A collection of articles and other Dharma by Rev. Leon and friends of the Priory
Gakudo Yojinshu, by Great Master Dogen
(Follow this link to see the September 2024 Priory Newsletter where this was recently published.)
Mt. Shasta’s first snow of the season!
We recently posted a mildly revised version of Dogen’s work Gakudo Yojinshu (which might be translated as “Important Aspects of Zen Practice”) on our website. I first encountered this work very early in my practice and when I read it now, I see that it largely describes the way that I think about practice and the way that I teach Zen practice.
This work is somewhat longer then most of Dogen’s writings but I find it has many helpful and wise teachings: I hope you will find it useful!
Deeper Meaning of the Precepts
(Follow this link to see the July 2024 Priory Newsletter where this was recently published.)
– Rev. Master Jiyu-Kennett (For more information about Rev. Master Jiyu-Kennett, go here.)
(The following selection is an excerpt from The Wild, White Goose, by Rev. Master Jiyu-Kennett, p.101-106. This book consists of edited selections from Rev. Master Jiyu-Kennett’s diaries of her first years of training as a Buddhist monk, mostly in Japan. This section was written after she had been training at Sojiji, a large Soto Zen monastery in Japan, for about seven months. Rev. Hajime, an English speaking senior monk, was assigned to help teach her.)
Manjushri Bodhisattva: the Bodhisattva of Great Wisdom.
Rev. Hajime came back this morning, instead of last night as he had originally arranged, but it did not really make very much difference because as soon as he had eaten he called me into his room and said, “I think it’s about time we started translating the Precepts.”
I said, “But I already know them.”
“Yes, you know the version that most people are given but you do not yet know the Kyojukaimon.”
“I heard it during my Jukai ceremony.”
“Did you understand it fully?”
“No, the Japanese was too old for me to be able to.”
“That’s what I meant, so we’re going to translate it. Get some paper and we’ll get on with it at once.”
I settled down at a side desk, which he has now arranged for me in his room, and he got out the old book and started working on it. We had just finished the beginning preamble and had got to the first Precept, “Do not kill, but no life can be cut off. Do not kill Buddha. Do not cut off the life of Buddha,” when he said,
“Before we go any further I want you to explain that.” Continue reading →
Building Project Update
(Follow this link to see the June 2024 Priory Newsletter where this was recently published.)
The Priory With the Proposed Addition
(click link to see more detailed plans)
It looks like we are very close to getting our building permit and the builder has given us a firm quote for the price of our project: if all goes well, we may well be able to break ground within the next four weeks or so!
As you may remember, in 2022 we decided to hire the company East Avenue Design + Build to build our project and, for the last two years, we have been working with them to finalize our plans and get our project through the permitting process with the city of Portland.
The price the builder has quoted is $320,000 and this will finish the project up to the point where we will be left with the interior walls to paint and the flooring and trim to finish and install. We are presently going through the contract and will likely Continue reading →