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Richard Baker in the SFZC Wind Bells

1974 - 1979       

1963 - 1971  1972 - 1973  1974 - 1979  1983 - 1987  1988 - 1998  1999 - 2012

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Richard Baker main page

1974

 

Machine generated alternative text: Wind Bell Staff: Advisor: Zentatsu Lewis Richmond; Editorial Assistants: Claude Dalenbcrg, Yvonne. Rand; Layout and Design: Peter Bailey; Composition: Haru; Calligraphy' Richard Levine; photography: Lucy Bennett, Robert S. Boni, Francis Checkley, Margo Moore, Lewis Richmond, Katherine Thanas,

P2

 

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Alan Watts funeral - P6-11  - PDF

 

Machine generated alternative text: Seminar with Dr. Abe. In the last issue of the Wind Bell, we introduced Dr. Masao Abe, whose translations of Dogen in The Eastern Buddhist over the last few years have made accessible to English-speaking Buddhists the profound teaching of the founder of Japanese Soto Zen. This year's seminar was planned around Dr. Abe's busy teaching schedule in this country, including a stay at Carleton College in Minnesota and at other colleges in the East. Dr. Abe flew in from Syracuse on the evening of March 13, took a day to rest and prepare, and then began a series of eight consecutive evening meetings, attended by over fifty students and bakG-roshi. During the day, Dr. Abe met more informally with smaller groups of students and with individuals.

P15 - From article on Shunryu Suzuki Studies Center

 

Machine generated alternative text: Il 11

 

Machine generated alternative text: SHOBO-AN: A BUDDHIST TEMPLE COMES TO AMERICA Shobo-an, 'True Dharma Temple-Hcrmitage,' was a small temple-residence in the town of Ohara, near Kyoto, located on a temple site of great antiquity. In 1972, when it was being taken down to make room for a new larger temple, it was presented as a gift to Baker-roshi, disassembled and shipped to the United States. The work Was done by Kamiyama Komuten, a company specializing in sukiya and teahouse carpentry, headed by Master Carpenter Yoshihisa Mitsuji. Last September five craftsmen—a roofer, a wall-plasterer, and three carpenters including Mitsuji-san—campcd for three weeks in the foothills Of the Sierra Nevada, re-assembling Shobo-an on its new hilltop home in America, complete with copper-shingle roof and mud-and-plaster walls made of red dirt from thc construction site. Zen Center members joined in the work, helping with the hauling and carrying, and the preparing of mud for the walls. It was a r arc opportunity to be With and Observe Japanese carpenters at work. Every day they were up at dawn, working steadily with rarely a break until sundown, not hurrying or talking much. accomplishing complicated tasks in an amazingly short time (thc structural frame was put up in less than two days). Their way of workirg was more like ceremony Or ritual than carpentry as we usually think of it, and several actual ceremonies were performed at various stages in construction. For instance, before the foundation went in there was a ceremony to acknowledge the disturbing of the earth. From outside the building looks small by American standards, twenty by thirty feet, Including the engawa (veranda) around two sides. But the inside space is fully utilized to make six rooms, ranging in size from thrcc to six mats: a Buddha Hall, kitchen, sleeping room, tearoom, dining room, and study. Shobo-an is used by and his family and by Other Zen Center people 18 for retreat, quiet study, and occasional meetings, in the tradition of the Buddhist mountain hermitage and home temple. It is good opportunity too for Zen Center priests to learn the unity of Buddhist life and temple architecture and care. We hope that building Shobo-an will help Zen Center develop its own skill and building craft.

 

Machine generated alternative text: RECOLLECTIONS OF SUZUKI-ROSHI In the last issue Of the Wind Bell, we asked that you send in your personal recollections of Suzuki-rosbi, particularly incidents that were important in your life or stand out for you. We are grateful for the responses we did receive, but among the many, many students and friends of Suzuki-roshi. particularly those still active in Zen Center, there may still be more stories. Please try to think if you have anything to contribute; it is important that we collect these stories while they arc fresh in our minds. You may address your letters to Zenratsu in care Of the Zen Center Office.

