Dogen’s Extensive Record #487 In both arousing the mind and the ultimate stage, how do we practice fully? Engaging these two minds like this is the style of the buddha ancestors. Forgetting self and freeing others with the strength of merit and virtue, My home[town]’s spring color, peach blossom crimson. Dogen’s two minds are very similar to Hashimoto’s from a couple posts ago. The question, “How do we practice fully?” is how to engage both Way Minds. Forgetting self and... Read more

Question: Dosho…you may know the therapy from Japan, Morita Therapy. I would call it everyday mindfulness with no special idea of practice. Maybe self-forgetfulness in action. It is good for people like me who have anxiety issues. I also talked to a man named M. Saito from Japan. He used Zen to help cure his anxiety problems, but no formal zazen. I asked him many questions and he explained things to me using Zen sayings. He reports rare anxiety problems... Read more

Wow, some of you had a lot to say about the last post! And it wasn’t even about sheep and wild fox or animals of any kind (that’s an inside-blog joke – just search for “sheep” if you missed all of that). Anway, here’s a little piece of the Hashimoto Roshi commentary on Dogen’s Doshin (Way Mind) that my brother and I are working on, ever so slowly. Hashimoto Roshi, as you may know, was the teacher that the young Katagiri attended for... Read more

Here’s a story that’s been on my mind recently. Katagiri Roshi dishes out a world class butt chewing which was pretty unusual, especially given that the student wasn’t yours truly. But its been coming up for me because it shows how important Katagiri regarded work in the world. A student once said to Katagiri Roshi, “I get a job for only short periods of time so I can then collect unemployment compensation. Roshi said, “Then your job has no relation... Read more

During the Q&A; at the Chicago Zen Center last Sunday, Sevan asked what I said to people who were considering leaving training. That brought this old Katagiri story to mind and it occurs to me that some blog readers might find it helpful (in a frustrating sort of way) as well. A monk who had once been an enthusiastic practitioner had lost his way. He was escaping over the wall of the monastery every night, going to the bar and... Read more

I got back last night from visiting the Zen Center of Oak Park where I gave a talk on Friday night, had dinner on Saturday with a half-dozen other Zen teachers from the area, and then gave the Sunday talk at the Chicago Zen Center. I enjoyed the trip a great deal and am grateful for the wonderful hospitality of those hosting me. It was fun to get out of town and to talk about my book! It seems like... Read more

Here’s an article (with high rate of things I actually said) that’s fresh out about me and Zen from the local newspaper, White Bear Press. WHITE BEAR LAKE — One of Dosho Michael Port’s Minneapolis public school students used to ask him why he had a shaved head. Instead of dodging the question, Port always replied, “I’m a Buddhist priest.” And the student would always say, “Yeah right.” But after Port’s true identity spread throughout the school, the student became... Read more

Here are some quiet poems to mark the end of the first day with an African-American President. He has already made a big difference in the lives of many young people I know.  So here’s Stonehouse from The Zen Works of Stonehouse: Poems and Talks of a Fourteenth-Century Chinese Hermit.  He’s still making a difference about 700 years after his death, not only through one of his successors who invigorated the Korean dharma world, but through this recent translation of... Read more

In addition to MLK day here in the US, today is Katagiri Roshi’s 81st birthday and Dogen’s ~809th. A phrase of Martin’s, “the fierce urgency of the now,” has wonderful dharma implications, and is one thread that runs through Dogen, Katagiri, Martin Luther King, Jr., and all of us, on and off the cushion. Speaking of now, yesterday while transporting kids, I caught a piece of Krista Tibbet’s locally produced Speaking of Faith, “Preserving Words and Worlds.” It’s about the brothers... Read more

I think we might just be getting somewhere on this blog – not sure where exactly but its got my interest and it seems promising. People speaking their minds and hearts is a good thing, imv.  During our last sesshin, as usual, following afternoon zazen we intoned the Great Compassion Dharani and the chant leader sang (in part): May our dharma community and all communities realize The Buddha Way in peace and harmony together. For the first time, I felt deeply that “our dharma community” included the... Read more