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 Houn Hyakurei has died

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Kozan
Isan
gensho
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gensho




Posts : 25
Join date : 2010-11-18

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PostSubject: Houn Hyakurei has died   Houn Hyakurei has died Empty12/24/2015, 4:23 pm

Houn Hyakurei died today Dec. 24th, 2015. Hyakurei died peacefully with her sister reading sutra to her in Vancouver. She had been receiving treatment for cancer for five or six years and her body succumbed to tumours on the brain and spinal cord.

Hyakurei was ordained March 24th, 1971, received transmission, and in December of 1976 left Shasta Abbey in disagreement with Kennett Roshi.

Some may remember her from the 70's at Shasta Abbey and a few of us since then. I was last able to speak with Hyakurei on the phone a few days ago, I read her poems from Ryokan and she, speaking little, grunted an 'up or down' as we meandered through his offerings.

In the end we built this from his words, and for me it has her flavour;

When all thoughts
 Are ex­hausted
I slip into the woods
 And gather
  Like the lit­tle stream
Mak­ing its way
 Through the mossy crevices
I, too, qui­etly
 Turn clear and trans­par­ent.

Hyakurei, your one hundred spirits will be missed, may they fly with the clouds and frolic in the streams.

Jakuan Gensho
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chisanmichaelhughes

chisanmichaelhughes


Posts : 1640
Join date : 2010-11-17

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PostSubject: Re: Houn Hyakurei has died   Houn Hyakurei has died Empty12/25/2015, 5:36 am

Thank for posting Gensho and thank you for being there with her and your kind expressions
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Isan
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Isan


Posts : 933
Join date : 2010-07-27
Location : California

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PostSubject: Re: Houn Hyakurei has died   Houn Hyakurei has died Empty12/25/2015, 9:51 am

gensho wrote:
Houn Hyakurei died today Dec. 24th, 2015. Hyakurei died peacefully with her sister reading sutra to her in Vancouver.

Some may remember her from the 70's at Shasta Abbey and a few of us since then. I was last able to speak with Hyakurei on the phone a few days ago, I read her poems from Ryokan and she, speaking little, grunted an 'up or down' as we meandered through his offerings.

Hyakurei, your one hundred spirits will be missed, may they fly with the clouds and frolic in the streams.

Jakuan Gensho

Thank you very much for letting us know Gensho.  The last time I saw Hyakurei was at the gathering in Portland.  I had heard that she was sick.  I'm so glad that you remained in contact with her and supported her.  Here is a picture from the Portland reunion.  Hyakurei is standing next the Kyogen, second from the right.

Houn Hyakurei has died Mfh_gr10


Go forward in Peace dear Hyakurei.
.
.
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Kozan
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Kozan


Posts : 692
Join date : 2010-03-06
Age : 74
Location : Sonoma County CA

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PostSubject: Re: Houn Hyakurei has died   Houn Hyakurei has died Empty12/27/2015, 1:01 am

So sad to hear...

And yet knowing, with certainty, that you are returning home...
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mstrathern
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mstrathern


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Age : 80
Location : Bedfordshire, UK

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PostSubject: Re: Houn Hyakurei has died   Houn Hyakurei has died Empty12/29/2015, 10:18 pm

Time flies like an arrow... we will be there soon.
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chisanmichaelhughes

chisanmichaelhughes


Posts : 1640
Join date : 2010-11-17

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PostSubject: Re: Houn Hyakurei has died   Houn Hyakurei has died Empty12/30/2015, 3:20 pm

Fantastic sentiments with the passing of  our friend 
the words

I, too, qui­etly
 Turn clear and trans­par­ent.


have great meaning and express clear understanding outside religious form,and points  there can be no movement between here and there,and surely express our unity with all things in all directions. All beings, all times, alive and dead 




Gaining nothing
The market place is full of
All beings
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Ol'ga

Ol'ga


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Join date : 2011-03-22
Age : 77
Location : Toronto

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PostSubject: Re: Houn Hyakurei has died   Houn Hyakurei has died Empty1/12/2016, 8:40 pm

Only tuned in after a long while.

This is a very sad news for me. I shared living quarters with Hyakurei (Dess - Ariana) in Shasta. One could kind of be 'normal' with her. She was much maligned by Roshi, largely behind her back. I think she was much stronger and saner than was given credit for. Once I accompanied her to SF for a doctor's visit. It was a very nice outing. She was the one to drive me to Mt Shasta to catch the bus north when I decided to beat it.

And then, of course, I saw you, Gensho and Dess in Toronto, and you even attended David's and my wedding. We saw each other a fair bit then - Dess and I once drove to Ikea where I bought a bunch of bookcases - never have enough of those.I still have some of her clothes she pass on to me. I would have to do a lot of dieting if I were to fit into them now!