P22

 

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Field of Flowers - by Sterling Bunnell

Mentions Baker-roshi - read it on his page

 

Machine generated alternative text: BUDDHA'S BIRTHDAY CEREMONY DEDICATION From our vow to enter the wav Being, the uncreated body is realized. From the vurious bodies o/ Buddha are born as the spring n owe rs from this And on this flowering comes the source Of all being, crops and men This day. two thousand four Jeundred thirty-eieht vears ago, the baby Bndd/ta Was bom who was to make this vow, bringing fort/' the great Cdambard flower, whose fragrance pervades land. His teaching i' as tile rain und sun to these mountains. Offer light, sweet tea, incense, golden seal, lupine, lotus, shooting stars, wallflowers, shepherd's purse, poppies, curd baby-blue-eyes; we igave chanted the Heart Sutra and the Sandokai. Alav the Tathagara's fragrant teaching couiinue forever in these hills p alleys. KOBUN CHINO-SENSEI We wish to exprcss our gratitude to K abun Chino-sengei, Bakefrroshi's friend and teacher for many years. for creatively guiding us in the development and articulation of Buddhist ccremonies in America. L Xv- BCJbbf51sc IDICIACIOD cep€mony- On Wednesdays March 20, 1974. fifty-three Zen Center members accepted the Bodhisattva precepts and received a rakusu in a Lay Initiation Ceremony led by Zentatsu-roshi. The participants. who bad been practicing at Zen Center for from three ro twelve years, and had sewed their Own raknsll last year with Joshin-san, each rcceivcd a Buddhist name from Zentazsu-rosh:,. The ceremony began as the Initiates sat a period of 7.azen i.•l the ZendO. Then. walking in procession and chanting mantra almost silently, the initiates went to various stations in tbc building to offer incense. and then entered the Buddha Hall, The ceremony the Buddha Han included: Invocation (reciting the Ten Names Of Buddha): Avowal (the acknowledgement of Karma); Purifying with Wisdom Water: Receiving the Precept* Receiving Buddha's Clothing (rakusu): Initiation Verses: Abbot's Statement and Incenge ()ffering. T be following excerpt is the part Of Receiving the Precepts. 31

 

Machine generated alternative text: RECEIVING THE PRECEPTS Abbot: We have purified our mind and body. Now you may receive the path of the precepts of the Three Treasures. You are seated with Buddha and are really his child. Will you receive these precepts? Initiates; YES, 1 WILL Abbot Chants each line and Initiates repeat: Abbot: Initiates: Abbot: Initiates 1 TAKE REFUGE IN THE BUDDHA 1 TAKE REFUGE IN THE DHARMA 1 TAKE REFUGE IN THE SANGHA 1 TAKE REFUGE IN THE BUDDHA AS THE PERFECT TEACHER 1 TAKE REFUGE IN THE DHARMA AS THE PERFECT TEACHING 1 TAKE REFUGE IN THE SANGHA A.s THF PERFECT LIFE HAVE COMPLETELY TAKEN REFUGE IN THE BUDDHA 1 HAVE COMPLETELY TAKEN REFUGE IN THE DHARMA 1 HAVE COMPLETELY TAKEN REFUGE IN THE SANGHA You have returned to your Original nature free from attach- ments and limited ways. From now enlightenment is your teacher, Buddha is your teacher, all being is your teacher. Do not be fooled by other ways. This is the path of mercy for al! existence and things. DO you agree to follow this compassionate path of the Three Treasures Chat am now passing to you? YES, 1 WILL NOW Will you receive the Thrcc Pure precepts? YES, I WILL Abbot recites each precept ana Initiates repeat: Abbot: Initia : Abbot: Initiates: 32 1 VOW TO REFRAIN FROM ALL ACTION THAT CREATES ATTACHMENTS 1 VOW TO MAKE EVERY EFFORT TO LIVE IN ENLIGHTENMENT VOW TO LIVE TO BENEFIT ALL BEING Abiding in the Three Pure Precepts even after acquiring Buddhahood, will you continuously observe them? YES, WILL Now will you receive the Ten prohibitory Precepts? YES, 1 WILL

 

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April 1974 Zentatsu Baker lecture - PDF

pp34-40

 

 

1975

 

 

Machine generated alternative text: TASSAJARA ZENSHINJI REPORT The Fall 1974 and Spring 1975 practice periods were the fifteenth and six- teenth since the opening of the monastery in 1967. The Shuso (head monk) for the Fall period was Lewis Chikudo Richmond, and for the Spring was William Tetsugen Lane. As usual, Zentatsu spent the major part of his time from September to April at Zenshinji, leading the practice for over fifty students.

P12

 

Machine generated alternative text: PRIEST ORDINATIONS Ten men and women received priest ordinations from Zentatsu on January 11, in a Ceremony at Hosshinji City temple. The ordinecs were Katherine Thanas, Layla Smith Bockhotst, Paul Rosenblum, Deborah Madison, Marc Alexander, Thomas Dorsey, Michael Jamvold, Ulysses Lowry, Linda Ruth Cutts, and Steven Allen. This group brings the total number of Ordained priests in active training in Zen Center to twenty-three. The ordinees ranged in age from mid-twenties to mid-forties, and had spent from four to eight years in training. However, first to prepare for priesthood is not the sole purpose of training. To be a priest is one of many possible modes of Buddhist life and depends on the person's life circumétances, intention, and need.

