One of those little treats of our new web based world is Panhala, who sends me a poem every day…. Today I received something from the Buddhist poet Jane Hirschfield’s Lives of the Heart. “Almost the twenty-first century” — how quickly the thought will grow dated, even quaint. Our hopes, our future, will pass like the hopes and futures of others. And all our anxieties and terrors, nights of sleeplessness, griefs, will appear then as they truly are — Stumbling,... Read more

Just ’cause… Read more

Every now and again I get questions about what the words monk and nun, priest and teacher might actually mean in Zen. I’ve attempted to address these questions in various places. In my book, Zen Master Who? And at spots around the web. For instance: http://monkeymindonline.blogspot.com/2008/07/authority-in-zen.html http://monkeymindonline.blogspot.com/2009/02/teaching-credentials-in-zen.html http://boundlesswayzen.org/lineage.htm http://monkeymindonline.blogspot.com/2009/02/lay-dharma-transmission-in-north.htm I’ve just responded to another query at my Facebook account. And I thought my attempt at distillation might be worth sharing with a broader audience. So, here’s what I most recently... Read more

The other day Jan, auntie and I saw Julie and Julia. We would have to agree with the general tone of the critics that the paring of the two stories created an unfair comparison between an archetype and a kid, inviting beyond that unfair comparisons between one of the great actresses of our time and someone just finding her way into the trade. But, you know, that said, we really liked it. And I personally recommend it… The lesser story... Read more

Gene Roddenberry was born on this day in 1921. Science fiction was my first window on the world beyond the narrow confines of my upbringing. Roddenberry’s Star Trek began when I was eighteen and so didn’t have a major influence on me personally. Still, it seems obvious that it served a similar purpose to the generation that came of age after me. I do believe his vision was largely the same one I found in many Science Fiction writers and... Read more

John Tarrant at Kripalu Sept 25-27 John Tarrant, Roshi, senior teacher at the Pacific Zen Institute and my primary Zen teacher makes a rare visit to the east coast Sept 25-27 to teach at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in the Berkshires in Stockbridge, MA. The retreat he’ll be leading is called, Meditation and Creativity: Practices that Free the Mind. This retreat, unlike conventional Zen sesshin, is very much for everyone; and very important for someone just interested... Read more

WORKING WITH KOANS A Talk by John Tarrant Given at a Sesshin at St Dorothy’s Rest in Camp Meeker, California 1 July 2004 A koan is a piece of old wisdom in a very concise form. I think of it as a vial of ancient light that has been passed down to us. It’s the same light that was in the heart of the teacher who invented the koan. So, if you can get the vial open, what will pour... Read more

Somewhere in my late adolescence I stumbled upon a copy of T. E. Lawrence’s memoir Seven Pillars of Wisdom. It said on the title page it was a first edition and the used book dealer who was offering it said it would be a great first aquisition for an aspiring book collector. I wasn’t sure I wanted to be a book collector (and indeed would instead become a book accumulator, a horse of a very different color), but ever since... Read more

Wandering around the Buddhist blogosphere I ran across a story that purports to be out of the Zen tradition. Frankly, I’ve never encountered it before and am a bit suspicious about its origins. Although I also have to admit it does contain a message I think commonly held to be “Zen.” It goes somewhat like this. A senior student decides it is time for him to be acknowledged as a master of the Zen way and goes to his teacher... Read more

On this day in 1553 the lawyer, physician, theologian, humanist and most significantly, anti-trinitarian polemicist, Michael Servetus was arrested in Geneva on the orders of the theocrat John Calvin. It all goes downhill for Servetus from here. But not for his ideas… Read more