We lost touch many years ago. It's a pity I didn't manage to contact her somehow. Now she is gone. As far as I can figure out, we don't know what's out there, if anything. I think there should be something, but I don't know. No religions are authentic enough for me to be sure.
And so death is a bummer. It throws me every time, and there is more of it every year.
Well, all my love to you, who are still here - and grateful thoughts to the other ones.
O
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Isan
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Isan


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PostSubject: Re: Houn Hyakurei has died   Houn Hyakurei has died Empty1/13/2016, 9:06 am

Ol'ga wrote:
Only tuned in after a long while.

This is a very sad news for me. I shared living quarters with Hyakurei (Dess - Ariana) in Shasta. One could kind of be 'normal' with her. She was much maligned by Roshi, largely behind her back. I think she was much stronger and saner than was given credit for. Once I accompanied her to SF for a doctor's visit. It was a very nice outing. She was the one to drive me to Mt Shasta to catch the bus north when I decided to beat it.

Sorry you came back to such sad news.  Thanks for sharing your remembrances of Hyakurei.  Gensho says there will be a memorial ceremony for her in February and he will post the details here.
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Isan
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Isan


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PostSubject: Re: Houn Hyakurei has died   Houn Hyakurei has died Empty1/15/2016, 11:20 am

.
.

Regarding the memorial for Hyakurei, Gensho informed me that it will be held on February 15th in Tahoma (near Seattle).  I will post additional info as it becomes available.
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Jcbaran

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PostSubject: Re: Houn Hyakurei has died   Houn Hyakurei has died Empty2/18/2016, 7:07 pm

i always loved her smile
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gensho




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Join date : 2010-11-18

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PostSubject: Re: Houn Hyakurei has died   Houn Hyakurei has died Empty4/29/2016, 7:29 pm

We held Hyakurei's funeral on Feb. 18th. at Tahoma. The first sesshin of the month ended on the 17th., the second started on the 19th. Wedged in and emotionally intense for all of us. Hyakurei's sister Melissa came from California and a group of students and friends travelled from Vancouver and points North.

After the funeral a small group had tea with Harada Roshi and the sangha savoured tea and cakes in her memory. 

