It's been three years

Our three year anniversary Goma will be Thursday October 28th. The October Goma is my favorite of the year for several reasons:

1. The foliage is beautiful
2. The air is cool and crisp
3. Apple Cider!
4. It's our anniversary
5. The veil between the physical and non physical worlds is very thin around Halloween

Please consider joining us and please do tell your friends.

Three years ago we performed the first public Goma with a small group of friends around a campfire. Please see www.fireceremony.org/dojo/dojo.html for pictures of then and now. It is truly amazing how much has changed in three short years.

Atlanta, GA:

Our friend in Atlanta will be hosting a Goma on Sunday, November 7th. If you are in the Atlanta area, please contact me as we would love for you to attend.

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 11TH!

On Saturday September 11th, my teacher, Rev. Jomyo Tanaka will be at our Goma. This is a very special event as this is Rev. Tanaka's first visit to CT from Japan.

This is a don't miss event...please do your best to join us.

Contact for more info gomaceremony@gmail.com

Major Construction Work Completed!

Mr. Adam Bradley of Madera Sculptures, our temple carpenter, just completed construction of our new Torii gate. Over the past 9 days, we completed 3 major projects. The attached pictures are of the finished projects.

Completion of the Fudo Myoo housing Structure: We dug the structure into the ground, completed a new border, and filled with new white marble

Construction of the Tamagaki Shrine Fence: Adam san constructed a traditional tamagaki fence to surround the shrine. Each premium white pine slat had to be cut at the exact prescribed angle and this project took a full 5 days. The posts were constructed from Douglas Fir.

Construction of Torii Gate: This is the project we are most excited about. We found the perfect sacred tree and made the special offering before cutting. The tree was a standing dead tree with beautiful turquoise lichens growing on the bark. We had to build to precise specifications and we hit several snags and Adam san had to rework the design. Ultimately we chose the more rustic Kuroki style Torii. The Nuki lower cross beam, was hand milled by Adam san from the same tree. Later we will build the more elegant Myojin style Torii.

Video from the Seminar 7/18/2010

In advance of Sensei's September visit we had a seminar on Sunday July 18, 2010 to explore some elements of Shingon and Shinto daily practice. We culminated the seminar with the short form of the Goma. Please enjoy some video from that ceremony on You Tube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSDnGUmbhh8

Special Event - July 18th

I have had a couple of requests to hold a seminar on Sunday, July 18th. This is a wonderful opportunity to experience the meditations and chanting from our Shingon Tradition. We will share a relaxed casual day of Shingon and Shinto, the traditions behind the goma, as well as delve deeper into the various aspects of the Goma.

If you are looking to develop a daily meditation practice, become more involved with the Goma, or are just curious about Japanese spirituality, this is a perfect opportunity.

And we are very excited that during the time of the seminar, our Temple carpenter/sculptor - Mr. Adam Bradley will be here from Sacramento California working on some new projects! We hope Adam san will share some of his insights from years of aikido training and experience as the live in shrine assistant for Tsubaki Grand Shrine of America in Washington State - the lineage of our Shinto practices.

Here's some of what we will cover:

1. The layout of the dojo - the various aspects of the shrine and temple sections

2. Setting up a sacred space

3. Basic meditations and chanting

4. A bit of cosmology

5. The history of the Goma...and sacred fire in general

6. The individual pieces that comprise the Goma

7. The role of Goma assistant

8. Special chanting for the Goma

9. And we will conclude with an abbreviated Goma\

And there will be plenty of time for Questions and Answers and spontaneity.

Let's get started around 1pm. Please contact us for more information - gomaceremony@gmail.com

Goma Questions and Answers

I recently had the pleasure of receiving some very meaningful and probing questions via email from a practitioner of Japanese Esoteric Buddhism. I thought I might share some of the questions and responses here:

In the Tendai services and retreats that I have attended, there is a lot of esoteric practice involving (and dedicated to) Fudo Myo-o. What is the significance of this type of practice? Fudo also appears to have the same general attributes in all images and statues - do you know the source of these attributes or why they were chosen?

You may want to look at the Fudo Myoo page on the fireceremony site. It explains a bit about Ofudosan. Esoteric practice involving Ofudosan is done to unite with Ofudosan's energy and essence and to embody same. I don't know the original source of Ofudosan's attributes but they are related to his work as the wrathful face of Dainichi Nyorai.

I have performed a kyudo sharei where participants in the ceremony write down things that they believe are blocking spiritual progress; these notes are then torn into confetti sized pieces and placed in a small envelope which is then pierced by arrows (the pieces are later burned). The experience is profound for not only the archer but also everyone attending - people watching have described almost the same level of samadhi that the archer experiences

This is another magical way of dispersing obstacles.