P13

 

Machine generated alternative text: In March and, April, Hojun Nagasaki-sensei was guest teacher in residence. Nagasaki-sensei is a professor of Buddhism at Otani University in Kyoto, and his specialties include early Indian Buddhism, Buddhist logic, and Pure Land Buddhism. He is himself a priest of the Pure Land School, and spent many years studying in India and making pilgrimages to the historical and holy places of Buddhism. His relationship with Zen Center goes back many years; he met daude Dalenberg in India in 1959 and was Saka-roshi's Japanese language teacher in Kyoto.

P15

 

Machine generated alternative text: In setting up The Neighborhood Foundation, T.N.F., as a corporation, two boards were created: a mar.aging board that included bak&roshi and Yvonne Rand from Zen Center; Stewart Bland, founder of The Whole Earth Catalog; Gcorgc Wheelwright. former owner of Green Gulch Farm: Werner Hcbenstreit, Zen CenLer's insurance broker: Dorothy Er.skine. who introduced the "green belt" concept Of city planning to the United States; Mike Murphy, founder of Esalen Institute; and a larger advisory board of others with special skills and expertrse to act as resources.

P17

 

 Machine generated alternative text: Using money privately loaned for the purpose, we remodeled inside and out, discovered two boarded windows in the wall framing that could be re-opened for more light and visibility, laid a rcd ceramic Lile floor, installed old-fashioned globe lights and tile-top Counters; repainted everything, and hung out a sign: Green Gulch Greengrocer.' First day of business was July 4, 1975—coincidentally the eighth anniversary of the opening of Tassajara as a Zen monastery. A formal dedication was held on July 26, probably the first grocery store in the West to be dedicated with a Buddhist ceremony. The top of one of the refrigeration cæses was turned into an altar, and above it a scroll Of Avalokitesvara was hung. bakd-roshi led a procession from Zen Center across the street, down the center aisle of the store to the altar, while 23

 

 

P24 - that's me DC at the register, fresh in from Tassajara.

 

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Zentatsu Baker sesshin lecture - Awakening the Will Body, P25-31 - PDF

 

Machine generated alternative text: STAFF. Zentatsu Åak4-roshi, Advisor; Lewis Richmond, Editor; Paul Rosenblum, Production; Peter Bailey, Layout and Design; Haru, Composition; Richard Levine, Calligraphy; Lucy Bennett, Robert S. Boni, Bruce Fortin, Bob Max, Jerome Petersen, Lewis Richmond, Photography.

Back cover

 

 

1976

 

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Machine generated alternative text: S€SSHIN L€CCUR€ by Zentatsu båGk-roshi April, 1976, Zen Mountain Center

P7-9 - PDF

 

Machine generated alternative text: INSIÖ€ OUC Lecture by Zentatsu -roshi San Francisco, June, 1976

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P10-17 - PDF

 

Machine generated alternative text: The ceremony to enshrine the statue was very interesting for us. At the climax of the ceremony, the eyes of the statue are "opened" ; bak&-roshi actually painted them in with brush and sumi ink. By this ceremony, the statue is brought to lifc as the embodiment of the founder. Tenshin Reb Anderson and Kainei Ed Brown, representing the students, and Suzuki-sensei (Suzuki-roshi's wife), each stood beforc the statue and spoke informally as to a friend and very present teacher. Doing our daily bows in the Founder's Hall each morning, we recognize an Old familiar face. 20

 

Machine generated alternative text: GREEN GULCH FARM AND TEMPLE BELL The dominating activity of this last year has been construction. The largest project is the Wheelwright Center, now nearing completion, and we have also been improving the housing, particularly for families. Additions to the Abbot's house have made space for Zen Center guests and for Nakamura-sensei, teacher of tea ceremony and Noh chanting, to live and train Zen Center students in these Zen-related arts. California received less than half its normal rainfall last winter, and this has caused widespread drought conditions. At Green Gulch, "Pater began to run out in May, and by July planting had to be seriously curtailed. However, the springs and Wells held up better than expected, and some watering Was able to continue. The drought gave us an opportunity to find the limits of our water systems and make needed repairs. A newly cast Obonsho, or main temple bell, has arrived from Japan, decorated With intertwined dragons representing the Farm's temple name: Soryuzenji, Green Dragon Zen Temple. For our valley next to the ocean, this name recalls the dragon referred to in Zen poems, with his tail in the ocean and head in the heavens, stirring up the rain of the Dharma. The casting of the bell done by Kinjudo Co. The name of the temple, the Abbot's name, the name Of the donor, and a dedicatory poem by Baker-roshi appear on the face of the bell in calligraphed English letters. 26

