Voices Speaking Dharma

From Mushin: Myriad drops of rain on the roof, a water glass hitting the floor, breeze riffling leaves on the katsura tree outside the zendo window, allthings speak with their own voice. Voices speaking dharma all around. And yet who hears them? In the up-coming...

In Service to the Sangha

From Mushin: You may have noticed that we often encourage people who practice at Sangha Jewel Zen Center to take up a service position here as an aspect of a vital zen practice. Zazen is important, yes, but/and there’s more to this practice besides meditation. We...

Red Wheelbarrow

From Mushin: A line emerged during our just-completed retreat, Poetry in Motion, that serves as an apt prompt for considering the reality of interdependence, which marks every moment of our experience. It comes from Wiliam Carlos Williams’s poem, The Red...

Creative Suggestions

From Mushin: Words: Instead of encouraging words this week, in honor of our creativity theme, here are some suggestions to stimulate appreciation for the non-worded character of life, highlighting direct experience. You might want to keep a journal as you explore...

Outside of Words and Letters

From Mushin: If we use only language to explore Zen practice we confine ourselves to words. But Zen practice points us towards who we are and how this life is unfolding outside of words and letters. This is the framework for what we are now opening up in this spring...