http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf “If you really want to rediscover wonder, you need to step outside of that tiny, terrified space of rightness and look around at each other and look out at the vastness and complexity and mystery of the universe and be able to say, ‘Wow, I don’t know. Maybe I’m wrong.'” Read more

Wonderful day in Minnesota. Above photo is from a favorite rest stop on my biking circuit.  Now the rest of the day is full of an empty schedule. Like I said, wonderful. Below you’ll find a little Dogen from the recent Kaz translation that I’ve been rolling around with since our study group Monday night. It’s a striking passage for me for several reasons.  You don’t find much overt rejoicing in a lot of Zen literature so it’s kinda nice... Read more

Above is the zendo created at Grailville, a retreat center in Loveland, OH, for the seven-day sesshin of the Yellow Springs Dharma Center. Through the window to the left is a bunch of cows, completing the midwestern Zen experience, moo’s and all.  There were also a couple roosters nearby who nicely heralded the rising sun each day. I drove down for sesshin to continue my koan play, thinking it’d be fun to see what koan work was like with another... Read more

    Note: I’ve deleted this post, at least for now. I jumped the gun and put it up before Joko’s family had given permission for it’s publication. Apparently, Joko didn’t want her stuff on the internet. I apologize for putting it up without permission. Read more

Above is a scene from Jay Cooke State Park near Duluth. My son and I were up camping for the weekend. Now back in town and getting ready for a 7-day sesshin in Ohio and a final job interview via the phone. Sounds like an MMPI for education administrators.  Life seems wild and sweet today. I’ve been following some of the posts about the Buddhist conference at Garrison Institute, especially at Monkey Mind. I admit, though, that I don’t get... Read more

Bower, bowed too Their nature, no nature This body, other bodies, not two Plunge into the inexhaustible realm Live the life of vow That’s the bowing gatha. This version might be Reb Anderson’s translation that I memorized years ago. Or it could be Roshi’s.  Living true nature is expressed in the bow.   This comes to mind today because Richard (thanks!) brought “In Search of True Self” by Joshua Knobe (NY Times) to my attention.  It looks at this fundamental... Read more

A fun thing about this stage in the transmission of dharma to the global culture is the on-going conversation regarding the who, what, and how of Zen.  As a thread in that fabric, James Ford has woven together some posts by Jiryu, Brad Warner, myself and added his clear thinking to boot. Check it out. I’ve written here about the topic quite a bit. Here’s one post from last year: What the Heck is a Zen Priest? Anyway, James characterizes... Read more

“The ten thousand things return to One” – by Shodo Harada Roshi from his new and incredibly lovely book, The Moon by the Window: the Calligraphy and Zen Insights of Shodo Harada, composed of about a hundred pieces of his masterful calligraphy and pithy Zen comments. Harada Roshi expresses the bodhisattva heart – specifically the interconnection of zazen and service – so clearly and inspiringly. The above is from the Blue Cliff Record #45: Zhaozhou’s Cloth Robe. A monk asked,... Read more

…and experience comes from bad decisions – that’s the small print under “Decisions” in the poster above.  Timely for me because I’ve been mulling a biggish opportunity and even after all these years of Zen practice, I tend to do the process that I’ve done for years.  Namely, getting stuck in my capacity to come up with equally good reasons for both “yes” and “no.” And as an old chess player, I try to see four or five moves out.... Read more

I think most Zen students would agree that following a teacher is a delicate task for us modern people. However, I’ll suggest here that most of our reactions to the practice of following a teacher are based on misconstrued images and projective distortions rather than the real deal. Americans tend to overtly over-emphasize the horizontal dimension and rigidly refuse to sit in the student seat, clinging to our specialness and rigid but fragile sense of self.  At the same time,... Read more