Just quietly sit down and notice what’s right in front of your eyes. It’s simple. No need to go somewhere. Dogen Zenji says, “The Way is basically perfect and all pervading. What good does it do to travel around to practice?” Wake up with the circumstances present in your life right now. Don’t wait for some future time when things will be “better.” That future time may never arrive.
We are constantly judging and comparing ourselves with our previous self, the self we want to become, or the selves of other people, wanting to become something other than what we are today. However, Enlightenment in the Soto school is impossible to attain by self-improvement. While practice never precludes continual refinement of our actions and following the 16 Bodhisattva Precepts, it’s about accepting where and who we are in this moment, because in the next moment the strong winds of life change us, just as the cloud transforms into a different shape, second after second. Like the cloud, it is not us (=ego self) that changes ourselves, but life that transforms us.
Bald Eagle Mountain range was not named after the bird, as I once thought, but a leader within the Lenape (better known as the Delaware) tribe, a community of indigenous people that still exists today. This tribe has three clans within it, one of which is known as the “Muncy.”
The Genuine Ancestors Monk bowing to tree. By Daishin Sitting at the edge of a small, sparsely wooded area on my college campus, the trees
Thought Provoking and Elusive Worldviews that Run Us “Enso” By Daishin A worldview is that which bridges the way we think and what we believe
The Power of Shikantaza Compared to the Jhanas All art by Daishin See more here. Table of Contents Overview At the edge of a forest
The Heart of the Matter My father would have been in a coffin when I was 16 years-old had he not noticed subtle changes in
Good News for Deadly Diets, Excessive Exercise, and Workaholics Zen Approaches to Healing Manjushri said, “Go out and bring back one stalk of medicinal herb.”
Tortured By Conscience? Tank Shame with Buddha Activity All my past and harmful karma, born from beginningless greed, hate and delusion, through body speech and
Slave to Pills? Zazen Posture is The Supreme Antidote “We can put the drug companies out of business if we learn to tap into our
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