I gave the following eulogy at the ceremony:
Hyakurei was born an orphan in 1943 and was loving adopted by Pete and Sug Wheeler. As a young girl of four Geraldine Dessau Wheeler found herself in Japan and grew up there into her early twenties. She developed a deep love for Japan, the arts and its culture.  Her memories of summers spent with the family in the temple village of Nikko stayed in her heart all her life. 
Gerry left Tokyo for New York in her early twenties, married a Victor, rock musician, and then travelled to Europe with the band. In London she meet Houn Jiyu Kennett Roshi at a talk on Zen. Practicing zen with  Kennett Roshi led her back to America, she and Victor moved to Shasta Abbey at Mt. Shasta in northern California to deepen their practice.
I met Dessau in Feb. 1971 when I went to Shasta Abbey to study with Houn Jiyu Roshi. Our first encounter was in the sewing room as she both laughed and assisted me in at my clumsy attempts to sew my first set of robes in preparation for ordination. Dessau had long honed her sewing skills in Japan with excellent teachers. She was quickly recognized for her sharp wit with a cutting edge.
Hyakurei, myself and two others were ordained by Houn Jiyu Roshi in April 1971. Hyakurei received dharma transmission in October, 1973 and trained with Jiyu Roshi until December, 1976. 
Hyakurei had surgery in 1972 to correct a knee problem and unfortunately a poorly performed operation only made matters worse. From then on she had the challenge of chronic pain from nerves damaged by the surgery that required her to “sit at the bottom of the ocean” far beneath the waves of distress that roiled the surface.
In the fall of 1976 Jiyu Roshi introduced the body-mind practice of Jin Shin Jyutsu into the practice at the temple. Hyakurei and I practiced together and through it Hyakurei found some relief from her pain. We became close friends and, our interest in each other deepen and at the end of the year we left Shasta Abbey to explore the depth of our relationship in daily life. We had fallen in love and married in March 1977. 
Together we explored our enjoyment in life, especially a shared love of dancing and while living in Los Angeles held  “zen dance” evenings where rather than sitting still you stayed on your feet and kept going straight ahead. Through hours of dancing Hyakurei kept everyone moving - indeed while singing and dancing she was the ‘voice of the dharma’. 
In 1988 we left Los Angeles, and moved to Toronto, going there to help care for my dying father. 
In Toronto, Hyakurei studied at the University of Toronto and received a bachelors degree in both Buddhist studies and Japanese language in 1993. These studies and her interest in the nature of mind led her next to Shamanism. Hyakurei received many initiations and began a practice that brought many people to her.
Exploring shamanic meditations she changed her name to Ariana in recognition of the myth of the goddess Ariadne who supplied the thread that guided Theseus out of the labyrinth after confronting the minotaur. She became a guide for many who had become lost in the dark passages in the mind - leading them back to the clear light of mindfulness. She deeply blended her Buddhist studies and her shamanic techniques bringing repentance and Sange to the forefront in order to bring forth transformation from within.
Hyakurei returned to Japan numerous times, once with her mother, we went once together were she showed me her favourite sights, and many times Hyakurei returned by herself. Staying to explore the land and culture that had so delighted and effected her as a child. Visiting her beloved Nikko and exploring from Kyoto to Hakodate. 
Hyakurei first visited Tahoma in 1998 when she, Gensho and Mitsu Yu Koji stayed on the land chanting sutras and sitting zazen each day in the hermitage. In 1999 Hyakurei attended sesshin with Harada Roshi and knew for herself she had found her true teacher. From that time forward she attended sesshin at Tahoma as often as she could.
To that end Hyakurei left Toronto with a deep desire to return to the west coast where she would be closer to both Tahoma and Japan. She lived in many towns and cities in Oregon and Washington looking for her true seat and offered practice and instruction to all who wished wherever she lived.
As her health worsen, she returned to live in Canada and found her home in Vancouver. Hyakurei loved the condo she found with it’s matcha coloured walls and a view over an expansive courtyard of trees. She filled her space with many reminders of her time in Japan and for as long as she could led group zazen in her home.
We would travel down to sesshin from Vancouver together, and Hyakurei often spoke of the energy she found in practice at Tahoma, giving her the strength to deal directly with her growing health problems. 
Once her cancer was diagnosed Hyakurei had to reduce her work with others and focus on her own situation. Her power of practice give her extra years of life as her body weakened. At Tahoma Hyakurei was limited to working in the sewing and laundry room and her sanzen with Roshi.
Last fall, she with typical courage and determination began treatment again this time for brain tumours. We both fully expected to spend time together this January - acting like young people with all the time the world, not knowing how close the end was to be. 
Soon Hyakurei was in palliative care at Vancouver General, where she continually praised the kindness of the nurses and quickly developed a reputation for wit and ability to joke about her declining health. 
Bokudo spent time with Hyakurei last December and shared her saying “it’s nothing like I thought it would be like, everything is completely unknown, no more sushi, never again”.
Her sister Melissa arrived on the 23rd of December,  and found Hyakurei asleep. She whispered in her ear, and Hyakurei woke with a great cry of joy, reaching up to hug her.
Hyakurei died on the 24th. Hyakurei lived a rich life fully, going straight ahead, not wasting precious time. 
For forty-four years we shared life for better or worse, in health and suffering, sadness and joy.
Hyakurei - you are so deeply missed, how I would love to speak with you, and hear your voice again

In her memory we will plant two Ume plum trees in view of sewing-laundry room window and with their fruit make the Umiboshi pickles she savoured 

I was able to speak with Hyakurei a couple of days ago and she was finding a phone conversation too hard. We ended with my reading Ryokan to her, and letting her fall asleep. Toward the end I munged two together and found this:

When all thoughts 
Are exhausted
I slip into the woods 
And gather
Like the little stream 
Making its way
Through the mossy crevices
I, too, quietly
Turn clear and trans­par­ent.



Hyakurei, you are sorely missed!
---
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Isan
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Isan


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PostSubject: Re: Houn Hyakurei has died   Houn Hyakurei has died Empty4/30/2016, 8:33 am

gensho wrote:
We held Hyakurei's funeral on Feb. 18th. at Tahoma. The first sesshin of the month ended on the 17th., the second started on the 19th. Wedged in and emotionally intense for all of us. Hyakurei's sister Melissa came from California and a group of students and friends traveled from Vancouver and points North.

After the funeral a small group had tea with Harada Roshi and the sangha savoured tea and cakes in her memory. 

I gave the following eulogy at the ceremony.........

Thank you Gensho for posting details of the memorial ceremony and in particular the eulogy you gave.  It is gratifying to learn about the many things that Dess accomplished after leaving Shasta Abbey.  She is a great example of how we kept what was worth keeping from the Abbey, discarded the rest, and went on to live substantive lives.  Dess led a full life in spite of her physical challenges.

Godspeed Hyakurei!
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chisanmichaelhughes

chisanmichaelhughes


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PostSubject: Re: Houn Hyakurei has died   Houn Hyakurei has died Empty5/4/2016, 9:17 am

So touched by the moving story


Umeboshi plums 
Too early
Not yet born nor formed
Ha!

Love y'all
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