This past Saturday, members of Treetop Zen Center observed Fusatsu, or precept renewal. Each month, on the first Saturday, Treetop completes this special service, during which Zen students renew their commitment to practicing the Sixteen Bodhisattva Precepts. In addition, each month Treetop examines one of the precepts in greater depth and discuss each student’s understanding of the precept and practice of it.

The precept for May is “I vow to take up the Way of Not Being Greedy.”

This precept has also been expressed thusly by two of our most revered patriarchs:

Bodhidharma – “Self-nature is subtle and mysterious. In the realm of the ungilded Dharma, not creating a veneer of attachment is called the Precept of Not Misusing Sex.” (This precept is also commonly translated as “Not Misusing Sex.”)

Dogen Zenji – “The Three Wheels are pure and clear. When you have nothing to desire, you follow the way of all Buddhas.”

Where are you in your understanding and practice of taking up “The Way of Not Being Greedy”?

Share your thoughts in the comments.

Due to the fact that there are two special retreats in May – Writing as Reflection on the 22nd and 23rd, and a Deep Ecology Weekend Retreat at Acadia National Park from May 29 to June 1 – the weekend sit previously scheduled for May 8th and 9th is cancelled.

Here’s a poem by Red Hawk, who is white but received it from his spiritual teacher, who must have taught him well.

We Drink with Cupped Hands

On our knees drinking with cupped hands
from our creek
is a kind of praying for my daughters and me.
In time of drouth
there is nothing holier
than the water in the bowl of our hands
poured over our unpraised faces
or sipped on bent knee,
giving thanks.
Religion is such a simple thing:
either it is cupping hands in deep gratitude
and filling them with creek water,
swallowing God whole
or it is nothing at all.

A discussion at the zendo this weekend caused someone to bring up the traditional evening gatha, chanted each night in many Zen monasteries:

Let me respectfully remind you,
Life and death are of supreme importance.
Time passes by swiftly and opportunity is lost.
Each of us should strive to awaken.
Awaken! Take heed, do not squander your life.

A good reminder for all of us!

There will be zazen tonight at Treetop Zen Center, 293 Country Club Road, in Oakland, at 7 p.m. Instruction is provided for beginners. Just come about 15 minutes early. Visit the Treetop Web site for directions to the zendo.

See you there!

Here is another reflection on the Paradise Below Zero retreat, this time courtesy of head student Peter Joryu Harris:

On the Edge of the Unincorporated

East of the North Road that leads to no named town
the weather wilded whenever when we were in the yurt,
big multi-toned throat singing stereo winds and rain
splat choruses sweeping in from can’t-say-wheres.

But when we emerged it calmed, snowed lightly
or not. Thought burden lifting step by step,
we did slow kinhin in snowshoes down untracked trails
through beech, hemlock, maple, spruce and pine.
An hour walk, a hundred yards,
glimpses of the great white empty snowfield
of frozen Moosehead, Mount Kineo incarnating
in eyeblink flashbacks in gaps of treebark,
animal tracks, trembling needles,
algae blackened hemlocks, pearl white and
pale green lichen swatches painted on the north
faces of older maple trees.

Each morning the night’s snow outlined branches
with two-inch eyebrows that tumbled in the slightest
sun-awakened breeze. Each minute, fresh blood
in our ears: Day One must-do mind
giving way to Day Two deeper breathing
seeping up through rib branches unawares. .
Day Three morning walk going nowhere:
blinkers, headbands loosen, slip free,
padlocks fall off the lips of trees,
doors open in the snow banks, skin portals
unbatten, blue flags snap open the rootless sky.

Each month, the Treetop Zen Center sangha members renew their commitment to practicing the Sixteen Bodhisattva Precepts. In addition, each month Treetop examines one of the precepts in greater depth and discuss each student’s understanding of the precept and practice of it.

The precept for April is “I vow to take up the Way of Not Stealing.”

This precept has also been expressed thusly by two of our most revered patriarchs:

Bodhidharma – “Self-nature is subtle and mysterious. In the realm of the unattainable Dharma, not having thoughts of gaining is called the Precept of Not Stealing.” Dogen Zenji: T

Dogen Zenji – “The self and things of the world are just as they are. The gate of emancipation is open.”

Where are you in your understanding and practice of taking up “The Way of Not Stealing”?

Share your thoughts in the comments.

It’s been nearly a month since six adventurous souls set out for a weekend of practicing in the wilderness during Paradise Below Zero, one of the Zen and Deep Ecology Retreats offered here at Treetop Zen Center. Here are some reflections on the experience from Mary Jo Chomu Carlsen, a longtime Treetop student: