I’ve noticed no one has a “good reason” for embarking on the spiritual quest, whether Zen or any other. Our motives for taking up any spiritual practice are always clouded. After all, in most cases, certainly in our human hearts, motivations are almost always multiply caused. And, sometimes, well, that presenting thing feels wrong to some observer. One example. Many years ago my brother and I took a hike in the mountains above Palm Springs. We met some... Read more

  For me the wisdom of the Desert Fathers and Mothers is a rich source out of which I not only appreciate the deep mystical traditions of Christianity, but which often directly touches my life as a Zen Buddhist. Somewhere along the line I became aware of Amma (mother) Syncletica. She lived roughly between the middle of the fourth century and the middle of the fifth. She was the subject of a hagiography attributed for many years to Athanasius of... Read more

    (A fragment from a larger work in progress) Somewhere along the way in our Western Zen communities, people got it in their heads that you weren’t supposed to read. Okay, there are reasons. Words are traps. Easy to make them into little shrines, offer some incense, and be on your way. But, within the vast literature there are many important pointers. And. Reading a little of the canonical literature of Buddhism and in particular Zen, can be enormously... Read more

    BURNING, BURNING, BURNING, BURNING Zen at the End of a World A Dharma talk at the August 28, 2021 Empty Moon Zen Zazenkai Edward Sanshin Oberholtzer. Guiding teacher at the Joseph Priestley Zen Sangha Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. The public works department has been busy here in East Buffalo Township. For reasons that are beyond me,  in the midst of this summer’s blistering heat they decided to resurface the township roads. Ours got an especially thorough makeover – two inches... Read more

    In Facebook land I found myself drawn into a conversation about the foundations of the Methodist church. It’s one of those historical tidbits that I find as tempting as much as a cat catching a wiff of catnip. As it happens there is a controversy over whether the Methodist founder John Wesley sought, or perhaps even obtained the “historic” episcopacy for his mission. The known facts are these: the monk Gerasimos Avlonites, Bishop Erasmus of the Greek diocese... Read more

  THE WORK OF CHANGE A Zen Reflection August 22, 2021 Delivered at the First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles James Ishmael Ford I’ve been thinking a lot about changes. And with that the nature of change itself. In the literature of Chinese Buddhism there’s a lovely little story that hints at some of how we can encounter change in ways that might be helpful. It may not immediately be obvious, but let’s hear it, and then unpack it together,... Read more

    The scholar Miriam Levering’s article “The Dragon Girl and the Abbess of Mo-Shan: Gender and status in the Ch’an Buddhist tradition” (Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 5, I ( 1982): 19-35) tells us about a recurring theme in the teaching of the Chan master Dahui Zonggao. It is hard to overstate Dahui’s importance in the mature presentation of Zen in the middle of the twelfth century. The contemporary Zen teacher Dosho Port describes Dahui. “Few if... Read more

    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