Ango 2011 - Day 24

• Morning Zazen (45 Min @ 5am)
• Sat alone but on G+ a bit earlier than normal
• Had to start this one quite early as I had to be dad taxi to school this morning and so quite busy if I didn't take care of it early.
• Shobo Study
• Reading Mountains & Waters fascicle and glad that I'm not doing a deep study as it's quite poetic and challenging without any commentary.
• Much of this type of writing, including koan study I find challenging without reference to analogies from the era it was written.
• Shakuhachi Practice
• Heavy focus on the Ha Ro couplet as when coming to Ro in kan register it either drops to otsu or up to daikan...very tricky but it's just a matter of practice.
• Choshi is getting much better and I've been able to finish Daiwagaku as the remaining part of it drops back to otsu and I find much easier.  Hopefully will make my next lesson with Jon easy.
• Somewhat anxious about getting a new shakuhachi.  My wife & I have agreed that when my bonus comes in next month I can buy a new shakuhachi from Monty Levenson.  I'm looking at an advanced student one but I am honestly worried a bit on how different it'll be to play and if it'll set me back in my practice.  It's not a big deal, but I noticed that when I had a bit of a twist in my shakuhachi yuu it felt totally different and awkward.  I can't imagine a whole new shakuhachi.  Such is impermanence I suppose.
• Evening Zazen (30m @ 9:00pm)
• Sat offline tonight just because I find that my evening sits are ones where I'm kind of tired and lazy.  
• I like sitting with others from my sangha online, but at the same time, getting all setup just is sometimes more than I want to do.  I just want to sit. :)

Ango 2011 - Day 23

• Morning Zazen (45m @ 7am)
• Sat sans the computer today...honestly was just trying to get it knocked out before the kids got up.  Probably not a good thing to be rushed to sit. Seems somehow counter-intuitive.  But nonetheless I was able to sit without any kid-terruptions. :)
• Shakuhachi, Sewing Practice
• Neither of these happened today.
• Much for the same reason as the day before but now for my 3 year old.
• My day consisted of hanging about 2000 feet of streamers.  It was a ton of work but looked cool in the end.
• Also, while these areas of my practice didn't happen, I got to spend a lot of time with some friends.
• Shobogenzo Study
• Reading Transmission of the Robe and enjoying it.
• Somehow part of me wants to crack open the Nishijima Cross and a few online translations I've picked up over time and do cross references and comparative analysis, but I promised myself just to read and enjoy...and I am!!
• Veganism
• So having two birthday parties in a row has made it super tough to avoid eating the cake.  i was successful but scarfed down about half a box of vegan cookies in the mean time. :)
• My wife was kind enough to make pasta salad without the cheese as well as an asian coleslaw type salad that was delish.  
• My wife is teetering on the fence about eggs lately.  I'm trying not to push her one way or the other, but I'm happy just that she's being mindful of it.  I'm a very lucky man.  Personally, I would eat eggs before milk/cheese.  Although it is definitely easier dropping eggs than lactose stuff.
• Maybe this is a good opportunity to get my wife on the 'Build a hen house in our backyard' wagon! :)
• Evening Zazen (30m @ 9:30pm)
• Again a simple sit in the bedroom with Kannon. 

Ango 2011 - Day 22

• Morning Zazen 
• Didn't happen today.  First day I have missed in three weeks. 
• I was a honestly a bit bummed out about this.  I had planned on sitting zazenkai in the morning but when I got up it just didn't seem feasible to carve out 90 minutes of my morning.  I had a birthday party to setup for my twin 9 year olds girls.  Balloons, decorations, food, music, the whole thing.  Most of which we had been working on prepping for the past few days, but this was crunch time.
• After watching the clock and thinking about when they were sitting, chanting, kinhining I finally decided to let it go and was thankful I did.
• Shakuhachi, Sewing & Shobogenzo Practice
• Nope, nope and nope here as well.
• After the party was over, the decorations removed and the house 'tidied' I had to get ready to take on of my daughters on a date for her birthday.  
• So in lieu of the aforementioned, we went and had ice cream (sorbet for me) and watched a movie called Dolphin Tale. 
• Was really nice and was surprised at how quiet she was.
• Evening Zazen (30m at 10pm)
• I did sit in the evening in front of the butsudan in my bedroom.  
• Too exhausted to bring out the computer and all that jazz...just sat.  Was nice and felt like the first moment I stopped all day.

