“One is a Buddhist if he or she accepts the following four truths: All compounded things are impermanent. All emotions are pain. All things have no inherent existence. Nirvana is beyond concepts.” Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse[1] A quick look at the Mahayana. Over the long course of its history Buddhism has divided into two major schools. Three is you separate the Vajrayana from the Mahayana. We’ll briefly look at that. But first, the way of the elders, the Theravada. Its... Read more
More than a decade ago I shared a list of a dozen observations, which I titled “The Zen of Seeing.” I recently stumbled upon it again. I dropped a few, reframed a few. And I share them because I think they may be useful to my sisters and brothers on this long winding road. Some come whole cloth from somewhere in the depths of my heart. Others I heard some or all of. Eventually they became my own. Take what... Read more
Changsha sent a student of the intimate to ask Master Hui, “What about before you saw Nanquan?” Hui simply sat still for a little while. “What about after seeing him?” “Nothing special.” The student returned and told Changsha what had transpired. Changsha observed, “The enlightened person sits on the top of a hundred-foot pole; She has entered the way but is not yet genuine. She must take a step from the top of the pole, And worlds in the ten directions... Read more
Trinity Sunday. Okay. I am a Zen Buddhist. And, yes, I’m also a Unitarian Universalist minister. Now, those who know of such things understand there need be no contradiction between being a Zen Buddhist and UU clergy. But, I was born into and raised a Christian. In my case of the fundamentalist sort in one of the Baptist variations. And, also, I’ve always taken the Christian streams of both Unitarianism and Universalism seriously. I also wrestle with the tradition... Read more
Once again my friend the old Zen hand Ken Ireland wrote a piece over at his Buddha, SJ blog that I thought deserved a bit wider platform. And, once again, he graciously consented to my reprinting it here at Monkey Mind. I hope you enjoy. And, perhaps more importantly, I hope it expands your understanding of Zen meditation. *** I currently live in Thailand which is a Buddhist monarchy. The king and royal family enjoy the highest rank. Protocol, to... Read more
When I was notified that my first book, published as This Very Moment, and a second edition, In This Very Moment, had gone out of print I felt a wave of emotions. The book had a long run. It was meant as an introduction to Zen; in the first edition it was aimed at the Unitarian Universalist world, in the second for a broader audience. I was grateful for the opportunity. And I think it was useful. And, as I re-read it,... Read more
Two hundred years ago on the 26th of May in 1825, the disparate liberal congregationalists and few random others reluctantly but finally formed an official denomination, the American Unitarian Association. The beginnings of this event were long in the making. The divisions between the Calvinist “orthodoxy” and the several strands of anti-trinitarian liberalisms trace back a good two decades with threads going back farther still. Most scholars seem to be of the view that Cotton Mather’s turn into the eighteenth... Read more
I think of Malcolm X and I think of America, I think of spiritual pilgrimages, and I think of what might save us. Malcolm Little was born in Omaha, Nebraska on May 19th, 1925. He was the fourth of seven children. His father was a Baptist preacher and an outspoken advocate of Black self-reliance. From Omaha the family moved first to Milwaukee and then to Lansing. His father was killed when he was six years old. The family believed his... Read more
As our American Mother’s Day rolls around, I find my heart flowing backwards in time. It’s all part of the mystery of this day. I think about my mother now long dead. But also my auntie, my “junior mother,” now dead a decade. And I continue slipping back in time and memory. Near and far collapse. And, looming behind their mother, my dreams take me to my grandmother. Each of them now among the great cloud of witnesses. A few... Read more
(I had the privilege of reading Teshin Matthew Sweger‘s recent talk at the North Carolina Zen Center. While it was addressed directly to his community, I thought it touched directly on issues for all our Zen sanghas, and, really, for spiritual communities at large. I asked for permission to reprint it here, and the roshi graciously consented…) Today, I want to talk about Sangha and how to be in community. When I first came to Zen practice, community was not... Read more
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