SONG OF AWAKENING (In traditional Chinese: 證道歌; in simplified Chinese 证道歌; pinyin: Zhèngdào gē; Wade–Giles: Cheng-dao ke; Japanese: Shōdōka; Korean: 증도가; “prove Way song”) The Song is a collection of 64 verses. The article on the Song in Wikipedia describes it as a “Chan discourse written some time in the first half of the 8th century C.E. and usually attributed to Yongjia Xuanjue. The true authorship of the work is a matter of debate, with a number of elements in... Read more

  Conspiracy, Trust, and other Faith Stories A dharma talk by Dr Chris Hoff at Empty Moon Zen Here we are in Los Angeles as, unfortunately, the pandemic continues to rage on. New mask mandates, rising hospitalizations, and new variants are all in the mix now. I recently heard this new wave described as a “pandemic of the unvaccinated.” Which can raise all kinds of emotions, because it doesn’t have to go down this way. From the beginning of the... Read more

  WRAPPED IN SILENCE Mo Myokan Weinhardt Senior Dharma Teacher Empty Moon Zen Last night I begged the Wise One to tell me The secret of the world. Gently, gently he whispered, “Be quiet, The secret cannot be spoken, It is wrapped in silence.” Here we are together, a day and a half deep into sesshin, wading into the secret of the world. Perhaps your mind has settled slightly; perhaps not. Either way — good. Maybe you’re tired. Maybe your... Read more

  THE EMPTY & THE OPEN Jan Seymour-Ford Senior Dharma Teacher, Empty Moon Zen I’ve been in a very quiet, dark, empty-handed place for a while in my practice, and in my life. So here’s what I’ve been thinking this past week: Oh, crap! I’m supposed to give this dharma talk, and I’ve got nothing. How am I going to keep talking for at least five minutes when I don’t have anything to say? The good advice is to give... Read more

What is Zen? A meditation James Ishmael Ford A few days ago on social media, I wrote what I wanted to be a summation of the Zen way as I understand it. Zen is not about calm nor focus. It does not focus on nothing. Although it does not ignore it, either. Part of the interesting thing is how Zen or more correctly Chan emerged in early medieval China. There the hard logic of Indian scholastic Buddhism gave way to... Read more

  Carl Gustav Jung was born on this day, the 26th of July, in 1875, in Kesswil, Switzerland. His father was a rural pastor of the Swiss Reformed Church, his mother the child of a prominent clerical and academic family. He would later write how his mother’s mental illness marked him. He would say he grew up with two personalities, one the boy of his time and place, but the other, a being from some other place, he imagined the... Read more

      These days I find myself reflecting on the nature of awakening, enlightenment, or, if you will, conversion. For me the great turning is a human thing, some lovely mystery that we are all of us invited to. And many of us in our different cultures and religions seek. And find. But, what in fact is it? Certainly a turning. But, is it sudden or gradual? Is it out of the blue, or is cultivation a significant, maybe... Read more

    (On Facebook I saw a notice that today was Aitken Roshi’s birthday. The date was a tad more than a month off. But, it sparked a flood of thoughts and gratitude. A couple of years ago I wrote a brief personal appreciation of the old master and appended the “official” obituary from his sangha. I have made some minor edits to my part, and, here it is.) Robert Baker Aitken was born on June the 10th, 1917 in... Read more

  WHO WOULD YOU BE BURIED WITH? James Ishmael Ford A voice from the dark called out, ‘The poets must give us imagination of peace, to oust the intense, familiar imagination of disaster. Peace, not only the absence of war.’ But peace, like a poem, is not there ahead of itself, can’t be imagined before it is made, can’t be known except in the words of its making, grammar of justice, syntax of mutual aid. A feeling towards it, dimly... Read more

      A poem composed on the occasion of my sixty-ninth birthday. Today on my seventy-third birthday, it continues to hold true… I pity anyone with no regrets Old Zen priest Myoun   Read more