Ango 2011 - Day 21

• Morning Zazen (45 min Zazen @ 11:30)
• Sat with Engyo & Bob on G+
• Afterwards I followed up with some suizen.  Played Kyorei, Choshi & Daiwagaku.  Was wonderful!
• Alexander Technique
• Unfortunately I missed my AT lesson this morning. I had thought it was at 10am and there was so much traffic taking my daughters to school that I was running very late.  Turns out it was at 11am...but didn't realize this until my teacher called.  Bummer.
• Studies
• No reading today either.  Slacked off last two days.  All three of my daughters have birthday parties this weekend so things are majorly hectic.  By the time I get to bed I'm too wiped to get anything out of Dogen. :)
• Shakuhachi 
• My suizen today after zazen was my practice.
• I dabbled off and on today with some of my more difficult phrases and attempted to find sheet music for Yoru no uta.  My current favourite song.
• Veganism
• So this has been going very smoothly but I thought I'd post an update
• Found vegan cookies this week and so all is right in the world
• Went to lunch today at Which Which and I used to always get the Black Bean patty with hummus & tzatziki .  Well, before I did today I googled if the patty was vegan and it turns out it has egg & casein in it.  So that was out.  So I went with the veggies instead...however...I forgot to not check off the tzatziki.  I didn't realize this until I was already eating.  I gave myself kudos for effort, recited a short gatha in gratitude for any hardship the goat had to endure and ate.  I figured it was more of an insult to not eat it at that point then just finishing it.  After all, the theoretical suffering had already happened and so I should show gratitude and make a mental note for next time.
• Took my 9 Year Old to dinner tonight for a daddy/daughter date.  She wanted hibachi and I have come to find it's difficult to find anything vegan at these places.  Ended up getting miso soup, ginger salad and agadashi tofu.  Forgot to ask for no fish flakes on the tofu and so had to scrape them off.  My daughter had lobster....lol!  She had a wonderful time and really was beaming.  Was very nice.
• Evening Zazen (30 min at 10pm)
• Sat with my wife on G+
• She sits in the bedroom in front of our butsudan which is an old computer cabinet that we've allocated some space for Kannon & some incense.  I sit in my normal spot which is out in the living room.  May be a bit odd but I think it's nice as we are both kinda geeky and like the G+ Hangout stuff.

Ango 2011 - Day 20

• Morning Zazen (45 Min @ 0630)
• Cut my zazen a few minutes shorter today due to meetings.  Still more than normal, but not the 60 I've been doing.  All good though!
• Sat with Roky, Bob & Morelos on G+.
• Dana
• Finished up the North Texas Food Bank food drive and delivered the food.  
• All told I was able to raise 45 cans of food for a total of 46lbs.  Not sure how much this feeds but happy I was able to do it.
• When I dropped off the food at the food bank it was in South Dallas. Which is a low income area of town.  I saw people sleeping under bridges, hanging out on street corners and overall just a rough area.  Really set in perspective the people that probably benefited from the drive. 
• While I was at the food bank, a lady came in asking about eggs & milk. Apparently she had stopped by to pick up some food and was lacking these items.  It really made me feel like I wish that I could do more.  Seeing the need with my own two eyes really brought it home.
• Shakuhachi
• Had my lesson today with Jon and it went pretty well.  
• Choshi was an improvement, however I did struggle again with Ha-Ro couplet.
• We continued on Daiwagaku and Jon seemed quite impressed that I was able to play the peak of the piece.
• He explained that many students have a hard time with anything in kan register and this phrase was actually in daikan (next one up).  
• Seems my only nemesis at the moment is Ha-Ro in kan...I think because I keep dropping back down to otsu with the Ro.  
• No studies today. :(
• Evening Zazen
• Sat with Chris, Will & Nat on G+
• Was first time to get to sit with Will!
• I did it with my Android device and it seemed to work ok.  Only problems were that I couldn't re-share it nor add comments.

Ango 2011 - Day 19

• Morning Zazen (60m @ 0600)
• Sat with Roky on G+ again.
• Also sat with myself.  At the end of the sit I connected with my Android tablet and was able to test the functionality.
• Shakuhachi Practice
• Practiced for over an hour today on Choshi, Daiwagaku & Kyorei.  
• Choshi got a lot better.  Finally feel like I'm making progress.  Ha Ro is still tough, but I can get through it without too much suffering.
• Evening Zazen (45m @ 19:30)
• Sat on G+ with Chris at first (who ended up sitting with Chris, Ron, Engyo, James & Nate!)
• Think that's the most I've seen of Treeleafers sitting together!
• After my sit, I had seen my wife was Hanging out on her sit so I joined her as well for a quick 10 or 15)
• No Shobo, No Sewing today.  
• Spent most of the day running errands as all three of my daughters are having birthdays this weekend. My twins turn 9 and my youngest turns 3.  Crazy weekend coming up!

Ango 2011 - Day 18

• Morning Zazen (60m @ 06:00)
• Sat on G+ with Roky & Bob again!
• Shobo Study
• Spent some time on Transmission of the Robe
• Again, Dogen continues with the same reverence and expounding of the virtues of the robe and it's merit to those who maintain it properly.
• Dokusan
• Was able to have dokusan with Taigu tonight!
• Was wonderful to talk with him about practice, flutes, studies, languages, retreats and of course sewing!  
• The hour just flew by.
• Shakuhachi
• Practice the Ha Ro couplet over, and over, and over and over again.  
• As I move up the register it get's easier, but that Ro is really difficult for me.
• Started to play Choshi straight through without getting stuck and noticed it sounded better when I didn't overthink it.
• Evening Zazen (30m @ 21:00)
• Sat solo and without G+
• Tried to get my Android tablet to show the video and join Ron but didn't work as I think Ron was already done.