 

Machine generated alternative text: The Obonsho has been temporarily hung in a woodcn frame until we Can build a proper bell tower. On July 31 a dedication ceremony was held and the Obonsho was struck for the first time by Baker-roshi. In Japan, every Buddhist temple has a bell; in one sense the temple is the bell. The sound Of the Green Dragon Obonsho is not so loud, but it is deep and penetrating; the sound is practically the same from a few feet or one hundred yards. The bell is struck at wake-up time in the morning, and at noon and sunset by thc sun. The inscription reads: A wakened By this Japanese bell The sky-headed sea-tailed Green Gulch dragon Stirs the fine mists and rains Of right Dharma For East and West Farming and greeting guests The pre-voice of this old bell Is not hindered by the Wind. 27 •

 

Machine generated alternative text: s€NSORY AWAR€-N€SS Charlotte Selver—originator and teacher of Sensory Awareness in this country —and Charles Brooks, her co-worker and husband, have had a long and close relationship with Zen Center. Some of Suzuki-roshi'sfirst students (including Baker-roshi; were also their students, and they and Suzuki•roshifelt a mutual admiration and respect for each other's teaching and spoke of the connectedness Of practice in Sensory Awareness and Zen. Each year since 967 they have led benefit workshops at Tassajara during the summer guest season. These Work- shops have been a source of growth for the students and guests, as well as a major financial contribution to Zen Center. From October to June, 1975-76, Charlotte and Charles lived at Green Gulch Farm, working with a group of their long-term students, using the new Wheel- wright Center. The students combined their mornings Of Sensory wareness work with lunch and work i" the fields and kitchen with the Zen students in the afternoon, and many of them also attended zazen regularly. Charloite and Charles Will continue to use Green Gulch and the Wheelwright Center for their workshops and long-rime study groups. A book recently published about Charlotte and Charles' work: Sensory Awareness, by Charles V. W. Brooks (Viking Press, New York, 1974), is highly recommended to those who would like to know more about the basis and understanding Of their work. 36

 

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Machine generated alternative text: The following is an excerpt from a talk given by Baker-roshi in 1973 to a group of Sensory Awareness students.

P37-39 - PDF

 

 

Winter 78-79

 

Machine generated alternative text: TASSAJARA ZENDO FIRE At the end Of thc Spring 1978 practice period there was a disastrous fire at Tassajara that burned down the Zendo, library, food storage area, and ofTtce. After success- fully keeping the huge August forest fire out or Tassajara, to lose 'he oldest, most central, and important building at Tassaiara could have been very discouraging; everyone met it with acceptance and hard work. The occurred during the Mondo (question and answer) ceremony between the students and Baker-roshi on the last day Of the practice period. From the back of the Zendo a student, Waiting to ask the next question, said, "There seems to be a tire back here!" Roshi looked up and saw some vague evidence of a fire. He immediately looked down for a moment just to return everyone to his or her individual compo• sure, and then he looked up again and — the very next moment — the whole back of the Zendo entry was orange with fire. Everyone moved calmly and directly out of the Zendo, but at the end of the twenty 0T thirty seconds it took for everyone 10 leave, a few of the last pcoplc Out had their hair, eyebrows, and eyelashes singed by the heat. It was immediately apparent that the fire could not be controlled at all with extin- guishers. However, the flooding rains of the Winter and Spring had washed out all the water lines from the reservoir down to Tassajara, so hoses had been run through the trees from the reservoir to maintain a waterflow during the storms. This hookup, though, left no pressure in the standpipe system which we had specifically installed years before to meet such fire emergencies. Also, Our main large fire engine had broken down a few weeks bcforc and we had immediately ordered a new Onc which was delivered a few days after thc fire. Lacking either Of these systems, the fire crew, well trained from its experience Of the forest fire in the previous August, was able to get the floating pump down into the stream and hooked up in less than five minutes With strong pressure for onc hmsc, and pretty good pressure for two hoses. But in much less than five minutcs the fire had spread in an enormous rush through rhe Hoor and ceiling Of the library, then on into the older Zendo-office building _ The 100-year-old wood burned like dry pine needles. The fire seems to have started in a propane gas refrigerator that was in the basement storage area that was next to the Zendo. We had had some gouble with the pilot light Of the refrigerator shortly before, but it had been repaired and a refrigeration expert had come in to check it. The pilot light for the gas refrigerator was the only name in the area. 'rhe fire burned very strongly from the draft created in the stone staircase coming up from the food storage area. Thclirc wall between the kitchen and library held long enough 10 give us time to save the kitchen. The extreme heat prevented anyone from re-entenng the Zendo to rescue anything. As a result we lost the large drum (taiko), the wooden drum (mokugyo), and large bowl bell (keisu), altogether•vorth about The large bronze bowl hell melted away, leaving no trace. Saddest Of all, the 1700-year-old stone Gandhara Buddha shattered and cracked in the heat. Unfortunately it is impossible to get insurance for fire in a remote mountain area like Tassajara. TO save the kitchen, it rook several hours and continual work inside and outside with hoses and buckets, and With people on the roof chopping away burning shingles and

