Dharma Life
February-March, 2003
A Publication of the Missouri Zen Center
220 Spring Avenue
Webster Groves, MO 63119
(314) 961-6138

Visit us on the web at www.MissouriZenCenter.org

Events for February and March
• Each Monday night — Beginner’s sitting
• Each Tuesday night — tea and discussion following sitting
• Each Wednesday night —writing practice following sitting
• T.B.A. — Japanese language class
• Feb. 8 and March 8, evenings — Movie Night
• March 1, 5 pm — Members Meeting followed by potluck dinner
• March 4, following evening sitting — Hosta Committee meeting
• March 14-16 — sesshin
• March 31 — Sitting 101

Members Meeting & Potluck, March 1
On Saturday, March 1 starting at 5 p.m., the Zen Center will hold a Members Meeting followed by a vegetarian potluck. All members and their families are invited and encouraged to attend this meeting.
The major item on the Members Meeting agenda is election of new members to the Zen Center’s Board of Directors. The Board’s job is to ensure that the Zen Center functions according to its bylaws and meets all legal requirements of a nonprofit organization.. According to our bylaws, all people who meet at least one of the following requirements are eligible to vote: (1) all dues-paying members of the Zen Center; (2) all persons who have taken lay ordination; (3) anyone who has been active at the Center but not fulfilling the above requirements, who petitions the Board to vote during this meeting. If you fall under this last category, please notify the Zen Center prior to the Members Meeting so they can have a ballot ready for you. Discussion may follow the election on Board functions for the year.
Following completion of the meeting agenda, we will enjoy a vegetarian potluck. Please bring a dish to share. Past potlucks have demonstrated the excellent cooking skills of our members!

Sesshin, March 14-16
The Zen Center will offer a day and a half sesshin on Saturday, March 15 starting at 6:20 am through about 9 pm, continuing on Sunday, March 16 following the normal Sunday schedule. An early start on Friday evening, March 14 is also offered beginning at 6pm. The Saturday portion of the sesshin includes an oryoki lunch and “medicine meal” in the late afternoon. 
Suggested donation for the sesshin is $30. Those of you who will be attending the oryoki lunch, please contact the Zen Center so we know how much food to prepare. You may choose to attend part or all of the sesshin. We encourage you to try sitting longer than you normally do, whether that is for two, three, or four periods or for a whole day or the full sesshin. Please enter or leave the Zen Center during kinhin, the morning service, the work period, or other breaks before, after, or between sittings. We will post the schedule at the Zen Center and on the listserv.
Sleeping space is available at the Zen Center for Friday and Saturday nights. You will need to bring your own sleeping bag and towel.

Sitting 101, March 31
On Monday, March 31 beginning at 6:30 pm, the Zen Center will offer Sitting 101, a class for beginning meditators. From 6:30 pm - 7 pm, instruction on sitting posture, Zen Center etiquette, and other topics will be provided. Sitting meditation is scheduled for 7 - 7:20 pm, followed by questions and a general discussion on Buddhism, Zen, and sitting practice. This class is led by several experienced sitters and is ideal for anyone who would like to begin and maintain a regular sitting practice.

Precepts Book
The book Being Upright: Zen Meditation and the Bodhisattva Precepts by Reb Anderson is available for purchase at the Zen Center. Anderson, a student of Shunryu Suzuki, was the abbot at the San Francisco Zen Center from 1986 to 1995 and is now a senior dharma teacher. He writes that his intention “is to approach the precepts not as rules to be worried about, but as ways to realize Buddha’s enlightenment and compassion.” Each of the 16 lay precepts is treated separately, through commentary and stories, in a way which can help us to bring them alive in our lives. Anyone with an interest in practicing the precepts can benefit from this book. The price of the book is $25.

Japanese Language Class
A Japanese language class will be offered at the Center. Still to be decided are the dates and times of the classes. If you would like more information on the class or would like to sign up for it, please contact Kalen.

Hosta Heads-up
The Zen Center’s annual Hosta Sale fund-raiser is gearing up! The first activity is a meeting of the Hosta Committee, to occur on Tuesday evening, March 4, following sitting. Anyone who would like to help with planning for the sale is invited to attend. 
More work will begin as warm spring weather coaxes the hosta shoots out of the ground. Please watch for announcements of workdays, which are likely to be scheduled for every Saturday morning in April following sitting with other workdays announced as needed. We must dig and pot-up all the hostas and other plants that we purchased and planted last fall so we can offer them for sale. We need and appreciate all the help we can get! Please plan to spend at least one workday, and more if you can, helping us. No need to have any prior gardening experience; it’s easy work and we’ll teach you everything you need to know.
The Hosta Sale will be held on Saturday, May 10 from 8 am - noon. Please plan to help us with the sale! Watch for more details in the April-May issue of Dharma Life.

Board Nominations
Nominations for new members to serve on the Zen Center Board of Directors are open. Members serve three year terms. You may nominate yourself or someone else. If you nominate someone else, please ask their permission first. Members of the Board must be current members of the Zen Center. To nominate someone, please mail or e-mail their name to the Zen Center or place their name in Genro’s box at the Zen Center.

E-mail Discussion List (listserv)
To subscribe to the Missouri Zen Center’s e-mail discussion list, send an e-mail message to <majordomo@joethejuggler.com>, leave the subject field blank and in the message body type “subscribe mzc”. You will then receive a confirmation message (including instructions on how to unsubscribe). Please only subscribe  e-mail addresses of individuals.

