Huangbo said to his assembly “You are all slurping up brewer’s dregs. If you’re always wandering about, how will you find this moment? Don’t you know that in all of China there is not a single Zen teacher? One of the assembly stepped forward and protested. “But, there are people all over the country who lead communities and guide practitioners. What about them?” Huangbo responded, “I didn’t say there is no Zen, only there are no teachers.” Blue Cliff... Read more
For me the most effective way of being in the world is to move in the direction of the stream of the Dharma. But one is not automatically “in the stream of the Dharma.” That’s where practice comes in. Meditation, devotion, Dharma studies, cause-and-effect studies, chopping wood and carrying water, and more meditation yet are the ancient and modern and future paths of entrance into the timeless truths of Buddha, Dharma, Sangha. Gary Snyder The Best of Inquiring Mind Read more
Bow First, Ask Questions Later: Ordination, Love, and Zen Monastic Training in Japan Gesshin Claire Greenwood Wisdom Publications, Somerville, Massachusetts May 2018 San Francisco native Claire Greenwood was raised within the American Vipassana Buddhist community centered at Spirit Rock in Marin County. When she graduated from college in 2009, she went to India on a pilgrimage of self-discovery. There she took the opportunity to temporarily ordain within the Theravada tradition as a nun in Bodhgaya. Soon... Read more
On Facebook I recently was reading someone whom I especially admire for his commitment to Buddhism and his erudition. He alluded more or less in passing to much of contemporary and largely Western Buddhism as, among other things, “annihilationist.” He was referring to Ucchedavada, an ancient perspective the Buddha spoke against in the collected Nikaya texts. And he was conflating this ancient Indian school of skepticism with the often materialistic perspective of many contemporary and, mostly, Western Buddhists. With... Read more
Nondual reality includes subject and object, each itself and freely transposing with the other; first this, now that – sometimes one drops away, sometimes the other, sometimes both drop away, sometimes one emerges from the other, sometimes both emerge together – but we rest nowhere. Resting nowhere and moving fluidly among these perspectives is the true practice of koan introspection – helping us on our way. If You’re Lucky, Your Heart Will Break Read more
Stretch a little beyond what seems comfortable. Sit at least a little most every day. And plod on. Forgive yourself your failures, but resume. Fall down, pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start over again. One teacher liked to say, “Fall down nine times, get up ten.” Start over. That’s the practice. If You’re Lucky, Your Heart Will Break Read more
What is Unitarian Universalism? An interview conducted with me by a Catholic High School student a couple of years ago when I was serving as senior minister of the First Unitarian Church of Providence, before my retirement and before I had my cataract surgery, when I was still wearing glasses… And, from Providence. I dream of Providence, my home congregation until the day I die… Read more
My own teacher once told me that awakening is always an accident; and I tell my own students this today. There is no obvious causal relationship between nondual insight and anything we might do or not do. But if awakening is an accident, certain practices can help us become accident-prone. Zen Master Who? Read more
Walking the Spiritual Path: An Invitation Evelyn Underhill The following essay is the concluding chapter to Evelyn Underhill’s small book Practical Mysticism. Evelyn Underhill is one of my heroes. She is one of the singular Western spiritual thinkers from the first half of the twentieth century. And as a Zen practitioner I’m not alone in this assessment. The late master of Zen Mountain Monastery, Daido Loori Roshi included several of her books on his must-read list. She rose well... Read more
The other day I saw an image called the “Hierarchy of Disagreement.” It was developed by Paul Graham, described on the web as “a programmer, essayist, and venture capitalist.” I know nothing else of him beside the image and the essay “How to Disagree” that the image is based on. I find it pretty good, actually very good. Would that people paid a little more attention to it and other pointers about how to seek the truth... Read more
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