Norman Fischer & Kaz Tanahashi: 07-18-2014: Dogen’s “Time Being” Sesshin (Part 1)

Summary: Series Description Roshi Norman Fischer, Sensei Kathie Fischer and Sensei Kazuaki Tanahashi lead a sesshin to end the summer practice period, examining Dogen’s “Time-Being” (Uji). Episode Description: In this talk Sensei Kaz elucidates line-by-line the Yaoshan poem which opens Dogen’s “Time Being,” then reads from Ruth Ozeki’s novel “A Tale for the Time Being” as a kind of commentary. He speaks of two things zazen is good for -- a utilitarian zazen which finds personal insight in zazen’s deeper waters, and a liberating zazen which opens wider than personal problems and visions.  Roshi Norman reads from his unpublished book “Magnolias All at Once,” which counterposes passages from his own translation of “Being Time” with selected poetry from the late Leslie Scalapino, whose ideas of time were deeply informed by Dogen. He also paints a sensitive portrait of counting the breath, following the breath, and doing nothing as a progression into unfabricated simplicity and aliveness, with a coda about Keizan’s method of entrusting the whole cosmos to the cosmic mudra, to the feeling in one’s hands. Bios: Sensei Kazuaki Tanahashi, born and trained in Japan and active in the United States since 1977, has had solo exhibitions of his calligraphic paintings internationally. He has taught East Asian calligraphy at eight international conferences of calligraphy and lettering arts. Also a peace and environmental worker for decades, he is a Fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science. He is world-renowned for his translations into English of Zen Master Dogen’s writings. Roshi Zoketsu Norman Fischer is a poet and Zen Buddhist priest. For many years he has taught at the San Francisco Zen Center, the oldest and largest of the new Buddhist organizations in the West, where he served as Co-abbot from 1995-2000. He is presently a Senior Dharma Teacher there as well as the founder and spiritual director of the Everyday Zen Foundation, an organization dedicated to adapting Zen Buddhist teachings to Western culture. To access the entire series, please click on the link below: Dogen's “Time Being” Sesshin Series: All 5 Parts