A monk said, “I’ve just arrived here and I beg the master to point out a gate whereby I may enter.” Xuansha said, “Do you hear the sound of the water in the creek?” The monk siad, “I hear it.” Xuansha said, “Enter here.” There’s some superbly simple Zen directions, echoed by Ginny White in The Zen Leader: 10 Ways to go From Barely Managing to Leading Fearlessly: “Relax, enter, add value” is her first Zen flip. We’ve been working... Read more
There’s a new Katagiri Roshi archive up here: click Andrea Martin has done a great job gathering together a whole trunk full of Katagiri material – audio, video, photos, calligraphy. I’ve gotten lost in it a few times, strolling down memory lane. And I learned some things. For example, somehow I’d missed the detail that Katagiri Roshi’s teacher, Hayashi Roshi, had directed him to go to Hoshinji to study with Harada Daiun and the young Katagiri – in a non-stereotypical... Read more
http://youtu.be/tU78lSjgN3Y “Living’s mostly wasting time/and I waste my share of mine” – Cowboy Junkies When I was a kid, my family watched the political conventions together. My dad and mom had seven kids and the older crew would usually be allowed to sit up together through the nomination process and even the late night acceptance speeches – because when the conventions were less scripted, the nominee sometimes got started late but we just had to see ’em. Even after I... Read more
Thirty years on the river bank, Angling for the great function, If you don’t catch the golden fish, it’s all in vain. You may as well reel in and go back home. Letting down the line ten thousand feet, A breaking wave makes ten thousand ripples. At night in still water, the cold fish won’t bite. An empty boat filled with moonlight returns. Sailing the sea for thirty years, The fish seen in clear... Read more
This reflection is a follow up to James Ford’s post a little while back, Jiufeng Does Not Approve: A Brief Meditation. I’ve been chewing on this old case for twenty years or so – an important pointer in my ongoing search for what Dogen calls the wondrous method of practice-enlightenment (aka, shikantaza). Katagiri Roshi would often say that there are only a few people who really know this wondrous method. I took that to heart and launched a pilgrimage that... Read more
“Sparklingly refeshing,” says one of the blurbs on the back cover. And also, “Ford’s mature, playful, multifaceted Zen has been slow-cooking for forty years and is now ready. Read and delight!” That was some guy named “Dosho” and I really can’t beat his blurb this morning. Now I confess that when it comes to James Myoun Ford, I’m really biased. Frankly, I love the guy and am deeply indebted to him. Through working with him in the koan way –... Read more
I’d been practicing Zen for a half-dozen years when my mother asked for a book that explained what it was that I was up too. Apparently, I’d been quite incoherent on that particular point (well, most other points too) and she was concerned. Thinking that Zen Master Dogen might not resonate, I got her a copy of Thich Nhat Hanh’s Peace is Every Step. Next time I saw her I asked what she thought of it. “That’s the religion I’ve... Read more
That’s a Hafiz poem about huge love on the wall of a convenience store in south Minneapolis. The world may be changing after all. As for changes, I’ve been reflecting on the changes that I’ve seen in my 35 years of Zen practice. Back in ’77 there were probably about 1,000 people who identified as Zen practitioners. Today the number is probably in the range of 10,000 (that’s a wild guess given the number of members in centers associated with... Read more
Just back from sesshin with Bodhin Kjolhede and crew at the Rochester Zen Center’s beautiful Chapin Mill site. So this here’s part of my ongoing travelogue of sesshin on planet Earth. Two words: Wonderful! Wonderful! And for now just a couple quick observations, a complaint, and an exhortation. First, the Chapin Mill facility is the finest for sesshin that I’ve seen, including in Japan. It was designed with this specific function in mind and it just flows. Even though there... Read more
Note: Here’s the conclusion of my koan confessions, starting with a real confession – I’m a half-baked potato. I encourage you to also view Koun’s comments for Confessions 2 and 3-4, presenting the view of the just-sitting school. I have heard from some off-line that these aren’t really balanced, that I don’t present the virtues of the just-sitting approach or the weaknesses of the koan approach – a fair criticism. I’ll get around to that sometime. For now, I’ll be... Read more
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