Each one of us will get some idea of meditation. Any image or idea we have about Zen, or meditation, or by extension of our lives and our story, is wrong. The only thing we can possibly know is what's happening right now. Everything before it is a dream, everything after it is supposition, and...
When the bell was hit tonight during the Evening Bell Chant, some people thought, “Uhmm, wonderful… Oh, great!” Other people thought, “Not loud enough!” Other people said, “I wish he’d do it faster!” Somebody else said, “What’s he...
Question: I find my attention drifting a lot during meditation. Recently, I’m getting lost in thoughts and dreams and losing my question, “what is this?” during practice. Are there any specific techniques to work on this other than just keep doing it?
Answer: Right...
Once a year, our school celebrates Buddha's birthday. We celebrate the birth of a man who was born somewhere between 2,500 - 2,600 years ago. But the meaning of this in Zen is not celebrating a man; it's celebrating this awakening. But it's not his awakening; it's our awakening. So what is our...
There is a story of an old farmer who had worked his crops for many years. One day his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit. "Such bad luck," they said sympathetically.
"Maybe," said the farmer
The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it three other wild...
The challenge is to use our practice to cultivate awareness, to be honest enough and to train ourselves to be able to witness and watch the ever-changing flow of emotion, thoughts, projections, and experience that goes on in our minds. If we don't pay attention, then our minds make and rule...
What is this thing that I call, “I”? What is it really? We think we know who we are—we have stories about ourselves. But what is it really? We have our own limited human perception of things, and that's good, that helps us somewhat. But it's not the truth.
We create...
A monk asked a master, "I just became a monk and would like to know how to enter Buddhahood."
The master said, "Do you hear the waterfall?"
"Yes I do" replied the monk.
Master said, "Enter there."
If you go into the realm of metaphysics about life after life after life, you're in the world of supposition. But take everything about our past actions creating a future life and substitute the word “moment” for “life”. Our action in this moment creates our life in the...
Great Effort, I think of as the hinge-point of our practice. If we don't have this great effort, then we really don't have a practice. Because unless we bring our practice to the difficult parts of our lives, it's not much of a practice. In fact, what often seems to happen is many people will...
"Before thinking" is easy to talk about but difficult to practice. Our desire, anger, and ignorance are so powerful, so encompassing, and solid that we don’t even recognize their impact. Many people who first hear about before thinking find it absurd. Others feel that it is impossible to...
When we see the impermanence of this world and discover who we truly are, we can realize a truth that goes beyond impermanence. The truth is something every human being can perceive intrinsically and is already clear in every moment. It is acknowledging the difficulties and dissatisfaction in our...