In the midst of all the tumult of life I find myself pausing just for a moment to recall the life and work of Stephen Hawking who died today, the 14th of March, 2018. Against all odds he lived to be seventy-eight. Professor Hawking, theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and director of research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology at the University of Cambridge, was by all accounts one of the greatest minds since Albert Einstein. On the one hand I spend... Read more
Daisetsu Tangen Harada Roshi, master of Bukkokuji Soto Zen Buddhist training monastery in Obama, Japan, died on the 12th of March, 2018. He was called by most of those who knew him Roshi-sama, which I think can be translated closely enough as “Beloved master.” Harada Roshi was ninety-three. He was a successor to the great Daiun Sogaku Harada, the source of a Soto reformed koan curriculum and the leader of a revitalization of koan introspection within the Soto school.... Read more
I am a dedicated practitioner observer of the establishment of Zen in the West. I am particularly focused on the transmission of Soto Zen and the Soto reformed koan system developed by Daiun Sogaku Harada. In my practice and studies I’ve found myself considering how Zen deals with the ego. Merriam-Webster’s primary definition of that word “ego” is “the self especially as contrasted with another self or the world.” While there is also an important definition within... Read more
Sesshin To Touch the Heart Mind A three-day intensive Zen meditation retreat With Roshi James Myoun Ford Myoun Roshi will be assisted by Senior Dharma Teacher Jan Seymour-Ford. Other Zen priests and teachers may be joining us for all or part of the retreat. Stay tuned for announcements. The sesshin starts on Thursday evening the 28th of June, 2018, and concludes with lunch on Sunday the 1st of July. We will be gathering at the Pine Mountain Buddhist Temple & Meditation... Read more
It was on this day, the 11th of March, in 1984 that Rinzai Zen master Soen Nakagawa died at Ryutakuji monastery in Japan. In my study of Zen come West, Zen Master Who? I wrote about him. Through his regular visits, his Dharma heirs, and others he taught, Soen Nakagawa would become one of the most important figures shaping a Western understanding of Rinzai Zen. Soen Nakagawa was born (on the 19th of March,) 1907... Read more
I was arranging my koan talks which are archived at our Blue Cliff Zen Sangha’s website, and noticed there was a nice “roundish” twenty-five. They include two talks based on koans in the Harada Yasutani Miscellaneous Koan collection, nine from the Gateless Gate collection, six from the Blue Cliff Record, one from the Book of Serenity, two from Entangling Vines, and another five talks on aspects of koan introspection from various other sources. I thought they might... Read more
A student of the way asked master Yunmen, “What did Shakyamuni Buddha preach throughout the length of his life?” To which Yunmen replied, “One teaching in response.” Blue Cliff Record, Case Fourteen My koan teacher’s teacher, the renowned lay master Robert Aitken commented on this simple koan that it perfectly represented the teaching of the “first age.” Recalling that I find myself contemplating the idea of the three ages, and what it might mean. The Buddha taught that... Read more
I stumbled on this in my archives. I have no memory of having written it, but looking around, sadly, it doesn’t look like I can blame anyone else for having written it. So, for your entertainment, and who knows, maybe even some small spark of illumination, a look at a passage from Genesis treated in the manner of a Zen koan. The Text Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord... Read more
Been thinking about “soul,” particularly what soul might be if there is no little part of the person that is unconnected to the body and is just passing through… I have a view on this. Soul is life. Soul is breath. And. And I think this is important. Soul, contrary to what you may have heard is what Zen is all about. I suggest there’s a way through the hurt and confusion of our lives, to something... Read more
“Koans are a rag-bag. They are not schematized. They are a hoard of old sayings that have proven helpful, culled mostly from biographies and sutras, and storied encounters. Yes, we have a ‘curriculum,’ a set of classical koan collections, but they do not represent a graded sequential program. They are a lucky-dip of insights, experiences, tastes and transformations, from 2,500 years of practice. Actually they are alive. They can’t be limited or ‘known’ at all. All we can hope to... Read more
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In