Jan & I are off to sesshin at our Boundless Way temple in Worcester, leaving auntie & the cats in charge of the old homestead. Sesshin means to touch the heart mind. And frequently one does. Also, this is a special treat, it is our only seven day retreat in the Boundless Way sangha annual schedule – so far… If you would like a glimpse of what sesshin looks like, this is a nice video. At our own sesshin we... Read more

I missed this important video when it first came out. As it were. But too important not to pass on… Read more

I’ve now received a couple of emails from people who read my small report from this year’s American Zen Teachers Association gathering in Batavia, New York. Most expressed disappointment that I wasn’t addressing in a direct way the recent events regarding the revelation that the Rinzai priest Eido Shimano, who has been haunted by relentless allegations of sexual misconduct with students over many years, and who was revealed just this past month to have been actively engaged in one more... Read more

On this day in 1850 Sarah Margaret Fuller Ossoli, while returning to America with her husband and infant child, drowned in a shipwreck just off the coast of Fire Island in New York. One of my real heroes, I wish she were better known… And I wish there were better videos on Youtube about her. But, at least these are sincere, I hope tantalizing,  and the later points to very good book, so, here you go… Read more

Early on Wednesday I got in the car and took the seven and a half hour drive up to Batavia, just outside of Rochester, New York, where the Rochester Zen Center’s country retreat, Chapin Mill is. Took me a tad under ten hours… Wednesday is casual, but by tradition features gender specific gatherings. The women planned something. The men wandered around aimlessly before most gradually coming together near the swimming pond. There has been much sadness of late regrading sexual... Read more

I’m at an American Zen Teachers Association conference outside of Rochester, NY. Great conference, astonishingly beautiful Zen retreat center. Lousy web access. Probably no posts ’till I return… Read more

Here I am, sitting in a Starbucks, part of a rest area on Interstate 90, about a hundred miles East of Rochester, New York. Early this morning I started driving to Chapin Mill in Batavia, which is outside of Rochester, to attend this year’s gathering of the American Zen Teachers Association. Only twenty-seven are attending this year, not one of the larger meetings. I look forward to seeing some old friends and meeting some I hope will become friends. I’m... Read more

So, I was standing on line at the Seven Stars Bakery when the door to the restroom swung wide. Out walked a three-year old boy wiping his hands on a paper towel, proudly proclaiming to all and sundry “I went. I went.” His father followed, blushing ever so slightly. My companions on line smiled and expressed sotto voce that going is a great thing. Gradually I made my way to the front of the line. I requested a half loaf... Read more

One day during meditation, I was contemplating global warming…. With some anguish, I asked Nature this question: ‘Nature, do you think we can rely on you?’  I asked the question because I know that Nature is intelligent, she knows how to react, sometimes violently, to re-establish balance.  And I heard the answer in the form of another question: ‘Can I rely on you?’  The question was being put back to me: can Nature rely on humans? And after long, deep... Read more

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