There is a scroll hung in the tea room 独坐大雄峰 Dokuza Daiyūhō, Sitting alone on the great sublime peak. Or sometimes translated as Sitting alone on the great hero peak. Doku (alone,) za (sit), dai (great), yū (sublime), hō (peak).
The Zen story is that Hyakujo Zenji was asked by a monk, “What …
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Yesterday for Memorial Day, we had our first virtual chakai at Issoan. The theme was “Then and now.” Since we are still on lock down for the Corona virus in Oregon, we had to do it via Zoom. There were many innovations since the students cannot come to Issoan for lessons, and creative interpretations of …
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There is a time in temae, the tea procedure, where the first guest asks the host to haiken the utensils. Haiken means to look closely with appreciation. The etiquette for haiken is to first say “osaki ni” to the next guest before placing the utensil in front of you. First, look at the overall shape …
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After the gathering, after guests have left, and the helpers have been served there is the clean-up. All of the dogu is cleaned, the fire has been picked and the kettle returned to dry. If the gathering has taken place at a rented venue, everything needs to be packed up and loaded in the car …
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When I was in my corporate life, I met with a development coach. I complained to him that I didn’t think that the job I was doing was making much of a difference in the world. He asked me if that was what I wanted to do, make a difference in the world. Of course, …
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