What is a Thought?

From Shinei… What is a thought? What is it made of? Is it true? In Zen practice, we emphasize releasing the story and touching our experience directly, before concept. A thought about something is like a painting of a glass of water. It is not water and will...

Wholeheartedness

We can celebrate this Labor Day by remembering how important everything we do is. It’s all that we have to work with, to take up any task wholeheartedly. To remember that this activity, this action will have results. The more carefully we attend to it, the more...

Gifts and Giving

Is Zazen necessary? Of course not. Humans, dogs, birds, donkeys, grasses, the moon, my car – all get along completely fine without it. What is zazen? This cannot be answered. When is zazen necessary? Zazen is necessary when our own source calls to the surface,...

Stop

 How often in a day do you just stop? Not to rest, not to turn around, but just to stop to experience stopping. This is a wonderful Zen practice to pepper the day with. Stop. Physically. Experience the stillness that is so much more apparent when you have been moving...

Right Here at Home

Why leave behind the seat in your own home to wander in vain though the dusty realms of other lands? If you make one misstep, you stumble past what is right in front of you. ~Dogen Zenji Soten and I just returned from a trip wandering the dusty lands of Peru. We...