snow covered peaks

Category: zen

  • Life & Changes

    Life & Changes

    “It’s too late to be ready.”― Dogen Zenji 2024 has been a milestone year for me. My wife and I had been discussing moving from Portland, Oregon to Albuquerque, New Mexico. I am from there, my extended family is there, and her parents retired there. It was a difficult decision – we had lived in Portland…

  • A Quantum Theory of Dharmas

    A Quantum Theory of Dharmas

    Originally from Dharma Rain Based on a Dharma Talk Kyogen gave at Dharma Rain  Zen Center August 15, 2010 and published in Still Point May 2011. I had a conversation with a sangha member a few years ago. He said he had been looking at his life, at all his difficulties and disappointments, when he…

  • Daoren Circle & Japanese Breakfast

    Daoren Circle & Japanese Breakfast

    “Mindful attention to each moment and each thing attended to cultivates a sense of appreciation and gratitude. This develops into an awareness of the sacred within the mundane and a deep reverence for life as dharma, with no particular need for a deity or “other” to whom this reverence is directed. Mindful attention to the…

  • All That Breathes

    All That Breathes

    The film critic Poulomi Das called the documentary All That Breathes a “meditative poem” and I believe that accurately captures it. I am recovering from my first time with covid, almost 3 years to do the date since the world was informed of it. The first two days were fevers and chills, and then lots…

  • How to Practice Bearing Witness

    Originally published in Lion’s Roar Magazine. Zen teacher Jules Shuzen Harris teaches us a three-step practice to connect with and serve those who are suffering. Illustrations by Carole Hénaff. In times of doubt, disbelief, and insecurity, the practice of bearing witness can be an important aspect of our awareness and presence. Bearing witness can be…

  • New Year.

    New Year. New Goals. New Beginnings. Cheers to the next moment, the moment after that, and so on! Forget resolutions. Pay attention to the path.

  • Fusatsu Hugs

    I was scheduled to be the Jisha for Fusatsu, the final one of the year aligning near solstices and equinoxes. I left about 45 minutes early, usually plenty of time, but this time holiday traffic happened. I was late but thankfully a newer monk had already stepped into to perform Jisha duties. I was embarrassed…

  • James Tracy: We Vote Every Day (a poem)

    via anarchist agency                             i’m always                                       suspicious                               of parties                                …

  • Right Effort: Practice “Right,” Not Hard

    I have been training in the Jisha, or the attendant to the Teacher for nearly two years. It has not come naturally to me and I find myself constantly doing something or some step incorrectly and then getting it pointed it. It is a training role so the intent is to learn to put the…

  • The Future is Unwritten

    Since my younger days I’ve admired Joe Strummer and his stylistic flare for expressing passionate rage against injustice. After a long week at work, my wife allowed me to watch the 2007 documentary Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten. My life is a long way from the angry and impatient radical I was 20 years…