Zen and the Art of Rajanaka Maintenance
News, Taisho, India Pilgrimage, & Summer Camp
Saturday, May 11, 2024
Aho’Rajanaka,
I hope this finds you well. I have finished yet another semester of taisho, thems the boss lectures given in a Zendo, often in the form of cryptic koans. Does a cow have Buddha nature? (You can Mu over that for a moment. <- Alert: dogged in ZenPunDadJoke.) I am currently in the role of jikijitsu which means I’m carrying the kaisaku or “encouraging stick.”
The practice in Zen is called on junkei or being “on patrol.” The jikijitsu has the privileged job of walking about the meditation hall wielding the “encouraging stick,” offering reminders that now is the time to be paying attention. It’s the time I tell undergraduates students to stop scrolling Tik-Tok and under no circumstances request extensions but for seiza, “proper sitting” and not to forget saiza, lunch. (“Lunch” requires no quotation marks.) Sounds like?
This is 38th year I’ve been privileged to teach “From Confucius to Zen” at the University. In my first year I had 14 students. By the third year there were close to 300. It had gotten so out of hand that I would enter the auditorium and sit in the back row until students got really nervous, “Where’s the professor?” The students sitting beside me in the back row rarely saw me. Zen can make you invisible, just in case you need to do that. But I’d then climb down the backs of chairs holding their hands to steady myself, attempting the podium without (too much) crashing. (N.B., not always successful.)
I don’t indulge the theatrics any longer but that’s not likely why class is now back to 14 (or fewer) students. Students have changed with the times, and I have changed not at all maybe some too. I no longer introduce the Ch’an Buddhist hermeneutician Ch’i-I (say “Gee-Eee”) as the first guy to “bring good things to life.” (I’m not sure Zen puns are any longer permitted given current sensitivities to everything.) Explaining an 80’s Dad Joke— a multinational’s ad slogan—would not be very Ch’an (Chinese), I mean Zen, I mean Dhyana (Sanskrit), or is that Jhana (Pali)?
Zen is, of course, the correct (mis)pronunciation of a (correct) mispronunciation of…because every pronunciation can’t be anything but the correct (mis)pronunciation to those doing the pronouncing. (It goes on a lot like this.) I tell myself that soon the perfect Zen class will have no students. I will still show up by not showing up. Perhaps you can lend a hand as I stumble to the front again (and again). I’m going to do this until I can. There is no try, as Yoda reminds us.
It's Mother’s Day weekend and we are taking a break from the Saturday Session on Buddhism as well as tomorrow’s Sunday Mahabharata. For my part, I’ll take a long kyōgyō with my mom---that’s a walking meditation---and return to grade a few more papers. She was truly a jikijitsu, not so much with a stick but the swift back of her hand: sometimes, just driving along in the car she might give me a little whack outta’ nowhere. I’d just look at her with “What did I do?” And she would say in perfectJersey, “I know what you’re thinkin’.” (Who? Me?) I hope you have some Zengood times this weekend with family, with memories, and we will resume Rajanaka Sessions next weekend.
RAJANAKA SUBSTACK.
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INDIA. Do you want to go on pilgrimage? Not tourism, not a spa or meditation center, just pilgrimage. DATES: We will be leaving just after Christmas and returning about January 15th 2025. If you are seriously interested, then send me an email now or as soon as possible (douglas@rajanaka.com). This could be a very small pilgrimage or none at all, and that depends on the replies to these gentle reminders. Come August and too few have made the leap then we will reconsider the future of the pilgrimage---I say this ‘cause I can no longer plead or pitch things Rajanaka. Rajanaka certainly isn’t a business by any honest definition. Rajanaka is what we do together and that depends on folks wanting to do. Let me know.
