valleyzendoblog

Dear Zen friend

1) March sesshin: from 03/11 to 03/15.

2) During this winter it has been warm with little snow, without a moment of -15 F. Firewood stay where they were. I burn them because firewood for next season need room.
Zendo usually has 2 foot snow for winter. This year we had 3 inch snow and it melt quickly.
I expect a foot deep snow by spring. My confidence, however, dwindles day by day.

3) On second day after the New Year, I went to an oriental food store to buy mochi (rice cake.) To eat mochi during new year holiday is a long time custom. It was sold out. I explained how important mochi is for the owner. He said he would order some from California. I found mochi flour in his store.

Next week I visited the store and discussed mochi again. Mochi did not arrive yet. So I cooked mochi candy from mochi flour. It was a fake. I visited the stopre few more times to persuade the owner to get mochi.

In the beginning of February mochi had finally arrived. I put some in a pan on the stove and tasted its delicacy. Since then I ate 2 pieces of mochi a day. It is nice snack, nice lunch, and nice supper.

A week later I found myself to eat 2 meals a day without a feeling of hunger. Food in the refrigerator was not consumed as fast as before. Mochi seemed to have changed me.

I heard a story about a patient suffered from tuberculosis of the lungs. He did everything to restore his health with help of a doctor. Nothing worked. His doctor in the long run said that his patient would die in a few months and recommended him to do whatever he liked. The doctor totally gave up.
With no hope for himself the patient ate his favorite, mochi as much as he could. In just a few months lung disease disappeared and the health restored.

Mochi had the power to win tuberculosis. It is perfect or near perfect food for health. That is why we celebrate holidays with mochi.
Regards.

Dear zen friend

1) February Sesshin: 02/`12 to 02/16

2) Sorry for short notice for February Sesshin and sennding January dharma mail in February.

At the end of January my laptop crashed. Writing suddenly was deleted by no reason. Cursor moved Irregularly, so that a few important mails were deleted. The screen frequently became frozen, I had to shut down many times a day. I was frustrated. I did not know even if mail was sent or not.

Trouble apparently began last November and things went worse from bad. I could manage sending new year mail. At the end of the month, my computer became hopeless.

I do not want a luxury car, am satisfied with a used and slowly driving car. Likewise, I only want the basics, mailing and news through internet with my computer. But…

Ipad is popular. It is handled by screen touch technology. Its software must be substantially complicated compared with straight move of cursor. Irregular move of my cursor seems to be related to ipad tech. Youtube had not been seen for long. Voice recognition software must have gone far away. My old computer could not adjust to those new intangible inventions.

I decided to buy a new computer. It required new accessories, more research, extra expenditure. I want to be left alone. But the improvement of chips and software does not care of my desire.

3) Last year we had more than enough apple harvest. Apples were everywhere. While enjoyed apple sauce and pies, I wondered why many bees were not caught in my eyes at the pollination time.

A person told me that bees really were scarce. In fact lots of pollination was done by a different species than honey bee. Ah, balancing act of nature.

Honey and pollen are in apple flowers. Some insects and birds want them. Honey bee is not the only animal to work for pollination but one of them.

We screamed about reduced population of honey bee because we did not get honey. At the same time, other insects regarded the certain situation as great chance, and industriously worked. The whole operation led to the abundance of apple.

Some argue global warming and cooling. We worry about loss due to the change of climate. In the meantime nature is working according to its laws, maybe for in favor of human beings.

Regards.

Dear Zen friend

1) January sesshin : from 01/23 to 01/25 for 3 days.

2) A Happy New Year for the year of 2016. It is 10 degree Fahrenheit today. It was 70 degree on Christmas eve in 2015. Is the difference one year, few days?

This year is also the year of Monkey. In China about 3 thousand years ago 12 animals were picked as symbol for year. They were successively arranged so that last year was sheep, and horse for 2 years ago. Bird will be applied to next year and dog for 2 years later, so on. The order has never been changed.

Five elements like fire or water added to the animal chart. 5 X 12 animals = 60 years = 1 cycle. 1 cycle consists 60 years with strict order. The animal chart and the lunar calendar have been used together in East Asian nations for centuries.

3000 years / 60 cycles = 500 times. Thus the animal chart has had at least 500 cycles. When historians and archaeologists study events and remains in the past, they can identify their time with accuracy thanks to the animal chart. The chart system has been shared with many areas, so international comparison is easy.

This year is a leap year, February has 29 days. The solar calendar needs 1 extra day for 4 years to correct the accumulated difference among seasons and orbital movements. For further adjustment, Gregory calendar takes out 3 leap years within 400 years.

Lunar calendar based on waxing and waning of the moon had been used until 150 years ago in Japan. 1 cycle of waxing to waxing is 28 or 29 days. The calendar was useful for agricultural industry but needed frequent adjustment for seasons. It often adds leap month every 2 or 3 years. I heard useless stories and meanings about days and months. The traditional system was inefficient and became superstitious. To translate a date of lunar calendar to solar calendar is a nightmare.

A remains of piled stones became known recently in the middle of Honshu island in Japan. It was built before 4500 years ago and said an astronomical observatory. Researchers finally figured that sun light shone a certain place with a rectangular shape on the floor on a certain day in a leap year. The sun did not shine the same place on a certain day every 128 years. This suggests the equivalence to the leap year adjustment for Gregory calendar.

Japan has many earthquakes. More than 30 percent of earthquakes on earth happen there. I simply wonder how the function of stone structure has maintained for thousands of years on a shaky land. The remains still works for observation of the sun light. We thought people in the old times used inefficient lunar calendar. It was
possible that they might study solar system and solar calendar was in use.

Those ancient people knew what we do not know.

Wish you have a good year!