progress...

7 tan, 3 ties, 2 Daiza and 4 Joro cut. lots more to cut. not really worrying about the cuts so much, nor the sewing to come. Sons' first birthday on Thursday is paramount, cutting will probably resume Friday night, a good night! Heh never thought my definition of a good Friday night would ever include being spent sewing...now thats progress!

Time to Cut the Crap!

After much stalling, second guessing and procrastination I finally committed my self to starting kesa #2. This time I decided go with new material after seeking some always helpful advice. (Thank you Taigu!!!)

Now the material had sat for a good 3 weeks with only being washed and ironed out. I debated on cutting it up for some zafu and zabuton but after much mental chatter I decided the material just a tad on the light side for sitting on (lol more stalling?).

I decided then to start the kesa and stop dilly-dallying. So then came the first marks and cutting.... I really never worried like this with the first kesa. I now realized just how important to the end result the first steps were.

I put down the scissors and picked up some books to verify my measure was infact correct (*stalling*) and lo and behold they were the same as before. The new material is supposed to be treated just like rags... So in much the same way i decided to "Cut the Crap" (the material and the stalling) and just get on with it!

And so I did. Carefully. Slowly. Deliberately checking each and every cut down with the scissor.
Throwing caution to the wind (lol) I very carefully cut my first two bits, marked them and set them aside.

Tonight, 2 more bits!

This time around rather than showing the progress in the bigger picture, I will be showing the stitches up close and personal! (gulp)!

Airing Dirty Zen Laundry

So I did my kesa repairs and after a thorough once over I figured it was safe to wash the kesa. I decided to follow the instructions as per Kesa-Kudoku in Gudo Wafu Nishijima Roshi & Chodo Mike Cross translation.

I boiled water and filled the bath tub (cleaned it prior to use) and filled it with the hot water and ashes. submerged the kesa and washed it. I let it sit for a couple of hours. I took the dog out after the first hour and let everyone know to STAY OUT of the main bathroom and use the other. I had set my make shift inscence holder on the side of the tub along with some ground up inscence and such. I say make shift as i used clumping cat litter - unused ;) - to instead of sand as all we have round here is gravel(mud) or clay. and with 4 cats we have an abundance of cat litter!

After giving the pooch a good run Icome back to 2 nervous faces and one 8 month old with a happy, shit eating grin. My wife then informed me that my 3.5 year old girl forgot and opened the door to the off-limits bath in order to brush her teeth and her ever-present speed "scooching" side kick, her brother followed along. He spied the bowl of incense and clumping cat litter sand and dumped the entire contents on top of the Kesa soup.

Now for those in the know that shit is just clay crumbs..when wet, it returns to a clay clump.. great for cat piss, a monumental pain in the ass to get out of cloth or off the floor... if ya have cats... and use this stuff you will know what i mean.

Anwho a few extra hours of cleaning and its drying in front of the fire. Excluding scattering petals...I will follow through the rest of procedure. Fun Sunday activities for sure and a great lesson or 3.

Thats it. My dirty laundry now airing :)

So on sewing I've started cutting out material for another rakusu and getting back in to "the groove" what ever that may be.

Gassho

Why?

Okay!
So there is a pile of rags in a sack in my closet. hrmmmmm where to start. How to take these rags and put them together into usable squares. By fabric type? cotton linen in one pile - denim in another? By colour so I can make some beautiful shape, some art out of an already amazing work? Sort it, move it around re-sort and stuff it back in the bag and go watch some tube. Thats where im at.

Why so hesitant to start? Why so resistant? Why why...! Maybe I really just like sorting?
Anywho cotton or burlap, sorted or not, ready or not - sounds like no better time to start - no time to waste!!

Right after Fringe.

And They're off!

Nothing new from me on the sewing front Yet. I have, as part of my ango commitment, decided to take up the needle again and do some repairs on my kesa. Also i will be sewing another rakusu as a warm up of sorts. (i will post some updates and such here). The rakusu will be a warm up for my next kesa which will be 100% scraps.

IRL has settled some with the dust of construction settling, a new addition to the house and another new addition to the family. So over at Treeleaf folks are reading and studying for Jukai and taking up a needle and thread and its re-invigorated me to get working on that second kesa.

So on additions...I had great expectations for our addition to the house (why not we paid for it? right??!) And similarly i was barely containing my excitement for our other new addition to the family and in both cases was expecting something.

The house addition I expected to be perfect, on time and on budget. I expected to have my part of the work done and we would be enjoying said space in some "christmas card scene" fashion...by the fire sipping... whatever, snow settling down.... Anywho we got what we had envisioned.. quickly and under budget but .... perfect... lol far from it! anyways with out droning on to much thing didn't quite meet the ideas in my head. C'est La Vie! Im correcting what i can and making the most of what we got with out making much of a stink.