CAMP. Camp is a go, we don’t have many coming in person, but we will make this hamsa fly again. ALL DETAILS are all below the line. Please consider Camp, it’s a time together that is so worth the effort. There will be Zoom and recordings too but there’s nothing like being in the Finger Lakes in July for a few days with your kalyanamitra, spiritual companions. ALL DETAILS ARE ON THE RAJANAKA SUBSTACK. Please subscribe. It’s free and you can make a gift subscription too. That’d help a lot. Here’s the link: https://rajanaka.substack.com/p/rajanaka-summer-camp-2024-details
See you next weekend for Buddhism and Mahabharata. Let the grass grow this weekend. Don’t mow. The birds, the bunnies, all the critters will be thrilled and you’ll have more time for that kyōgyō, that strolling meditation. Do ya’ good. See ya’ soon. How I love thee, Rajanaka.
Saprema, with affection, Douglas
&&Below the Line Starts Here
INDIA PILGRIMAGE
Departure: December after Christmas before New Year’s and back by January 18th.
Where: The temples of south India with me and Rajanaka India.
How Much? This year will be a bit different inasmuch as you will be responsible for air reservations and visa needs. Costs are TBA but it’s worth every rupee.INTEREST? Write to me now if you are serious about coming.
Truth: We must gauge interest to decide our future. The future is not getting longer.
The Saturday Conversation for Winter Semester: January-June 2024. Buddhism: Origins & Evolution, Philosophies and Practices
Buddhism began on Saturday, February 3rd. Each Session runs about 90 minutes.
All Sessions are at 5pm Eastern and will use the same Zoom link (the same as all Saturdays past).
A downloadable Archive of recordings is available for all completed work. If you can’t make the Sessions live on Zoom, this is a good option, you can listen anytime.7
Tuition for all Sessions in advance is $120. This includes access to the Archive and all study materials. Otherwise, tuition for individual Sessions will be $12. Please use the usual methods: Venmo (douglas-brooks-8 or svcourses@gmail.com) or PayPal (svcourses@gmail.com). If you can’t afford tuition, please let me know because you are always welcome.
Zoom Link requires no special codes, just come! Cut an Paste to enter every Saturday till will cry uncle: https://rochester.zoom.us/j/95057662268
The Dropbox Archive will include all lectures and handouts here in reduced form: https://bit.ly/3xJs6cz
(To listen to any Dropbox you must download the file to get the entire recording. No risk, no cost.)
ARCHIVED: The Practicum of the Ten Tantric Ganeshas with Visualization, Mantra, & Meditation Practice is complete. (I owe you a video, coming after the current torrent of work.) There are recorded lectures (originally planned six, there are thirteen and recordings of mantras too).
Each week we engaged the elephant-headed Ganapati with particular reference to his nuanced expression and spiritual purpose. Who is Ganesha? How do we visualize him? What is his mantra and what does it mean? What is his purpose within a spiritual practice? In Tantric practice, there are dozens of forms of Ganesha, each associated with different kinds of insight and empowerment. No prerequisites, just bring your open heart!
The Dropbox Archive includes all lectures and handouts here: https://bit.ly/3vYAtjT
Tuition is $120, use PayPal (svcourses@gmail.com) or Venmo (douglas-brooks-8) or write to me.
Sunday Mahabharata, 5pm Eastern for Winter Semester: February-June 2024
For those of you who have been with us (or at least some of the time during these last two years), we carry on! Every week there is a complete story, a Session that stands on its own. You’ll have context and a way in each week even if this is your first time or you just like to drop in now and then. There is nothing better than Mahabharata. And I rarely speak in absolutes.
All Sessions are at 5pm Eastern and will use the same Zoom link (the same as all Sundays past).
A downloadable Archive of recordings will also be available each week. If you can’t make the Sessions live on Zoom, this is a good option, you can listen anytime. HERE is the entire Archive: https://bit.ly/3vYADrv
Tuition for individual Sessions will be $12. Please use the usual methods: Venmo (douglas-brooks-8 or svcourses@gmail.com) or PayPal (svcourses@gmail.com). If you can’t afford tuition, please let me know because you are always welcome. Zoom Link requires no special codes, just come!
https://rochester.zoom.us/j/314987250
The entire Mahabharata Archive is here ANYTIME: https://bit.ly/3vYADrv