ZENDO ROLES SIGNUP
Roles defined
Shika Administrator and director, works with Gendo to organize events.
Jikijitsu In charge of bells and clappers leading zazen (meditation session).
Shoji Doorkeeper, tea server, welcomes and looks after the needs of participants.
Densu Chant leader, Han (unless others assigned by Jikijitsu), butsudan (altar) maintenance.
Tenzo Cook, in charge of food for retreats.
To commit to an assigned role, copy and search this link:
<https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1LfSk7VOQlLC38ktaOEUkk4Y2KCOfcRLADdnmC6nZg3U/edit?usp=sharing>
Roles defined
Shika Administrator and director, works with Gendo to organize events.
Jikijitsu In charge of bells and clappers leading zazen (meditation session).
Shoji Doorkeeper, tea server, welcomes and looks after the needs of participants.
Densu Chant leader, Han (unless others assigned by Jikijitsu), butsudan (altar) maintenance.
Tenzo Cook, in charge of food for retreats.
To commit to an assigned role, copy and search this link:
<https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1LfSk7VOQlLC38ktaOEUkk4Y2KCOfcRLADdnmC6nZg3U/edit?usp=sharing>
MORNING PROTOCOL
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Leader
• Ring bell once, bow, stand, light candle/incense, three great bows, (Han hit by others, see below), return to seat. • Two claps, bow and be seated. • One clap • One bell • Three bells, sitting period begins ****** • One bell ends the sit • Two claps, bow and stand, hands in front, left over right (standing break) • One clap • One bell, bow and be seated. • Three bells, sitting period begins ****** • One bell ends the sit (Chant sheet on screen if needed) • Three bells, chant first two lines • One bell, begin drum rhythm, group chanting starts. • One bell at first repeat • Two bells at second repeat, bell at ‘gaku,’ ‘mu’ and ’gon’ (chanting ends) • One bell, then two quick bells, then roll as people stand (leader sits for great bows) • One bell (first bow) , then muffled bell (stand) • One bell (second bow), then muffled bell (stand) • Two bells (last bow), then muffled bell (stand) • Three bells, then small bow all together End |
Participant
• Remain seated, zazen posture. • Rest break, chance to adjust posture • After posture change, bow and resume zazen posture. • Sitting period begins. ****** • Remain seated • Bow and stand, hands in front, left over right (standing break). • Hands together (gasho) • Bow and be seated • Sitting period begins. ****** • Remain seated • Hands together (gasho). Begin chanting • End chanting • At two quick bells, stand for great bows • First great bow • Second great bow • Third great bow • Small bow (standing), End |
SUNDAY PROTOCOL
Jikijitsu (Time keeper)
Shoji (Tea server, Han, and chant drum)
Densu (Chant leader)
PROTOCOL
TEA
Shoji: clap clap
Jiki: bell
Shoji: does tea service
Shoji: at end of tea service clap
Jiki: bell bell,
OPENING BOWS
Jiki: stands, small bow at seat, then small bow at bowing mat, small bow at Butsudan, lights incense…
Shoji: Han
Jiki: …walks back round bowing mat, then 3 great bows, ends with small bow, while
stepping back with right foot.
Jiki: Returns to seat, bows clap clap
Jiki: Sits,eveyone takes out chant books
CHANTING
Jiki: clap bell
Densu: big gong x 3, starts chant, then small gong repeated, slowly speeding up to chant pace, then rapidly tapering off.
Shoji: chant drum everyone chants
Densu: Strikes big gong three times in the course of the chant,
Densu: small gong three times as the end of chant approaches.
Densu: Starts next chant begin with intro (no bells), then small gong repeated, slowly speeding up as before. ( “Kozen Daito” beings with just one small gong)
Jiki: At end of “Shu jo mu hen,” bell for great bows. (same as morning routine)
KINHIN(walking)
Jiki: clap Jiki stands hands in gasho (others already standing)
Jiki: clap hands in sasho, start walking
Jiki: kinhin ends with clap (all hands in gasho, stopping at your seat)
Jiki: bell all seated
ZAZEN
Jiki: sit starts with bell bell bell and ends with bell (just like mornings), followed by clap for kinhin (as above)
CLOSING
Jiki: bell (at end of kinhiin, or end of dokusan) stands, others seated
Jiki: (same routine as opening bows, above)
CLOSING CHANT
“Shu Jo Mu Hen” followed by three great bows (as above)
Jikijitsu (Time keeper)
Shoji (Tea server, Han, and chant drum)
Densu (Chant leader)
PROTOCOL
TEA
Shoji: clap clap
Jiki: bell
Shoji: does tea service
Shoji: at end of tea service clap
Jiki: bell bell,
OPENING BOWS
Jiki: stands, small bow at seat, then small bow at bowing mat, small bow at Butsudan, lights incense…
Shoji: Han
Jiki: …walks back round bowing mat, then 3 great bows, ends with small bow, while
stepping back with right foot.
Jiki: Returns to seat, bows clap clap
Jiki: Sits,eveyone takes out chant books
CHANTING
Jiki: clap bell
Densu: big gong x 3, starts chant, then small gong repeated, slowly speeding up to chant pace, then rapidly tapering off.
Shoji: chant drum everyone chants
Densu: Strikes big gong three times in the course of the chant,
Densu: small gong three times as the end of chant approaches.