What is your experience performing the Goma? Do the observers/participants experience the same? I have never attended a goma, so this may be an unfair question.

Most people who attend the Goma report having very profound experiences. My experience performing the Goma is different everytime and also varies depending on what type of Goma I am doing. I'm not really sure how best to respond to this as I don't know exactly what each individual experiences. I only know what they report afterwards and it seems to be different in each case. As with all spiritual experience, it is highly personal.

The question I have is, I suppose, a question of faith - does Ofudosan act as archetype or actual spiritual entity? If Fudo Myo'o is an archetype, then can any model of person or spiritual being serve in this fashion? What is your experience when conducting an esoteric practice dedicated to Ofudosan? The answer to your faith question really is “yes.” Ofudosan is a deity portrayed with certain anthropomorphic characteristics so that we may better understand and relate to him from the human realm. There are other deities around the world with similar energies as Fudo Myoo however he has special significance to our Shingon Tradition because he is a warrior aspect of Mahavairocana. An understanding of the cosmology and workings of the universe in terms of humans, spirits, and deities might prove a bit tough via email though you do seem to have a draw to these practices and I feel like you should continue to explore the connections What I found interesting is that those people observing or participating in the ritual (meaning those that agreed to be part of the visualization) can describe the symbolism of the bow, arrow, and some of the movements without having been told. Do you find this in your Goma attendees? What do you mean by "magical"? The actual visualizations which are considered secret so I cannot share them openly with attendees. I have not had anyone share with me experience of the actual practices while observing though people have described some pretty remarkably accurate experiences of seeing the energy move in certain ways that is consistent with the practices within the ritual. Magical, in this case, refers to working with energy. What draws you to esoteric practice? What draws you to Shingon practice? Well I like to be involved. I wouldn’t really be happy in a tradition that only allows me to observe, watch, or ask…so esoteric practices allows me to roll up my sleeves (those robe sleeves sometimes can be pretty bulky! :) and get actively involved with the energies I’m working with. Shingon – hmmm that was really a karmic connection. I was so lucky to meet Sensei when I was 19 and he shared with me very early on some of the karmic connections and significance of Shingon and myself. I continue to practice Shingon because I really enjoy the union of the personal development internal pieces with some of the more external “in the world” magical aspects. I enjoy the balance of the two and also, I think it's really important to build a base of purification, compassion, spiritual humility, and understanding of the nature of karma and the nature of self and shingon provides a beautiful way to do this. The necessity of spiritual purification is also a core aspect of the Shinto teachings that I practice and this base of purity is so important to any spiritual work. As Rev. Tanaka often says: "Everyday you practice, then little by little you get happy life, creative life." And I think that about sums it up.

Rev Tanaka to visit the Goma: Special Goma Sept 11, 2010. Please mark your calendars.

I am so happy to announce that my teacher, Rev. Jomyo Tanaka, has given the dates for his September visit to our Goma. This is a truly historic event as the last time Ajari Tanaka was in Connecticut was in 1978; during my birthday, he was taking a bus through CT on a trip across country after having just arrived in the US. Ajari-san will arrive Friday September 10th from Tokyo and depart monday September 13th. We will have a very special Goma on Saturday September 11th.

Please join us and enjoy the opportunity to meet a truly amazing ascended spiritual master. Rev. Tanaka's story is so unique and interesting and is chronicled here: Rev. Tanaka's Life Story

I first met Ajari Tanaka when I was 19 years old and now 13 years later, I am honored and truly shocked to welcome him to visit our goma to see how we are carrying his teachings out into the world. The notion of having Sensei present at the Goma is pretty nerve wracking to be honest but I am so happy he wants to visit us. Stay tuned for more details of the schedule of his visit as it gets closer.

Also on Sunday June 6th, we will hold a mini seminar for those interested in learning more of the traditions behind the Goma. We will explore and practice aspects of Shinto and the basic practices of Shingon as well as discuss the history and aspects of the Goma ritual. We will start at 1pm, practice for a few hours, have dinner, and then we will do a special short form of the Goma at sunset. Participants will be invited to sit in the sacred space around the fire altar. This is a perfect opportunity for those who have expressed interest in becoming more deeply involved with the Goma, anyone who would like to develop a core daily spiritual practice, or those who are just curious about Japanese spirituality. If you are interested in attending, please let me know.

Finally, we are starting a small group for martial arts training which will be meeting 1-2 times per week. If you are interested in practicing martial arts with us, please contact me. We generally train for around 1.5 to 2 hours and then sometimes we finish with the misogi water purification practice and/or a short form of the Goma. The training includes striking, grappling, body movement and rolling, and use of weapons.

Thank you all so much for your support.