Writing About the Dharma to Someone Behind Bars I recently received a letter from a man in prison requesting guidance on the Buddhist path. He
Faith in Zen? The Five Powers People of many religious traditions come together across the globe to celebrate the end of a year and to
Enlightenment in Dementia “Let go of Enlightenment.” – Zen Master Dogen in ‘Shobogenzo Daigo’ (Great Enlightenment) Dementia sucks. When a loved one has it, we
Zazen is simple. Just don’t put effort into doing it.
When deluded, our world turns upside down, right side up, and upside down again and again from the moment we get out of bed. That’s the price of seeking status and wealth. It’s the results of learning transactional love – “Do this and get that in return.” In other words, our self-worth is knit together with a condition. The condition being the degree, the promotion, the salary raise, the victory, the dream vacation, etc.
A lot of people come to Zen because they have serious apprehensions about the religious path they grew up with. That was me. I thought Zen meditation was the answer to all my problems when I met my teacher. But my teacher never affirmed this idea. Instead, she said, “Zen doesn’t make you into a Buddhist. Zen aims to make us better at being yourself. If you are Christian, you’ll be a better Christian.”
Killer Ancestors Table of Contents Introduction We are here because of what preceded us. This is true of all dimensions of life, from our very
Heaven, Hell, Earth and The Way A Zen Perspective The Way Courses Through Heaven and Earth A lot of people associate religion with beliefs about
Low self-confidence, self-doubt, and lack of assurance in the basic goodness of others seems to be a perennial problem for many of us. We doubt ourselves when we make mistakes or are called out for unskillful actions. Similarly, we have a hard time trusting our teachers, bosses, and political leaders. The wisdom of our parents or ancestors can sometimes appear shallow. So where do we turn?
In 1924, exactly 100 years ago, Edwin Hubble peered through the darkness of the night sky using the most powerful telescope on the planet and discovered something that astonished the scientific community, including Einstein. Hubble was the first human to witness not just that there are multiple galaxies like our Milky Way, but that they are moving away from each other! This observation forever changed the way we see ourselves in relation to the world.
This everyday, ordinary practice-enlightenment (fruit-flower) has a rippling effect around the planet where we humans activate our role among all the other species, as that aspect of the universe that has the ability to reflect on itself, or, as Dogen Zenji puts it in ‘Genjo Koan,’ “That you go forth and experience myriads of things is delusion. That myriad things come forth and experience themselves is Awakening.”