Densu: Starts next chant begin with intro (no bells), then small gong repeated, slowly speeding up as before. ( “Kozen Daito” beings with just one small gong)
Jiki: At end of “Shu jo mu hen,” bell for great bows. (same as morning routine)
KINHIN(walking)
Jiki: clap Jiki stands hands in gasho (others already standing)
Jiki: clap hands in sasho, start walking
Jiki: kinhin ends with clap (all hands in gasho, stopping at your seat)
Jiki: bell all seated
ZAZEN
Jiki: sit starts with bell bell bell and ends with bell (just like mornings), followed by clap for kinhin (as above)
CLOSING
Jiki: bell (at end of kinhiin, or end of dokusan) stands, others seated
Jiki: (same routine as opening bows, above)
CLOSING CHANT
“Shu Jo Mu Hen” followed by three great bows (as above)
HAN - 7/5/3 pattern
Loud/soft/soft
Loud x7/ soft
Roll (slow, then accelerates, til hammer bounces of its own weight into oblivion)
Loud x5/ soft
Roll (as above)
Loud x3/ soft
Roll (as above)
Soft, soft, Loud
Note: Zoom blurs the distinction between loud and soft, so soft needs to be extra soft.
HAN DEMO
HAN DESCRIPTION (Gendo)
The han is a slab of wood, usually some dense hardwood, often carved on the backside to create a resonant sound. It is struck with a mallet (see video) in a pattern that is traditional in Zen temples. In my training, it was struck in the morning and at night at a time when the half-light of dawn or dusk was just sufficient to reveal the lines in the palm of your hand. In our Center, and on Zoom, it is also struck at the start of morning practice. Traditionally, the han hangs outdoors, to be heard far and wide. At the sound, everyone stops what they are doing. In the Zendo, and on Zoom, practice starts with everyone in Zazen posture. The jikijitsu (practice leader) stands, lights incense and then, as the jikijitsu does three great bows, the han is struck .
The han as a solemn reminder of the passage of time. No time to waste! The han itself is traditionally inscribed with words, translated, in one case, as: "Great is the matter of birth and death, quickly passing, gone, gone. Awake each one, awaken! Don't waste this life!"
Our morning Zen on Zoom involves people inventing hans from available materials in their own homes, shaking the dust from old Zen temples everywhere. Listen carefully and the message is the same.
The han as a solemn reminder of the passage of time. No time to waste! The han itself is traditionally inscribed with words, translated, in one case, as: "Great is the matter of birth and death, quickly passing, gone, gone. Awake each one, awaken! Don't waste this life!"
Our morning Zen on Zoom involves people inventing hans from available materials in their own homes, shaking the dust from old Zen temples everywhere. Listen carefully and the message is the same.
BOWING
How to bow. Bowing is Zen training. To enter the zendo (place of practice), first bow: hands together at chest height (called “gasho”), bending forward at the waist. Then, with hands in gasho, walk to your seat. Facing away from your seat, bow, then sit. Before getting up (as during a rest break), bow. Before leaving a standing position to walk (during a walking break), bow. Before resuming your seated posture, bow. If in doubt about what to do next, bow!
Sometimes we do three great bows. Stand hands in gasho. When the bell rings bend forward from the waist and continue downward to kneeling position on the floor, flattening your body to the floor as much as possible to touch your head to the floor. With hands flat on the floor beside your ears, turn them palm up and lift, then turn them back over flat on the floor. With the muffled strike of the bell stand (see protocol above), hands in gasho. With the next bell, repeat the bow. The third and last bow is announced by two bells. Afterwards, standing once again, the bell sounds three times. On the third bell, hands in gasho, bend at the waist to end with one ‘small’ bow.
Why Bow? There seems some deep human need to humble ourselves in a way that bowing and prostration satisfy. The act of bowing embodies paradox, the experience (“thusness” ) of coming and going; a paradox that is our shared reality with everything.
Bowing in Zen tradition is sometimes accompanied by this chant (translation):
“Bower, bowed to, same empty nature.
Self body, other body, not two.
Bow with all beings, attain liberation.
Manifest the unsurpassable, return to boundless truth.”
nyorai shorai sho ku jaku
jishin ta shintai mu ni
gan gu shujo tai ge datsu
hotsu mujo iki san po
Sometimes we do three great bows. Stand hands in gasho. When the bell rings bend forward from the waist and continue downward to kneeling position on the floor, flattening your body to the floor as much as possible to touch your head to the floor. With hands flat on the floor beside your ears, turn them palm up and lift, then turn them back over flat on the floor. With the muffled strike of the bell stand (see protocol above), hands in gasho. With the next bell, repeat the bow. The third and last bow is announced by two bells. Afterwards, standing once again, the bell sounds three times. On the third bell, hands in gasho, bend at the waist to end with one ‘small’ bow.
Why Bow? There seems some deep human need to humble ourselves in a way that bowing and prostration satisfy. The act of bowing embodies paradox, the experience (“thusness” ) of coming and going; a paradox that is our shared reality with everything.
Bowing in Zen tradition is sometimes accompanied by this chant (translation):
“Bower, bowed to, same empty nature.
Self body, other body, not two.
Bow with all beings, attain liberation.
Manifest the unsurpassable, return to boundless truth.”
nyorai shorai sho ku jaku
jishin ta shintai mu ni
gan gu shujo tai ge datsu
hotsu mujo iki san po