The continuing Frog saga

My friend Shindo posted some news on the continuing Barry Graham saga. I hope this person will find their way back to a real Zen practice. You can read my comments there.

My sesshin at Tahoma One Drop

I had a great retreat last week that was led by Harada Roshi at Tahoma Zen Monastery. I found a true Zen Master in Harada Roshi and he's surrounded by a great group of dedicated and hard working students. The schedule (4:30 am to 9:00pm) included about 9 hours of zazen, sanzen, teisho, an exercise period, and of course the infamous formal Zen meals, At Haradas' retreats the only utensil you to eat with is chop sticks, great for oatmeal and soup!
One thing that was really cool was each day Roshi brought a group students to his home for tea. During the tea he gave each student a beautiful hand bound book from a series of talks he gave at a previous sesshin on the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch. He hand painted an Enso on each cover and also put your name on the first page. In Japan He's famous for his calligraphy. I've been reading it and I have to say that he's incredibly clear.
The monastery grounds are beautiful and there was no more than an hour of sunshine and at least a little rain everyday.
Please forgive my lack of writing skills and if you have any questions feel to email me, you can find my contact info on this page.

Concerning my status as a Zen priest

A couple years ago I received what I, in good faith, took to be ordination as a Zen priest from Barry Graham of the Sitting Frog Zen Sangha. A few months after my “ordination” I became concerned about how Barry was conducting himself (as were others) so decided to sever my ties with him. In this same time frame because of this conduct his ordination was called into question and he repeatedly refused to provide incontrovertible proof of his status by showing his ordination credentials.

Since then I have continued to wear my robes (though no longer) and if people asked if I was ordained I would reply “Yes”, but always with a disclaimer revolving around the circumstances. However, now, I can no longer in good conscience claim to be ordained since Barry has failed consistently to provide proof that he is legitimately ordained himself. I am a layman.

This has placed me in an untenable situation, but it changes little what you can expect from me unless you want me to perform your wedding, this I cannot do. I still take refuge in the Three Treasures, I haven't renounced the Ten Precepts, I won't be cutting down on my cushion time and I'll still be doing retreats as often as I can. Oh yea, you can still come and sit with the Zen group I host on Tuesday evenings, we'd love to have you!

David Loy -- good stuff

A little while back NellaLou posted a blog with links to lots of good stuff by David Loy. He does a great job explaining the unexplainable. Just don't forget PRACTICE after reading.