 

Machine generated alternative text: Fighting the fire, bwket brigad" 'he beams. We did save the kitchen and limited the fire to the Zendo-office-library com- plex. Everyone worked together very hard and calmly. While the fire was still burning a phone call came in on the field phone from Our Stitchery in San Francisco, asking whether Tassajara wanted the meditation cushions replaced in black, or in bluc denim which would not show the dirt as much if the students had to sit outside now that the Zendo Was gone. Everyone was encouraged and amused by Alaya's promptness. As soon as the fire was safely contained wc sat down to the Mexican meal that bad been prepared carlicr in the afternoon before the fire by Wenceslao Aguirrc and Rocio Hernandez. Except for this evening meal, safely stored in the ovens, all the food storage had burned up. Late that night the town-trip truck drove to an all-night market in Monterey. people at the market were a little surprised to sell, at that hour, $325 worth Of Cheerios, Wheaties, Grape Nuts Flakes, sugar, milk, peanut butter, and bread. This food, all We could find at that hour that required no cooking, provided the breakfast and lunch for the next day. The morning after the fire Baker-roshi and the students finished the Mondo cere- mony, and held the closing practice period ceremony. Then Came the big push. For two weeks as many as 125 students and volunteers worked ten-hour days to clean up after the fire, building a new food storage area, installing a new walk-in refrigerator, and building a fifty-foot by seventy-foot tem- porary Zendn in the upper garden. Luckily we were able to begin the guest season on schedule, May I. (Photographs, showing work during the Spring interim period Start 22.) 10

 

Machine generated alternative text: COOPERS LYBRAND Another important area of activity in Zen Center has been the work of Coopers Lybrand and Zen Center's financial officers. In the Spring Of 197b. Coopers & Lybrand, one of the largest international accounting firms. designed an accounting syslem for Zen Center to assist us in keeping track Of our finances, Their help was made possible by an extremely generous contribution designated specifically for this purpose. The donor wanted to help make Zen Center's finances more manageable and presentable in a format more accessible to us and to others. The donor also wanted to help free the Abbot from the many financial pressures of Zen Center. Larry Barrett, a management consultant from Coopers Lybrand, worked several months with the Zen Center Treasurer and the heads of the practice centers and the: work centers. The resulting proposals were reviewed extensively by the Zen Center Finance Committee, and Coopers & Lybrand partners*oy Bouque and Carmine Guerro. Finally, a 138-page accounting manual set out a system of report formats, a chart Of accounts With fund accounting, and purchasing and receiv ing procedures_ With this system wc can much more easily recognize limits, establish priorities, and clarify policy decisions. This is one Of the most important ac- complishrnents in Zen Center since we began trying to support ourselves.

P14

 

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Machine generated alternative text: FOREGROUND XND BACKGROUND CONC€NCRACION Sit Down, Sit Still, Sit Long Lecture by Zentatsu Baa-roshi

P43-46 - PDF

 

Machine generated alternative text: STAFF. Adz-visor: Zentatsu Editors: William Lane, Yvonne Rand; Layout and Design: Peter Bailey; Comfiosiiion: Robert Sihlcy; Photography Harold Baker, Robert S. Boni, Clay Calhoun, Ted Howell, William Lane, Ulysses Lowry, Vanya Palmers, Kim Potochnik, Gib Robinson, Mark Simon, Kazuaki Tanahashi, Dan Welch; Art.' Stanley White: Calligraphy.' Rick Levine.

Back cover

1974 - 1979

1963 - 1971  1972 - 1973  1974 - 1979  1983 - 1987  1988 - 1998  1999 - 2012

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Richard Baker main page