Here’s my response to the question from a talk I gave in Ann Arbor in February (thanks, Haju!):http://www.divshare.com/flash/audio_embed?data=YTo2OntzOjU6ImFwaUlkIjtzOjE6IjQiO3M6NjoiZmlsZUlkIjtzOjg6IjE0NjgyNDQ5IjtzOjQ6ImNvZGUiO3M6MTI6IjE0NjgyNDQ5LThiYiI7czo2OiJ1c2VySWQiO3M6NzoiMTg4OTc1MyI7czoxMjoiZXh0ZXJuYWxDYWxsIjtpOjE7czo0OiJ0aW1lIjtpOjEzMDM4NzAzMzA7fQ==&autoplay=default And here’s Sarah McLachlan’s: Read more

I had planned to wait to write a review after I’d read the whole tamale but its lookin’ like that’s not going to be for awhile so I’d just like to say what a wonderful resource this is for koan students, for shikantaza students who might be curious, and for those who are thinking about jumping into Mu.  I’ll be recommending this to my students without reservation. Click here to buy this book now. James and Melissa (the editors) are... Read more

I signed the recent letter to Genpo from the gang of 66 Zen teachers after not signing the previous one. This one seemed to have fewer hidden agendas (go ahead and call me paranoid…) and was clear – step down and do your work, do what you said you’d do.  I’ve noticed in what I’ve been scanning in the cyberwhirl how polarizing these issues are. Duh! Some think Eido Shimano is pure evil and Genpo is close behind and the... Read more

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Here’s Bodhi on his 3rd birthday.  He looks how I feel about the conversations about Zen priests being “professionals” or not that are kicking around at Hardcore Zen and various other venues. In my view, Zen is a craft rather than a profession and I think we could have some really creative guilds.  I learned Zen through working close up with Katagiri Roshi, much like an apprentice – much more like that than like my other professional training program. I’m... Read more

                  Here’s a poem lifted from today’s Writer’s Almanac, laying it out how I often feel it (except for the breast exam part): After Reading There Might Be an Infinite Number of Dimensions by Martha Silano I’m thinking today of how we hold it together,arrive on time with the bottle of Zinfandel, a six-pack of Scuttlebutt beer, how we cover our wrinkleswith Visible Lift, shove the mashed winter squash into the baby’s... Read more

The above is from today’s bike ride around Bald Eagle Lake. A bit of ice has transmogrified to water but just around the edges. People are still out on the ice pulling in their hockey rink fences and other projects worthy of risking life and limb.  Speaking of which, Harry comments to my last post with a couple questions. Here’s one: “How should we concern ourselves with karma i.e. what is ‘it’ and why should we know?” “I” am karma.... Read more

Heading into weekend sesshin soon. Just viewed this TED talk and it seems a perfect preface for our practice in this swirling world where UN workers are killed in Afghanistan because somebody burned a Koran in Florida. “Stop screaming and start listening” is Brene Brown’s wrap up. Earlier on she says that her research shows what we find in Zen: “Vulnerability is the source of joy.” http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf Read more

The disaster (still unfolding, I’m afraid) in Japan just got more personal when I learned that Moriyama Roshi, a teacher that I studied with briefly at Zuigakuin, is missing.  When I knew him, Moriyama was a strikingly normal guy who liked to have fun. And sit zazen. He was a complete Dogen body practitioner and not in his head to an amazing degree – less so than any other human I’ve ever met.  During sesshin his schedule included an informal... Read more

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