On the new family addition excitement for our new pup to arrive and those pleasant thoughts of the kids out in the yard playing with her and rolling around (again expections... lol kids play like kids, puppies like puppies and neither of the two like i want them to :P)
were soon cast a side for the shitty reality that presented itself. Our pup is sick and her life may be cut short. Im sad for her (Though shes on meds and they are working the vet had a glumly outlook for her) Im sad for the our little girl and Im quite sad myself. The pup herself is happy and energetic which makes it even tougher to imagine the possible outcome.

On a more positive note she hasn't had a relapse and a second opinion from a another vet (same vet hospital) was much more positive.

Expectations...I think i will, as part of my ango commitment delete the words expect/no/can't from my vocabulary... er After this post.

I also had expected to be following through on all my Ango commitments i had made to myself and instead just ended up a bit frustrated. Rather then dwelling ive re-stated my ango commitments (not too far out things) and have recommitted to sitting Zazen regularly as it went pretty sideways for a month or so. Healing from the Big V (vasectomy for those, if any weren't sure of my reference) and that is going as expected... ouch!

Scavenging and reading

Nothing too new on the sewing front. I have been gathering material from various places in preparation of eventually sewing another Kesa. I found a beautiful quilt laying in a nook underneath a cement slab from a burned out old farm house parts of it are still brilliant and untouched others are marked with mold spots that are rather permanant. I plan to use bits of this. Besides that I've taken to reading up on the Kesa.

Over the past few days I have been revisiting Kesa Koduka and Den-e. Few things that stuck out to me. Master Dogen wrote quiet impassioned lines about the Kesa and its merits while quite vehemently chastising those who have ignored the merits of the robe. Both chapters were a great read and boy i make sure I don't toss my kesa carelessly on my desk. the one i wear when im naked its getting a more careful treatment too.

Now, each robe and all nine kinds of robes have been received in the authentic transmission from the Buddha-Dharma itself; the robe could never be inferior to a four-line verse, and could never be less effective than a single phrase of Dharma. This is why, for more than two thousand years, all followers of the Buddha—those with the makings of devotional practice and of Dharma practice—have guarded and retained the kaṣāya and regarded it as their body and mind. Those who are ignorant of the right Dharma of the buddhas do not worship the kaṣāya.

...............

The kaṣāya has been called since olden times “the clothing that wards off suffering from heat” and “the clothing of liberation.” In conclusion, its merit is beyond measure. Through the merit of the kaṣāya, a dragon’ scales can be freed from the three kinds of burning pain. When the buddhas realize the truth, they are always wearing this robe. Truly, although we were born in a remote land in [the age of] the latter Dharma, if we have the opportunity to choose between what has been transmitted and what has not been transmitted, we should believe in, receive, guard, and retain [the robe] whose transmission is authentic and traditional. In what lineage have both the robe and the Dharma of Śākyamuni himself been authentically transmitted, as in our authentic tradition? They exist only in Buddhism. On meeting this robe and Dharma, who could be lax in venerating them and serving offerings to them? Even if, each day, we [have to] discard bodies and lives as countless as the sands of the Ganges, we should serve offerings to them. Further, we
should vow to meet [the robe] and humbly to receive it upon the head in every life in every age. We are the stupid people of a remote quarter, born with a hundred thousand or so miles of mountains and oceans separating us from the land of the Buddha’s birth. Even so, if we hear this right Dharma, if we receive and retain this kaṣāya even for a single day or a single night, and if we master even a single phrase or a single verse, that will not only be the good fortune to have served offerings to one buddha or to two buddhas: it will be the good fortune to have served offerings and paid homage to countless hundred thousand koṭis of buddhas. Even if [the servants] are ourselves, we should respect them, we should love them, and we should value them.

both of those are from Den-e. which is what im currently reading.

Anywho just writing I found interesting. Nothing very smart to say.

Gassho

Now what?

So almost a month from my last post and i finally got off my ass and started and finished my Kesa bag. Its not to any spec, I winged it really, much the same as i did for my Rakusu bag but i remembered not to add a button and button hole. I have a couple of pics of the finished product. the whole thing took 6 hours from measure to taking the pics below. I wrote on the inside of the bag the robe verse and my dharma name in a very sloppy kanji (So when i lose it i will be able to identify if it ever turned up again). Again not to spec but its more for function then fashion and having the verse there is a help for this newb. The material again is leftover from the kesa and the lining is a very old and scary pillow case. Nice hole right there too, perfectly imperfect. lol

Front

click image for larger view

Back

click image for larger view

I have been wearing the new kesa every night and so far its brought me no mystical powers but it makes going to sit zazen a tiny bit longer process. When i wear this kesa it always think of the story about Shakyamuni Buddha and Ananda and how the kesa came to be. It always makes me smile a silly grin.

I owe a huge thank you again to Taigu for taking the time and having patience to show me how to put it on and for giving it to me. Deep bows.

Next up a 9 stripe kesa. Im going to take what I have learned and put it into practice with the next Kesa. No set start date yet.

Gassho