Shikantaza has a specific form. The legs, either in a full- or half-lotus position (or as close as you can reasonably get), are like the roots of water lily, grounded in the earth, settled in the muck of this life. The spine is relaxed and straight like the stem of the lotus, supported by the water and inclining upward toward the sun, leaning neither forward or backward, neither left nor right. The head, the flower of the water lily,... Read more

I’m back at work full time so its been a while since my last post. There are advantages and disadvantages of being a Zen practitioner and a regular full time working grunt. On the plus side, there’s really knowing how it is to work full time in something that isn’t so-called “dharma” work. How is it? Well, let me remind those of you who haven’t done it for a while, it is damn hard. I’d like to know whose flippin’ idea was the... Read more

How did you wake up in this morning? Like the baby in the picture or grumbling and resistant? One way of taking responsibility for making zazen alive is to frame some aspects of the day with gatha. For example, here’s a translation  of the Verse for Waking Up that I worked on with Katagiri-roshi in about 1982:  Waking up in perfect peace Vowing with all beings To realize everything without exception Embracing the ten directions. Roshi told me to sit up in bed immediately... Read more

A little while back, 8/5/08, I posted a zazen three-step: seeking, experiencing, and expressing. It seemed like it would be fun to kick around and it has been. We took it up for the focus of our last sesshin here at Transforming Through Play and chewed up it good until the steps were all intermingling and collapsing. Here’s a bit more about it but I’ll be brief because I’d rather not say so much that you, dear reader, don’t explore... Read more

I’m back from canoeing in the Boundary Waters and our sesshin ended yesterday. Today I’m between worlds with my day job starting again soon. In this post I’ll write a little about the canoe trip and later will post more about seeking, experiencing, and expressing (see post below for more) after digesting these with the sesshin participants. The above photo is from our canoeing trip. I saw this rock face from across the lake and steered us out of our... Read more

I’ll be up in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area with my kids through mid week and then we have sesshin here through August 19. I may not resume posting until then.  Warm regards to all,  Dosho  Read more

At the study group last night, we discussed a way of looking at practice that has three faces. First is when practice is about seeking. Sometimes we manifest this by leaning forward in zazen, seeking kensho like a donkey chomping at the carrot dangling from the stick. This is often referred to (or justified) as the sudden approach and is associated with the Rinzai school (I don’t see this as fair or accurate but that’s not the point right now).... Read more

I’m beginning to offer video practice interviews because I find myself in a pickle. On the one hand, I made a commitment to Katagiri-roshi to teach Zen, a commitment that is very important to me. On the other hand, I find myself not believing that the energy required to start another dharma organization would be energy well spent. That leaves me looking for other options. One possibility lies in the possible convergence in what I’m interested in offering from Yugeji... Read more

Another short post today. I’m preparing the video practice meeting post so I have limited blog time today. I might be ready to put that up tomorrow.  What I want to say today is about how a lot of current dharma writing seems to emphasize a “take it easy” approach so I was happy to see the recent Buddhadharma magazine with a woman with her hair on fire and the feature article by Gelek Rinpoche on that theme. I encourage... Read more

I watch it tonight and enjoyed, especially some of the interviews with monks. The focus was on the activism of the monks in the face of the repressive regimes in Burma and Tibet. Ms. Amanpour doesn’t go deep but watcha goin’ do – its CNN for Kannon’s sake!  Another point of view, my 14-year old daughter, saw it as cheesie and overly dramatic.  Probably good for dharma practice to have this exposure and clear articulation that Buddhism is about peace... Read more