Living the Global Ethic: Reducing Your Contribution to Global Warming
Part 3: Choosing What Changes to Make
by Kuryo
This is the third in a series of articles on ways to put our practice into action by reducing our energy usage and thus our contribution to global warming. This article will discuss how to plan an emission reduction strategy that takes into account your patterns of usage and finances. The document Cool Citizens: Everyday Solutions to Climate Change: Household Solutions, which you can download from www.rmi.org, has most of the information you will need to analyze your situation and make your plan.
You can begin by looking at your patterns of electricity and natural gas usage as shown on your utility bills (Dec./Jan. Dharma Life). Check last summer’s electricity usage against this winter’s. If you have natural gas appliances other than a furnace, also check summer against winter gas use. High summertime electricity use suggests looking for ways to reduce cooling needs. High electricity or natural gas consumption in the winter suggests looking at ways to reduce heating costs. Old refrigerators or clothes washers, electric hot water heaters, lightbulbs left on, and consumer electronics lead to high electricity usage all year. Meiku and I have high natural gas consumption in the winter because our house is drafty and underinsulated.
The table on page 14 of the Cool Citizens document lists 39 actions in order from lowest to highest cost of saved carbon dioxide (CSC). The first eight actions are free and should be done if you aren’t already doing them. These include lowering your water heater set point to 120°F (check your water heater manual for how to do this); increasing your AC temperature by 3°F or more; lowering your heating temperature by 2°F or more; washing clothes in cold water; air drying clothes in summer; checking your appliance manuals for energy-saving features and using them; turning off unneeded lights; and unplugging any “extra” refrigerators or freezers in your garage or basement. We’ve done all these over the past several years and they made a significant reduction in our energy consumption.
Once you have made these improvements, consider your financial situation and whether you own or rent. Renters have less scope for change. If you plan to remain in your rental for only a short period of time, doing the actions above plus replacing light bulbs or appliances you can take with you makes the most sense. Try to get your landlord to seal large air leaks and fix hot water leaks, or do these yourself if you have the tools and materials. Long-term renters may want to discuss some of the other changes with their landlord; point out that more energy-efficient units have lower energy bills and thus are more attractive to you and future renters. If you own your home but have little extra money, concentrate on the changes with the lowest CSC, which generally have little cost and rapid payback, and use savings on your utility bills to pay for each further change. When older appliances need replacement, replace them with the most energy-efficient versions you can afford. If cost is less of an object, start with the lowest CSC changes and also consider some of the more expensive changes that save a lot of energy, such as adding attic insulation. Replacing older refrigerators can result in large electricity savings if you choose an Energy Star-certified unit (see www.energystar.gov/products for details), as can replacing a clothes washer with an Energy Star-certified horizontal axis unit. Replacing older, inefficient furnaces and air conditioners with Energy Star-certified units can also be considered and should be done when the current units reach the end of their useful life. We did all of these and our electricity bill averages $32/month for an all-electric house except for the gas furnace (which is forced air and so uses some electricity). Our next goal is to seal off all the air leaks we can find, followed by adding attic and duct insulation to help us reduce our heating and air conditioning costs.
The final article, in the next issue of Dharma Life, will discuss goals for emission reduction that you can consider for a multi-year emission reduction plan. 
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Live Peaceful Life
By Rosan  
Conquer one self not thousands upon thousands
In the battlefield. He is the supreme conqueror.

The one who desires happiness causing other’s suffering,
Is not free from enmity entangled in the enmity’s binding.

— The Dhammapada 103 and 291                    

In the world of Dependent Origination, all are related and relative. No single thing is independent or absolute. We all owe to all and are obliged to all. No one can claim absolute independence or righteousness.
Anyone mistreating any thing mistreats all. Anyone killing any one kills all. No one escapes from this truth, even if thought otherwise. All are responsible for all miseries. Not seeing or not acting against mistreatments and miseries is complicity and cowardice.  Peace is not possible without awakening and wakeful actions for all.
All mistreatments and miseries come from wishful thoughts and wayward actions against this basic reality. As civilizations progress, its cancers permeate.  Possession of matter/power is possession of  five calamities (delusion, bondage, discrimination, exploitation, extermination). All activities are wasted for struggles and sufferings in the dark dungeon of devils. Culture counteracts civilization. Culture is cultivation.  Cultivation of mind/life is cultivation of five blisses (awakening, freedom, equality, love, peace).  Every effort is conducive to peace and perfection in the bright pure-land and paradise. Religion is cultivation and culture.
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Path of Peace
by Rosan (1/10/03 C.E., morning)

Good morning! Whenever you come to sit here, it’s a good morning. You make your day good, your life good, beautiful, truthful and holy.
I drove up to and back from Boston. It was snowy and chilly in that area. There was over 50 degree difference between Buffalo and St. Louis. Driving through rushing snow in the dark night and driving in the bright sun with wide perspective were likened to hell and heaven.  The north wind makes winter in the north and the sun makes summer in the south.  It’s said that butterfly’s flapping initiates winds and waves, but the sun is the real source of them all.
Civilization (urbanization) discriminates, exploits and exterminates like the north wind. Culture cultivates natural potential to full-bloom, fruit-bearing and full function like the warm sun. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who are poor.” Dogen called his way, poverty path. Buddhaghosa called his work Purification Path. The Buddha called his way, Awakened Way and Peace Path, good in the beginning, middle and end, embracing all, injuring none. The Buddha said,
Conquer one self not thousands upon thousands
In the battlefield. He is the supreme conqueror.
For this to happen, we must turn a new leaf, and then leave no leaf unturned. We must move our wings and work with the sun, not the north wind. In this way, anyone can be an invincible conqueror anywhere any time. Then, anyone can be in pure-land and paradise. That is the realm of neither heat nor chill. Every step leads to a thousand miles difference. Those religious leaders knew the path of poverty, purity and peace, not enslaved by matter and power, freed from the mouth of Mammon and Moloch.   The path of purity is  the path of peace, and vice versa.