One of my favorite past times is to mull the historical research about the early Zen ancestors and the connection to our practice today … although I confess that I enjoy the bootless former much more than the practical latter. There are few activities that bring the same delight in quiet thoughts that come when reading some historical tidbit about Dogen, Ejo, Gikai & Co. Even among Zen people, I’ve always been a bit strange. Nevertheless, I’ll share a little... Read more

Shohaku Okumura’s new book, Realizing Genjokoan: The Key to Dogen’s Shobogenzo, will be coming out soon – June 1, I believe – through Wisdom Publications. Preorder now! I was asked to endorse the book and so I’ve had the chance to read it. I found it to be a great offering. Here’s the blurb I wrote for Wisdom (not sure if they decided to use it): Shohaku’s sincere and devoted zazen heart illuminates this tender book, kindly and persistently examining... Read more

Here’s the webinar from yesterday. We worked with the section of Dogen’s Instructions for the Cook with lots of important material for what-is-community? reflections. Click here. And here’s a small part of the passage: Even the self does not know the self’s own weak points; how could others be aware of the weak points of others? How could it not be a mistake to take one’s own deficiencies as the deficiencies of others?   Read more

Here’s a link to about 40 talks by Katagiri Roshi that Minnesota Zen Center posted on iTunes – free (thanks, Al, for pointing this out).  I recommend the series on mindfulness but “Dogen’s Four Points” might be the best place to begin.  Here’s the link: click here. Read more

I’ve been engaged in an active listserve conversation among Zen teachers for the past week or so. The list is usually pretty quiet but now it’s really hopping with conversations about important stuff, like how to talk with each other, what to do when someone falls down, what to do with information from aggrieved parties, and how to take responsibility. A bunch of trained preachers sure can roll it out! And it hasn’t left any time or energy to reflect... Read more

                            The Speaker by Louis Jenkins The speaker points out that we don’t really havemuch of a grasp of things, not only the big things, the important questions, but the small everydaythings. “How many steps up to your back yard? Whatis the name of your district representative? Whatdid you have for breakfast? What is your wife’s shoe size? Can you tell me the color of yoursweetheart’s eyes?... Read more

Here’s the webinar on the section from Dogen’s Instructions for the Cook that I call “No Lack of Blessings.” Click here (then once the Webex player rolls, View and Video). Here’s part of the passage we worked through together, including some really beautiful phrases (“sacred embryo,” “one taste of the great sea,” “nurture sprouts of the way”) that one of the participants suggested I was getting attached too! Me?! Attached? Yes. And I’ll let it go here for you: If... Read more

Just read “The Bright Green City: Alex Steffen’s Optimistic Environmentalism,” in the April, 2010 The Sun, and am encouraged about the possibilities for the future.  This is the kind of going-beyond gloom and doom, despair and paralysis that warms my little heart. Steffen thinks we’ve got 25 years to make the changes that need to be made to save the planet but sees what may be the beginning of a groundswell of public opinion and action. “We have five years... Read more

Here’s another real dharma, real country tune. Enjoy. Read more

Here’s the talk I gave at the Nebraska Zen Center on April 18, 2010. There are several minutes of local color with Nonin that I didn’t edit so as to give you a feel for the place. Oh, and then Steve Earle singing the song that inspired the talk follows below. http://www.divshare.com/flash/playlist?myId=11169074-2b9 Read more