the Soto Zen lineage. In this issue’s Dharma Talk, ‘Mind Field’ Ekai Osho draws on Hokyō Zanmai and Master Dōgen’s Genjokoan to speak about the practice of Nyoze – suchness or just this.

During July the sangha joined Ekai Osho in remembering and paying tribute to the many great and important teachers and Dharma friends who have helped guide him in his monastic career, reminding us that, “we become human beings through the guidance and education of great teachers”. In ‘The Importance of Memorials’, Ekai Osho teaches us that remembrance is a practice of purification.

We also mourn the recent passing in July of Tsugen Narasaki Roshi, brother of Ekai Osho’s transmission teacher Ikko Narasaki Roshi, and the Abbot of Zuioji Monastery and Founder of Tokozan, our home temple in West Heidelberg.

On September 11 the Jikishoan community held its Annual General Meeting at the Australian Shiatsu College and online. The next Committee of Management has been nominated, bringing into effect a fresh start to the year. Once again, my deep thanks to everyone who has contributed to the production of Myoju magazine.

In gassho, Margaret Kōkyu Lynch — Coordinator

Read this Myoju (file in Google Drive)