This Present Moment

by | Sep 23, 2023

If we don’t persist steadily over time in a daily practice, we lose our life – the wholeness, the vitality and ripening that zazen brings to the daily world. If you sit zazen, you know this for yourself. Each day we start anew streaming along in the present...

Retreat

by | Sep 16, 2023

In his Receiving the Marrow by Bowing Dogen Zenji says, “…retreat from the world and make the Way your abode.” Ordinarily we might understand this as saying that practice is separate from the ordinary daily round. But Dogen is prompting us here to realize that the...

Living the Precepts

by | Sep 9, 2023

Living according to the Bodhisattva Vow to awaken for the benefit of all beings, is an endlessly demanding and mysterious undertaking. This Sunday we celebrate the Precept Ceremony, adding our support to those in the sangha who are entering into this mysterious...

Returning

by | Sep 2, 2023

I am reminded, after a visit with my baby granddaughter, of the lively direct universe that we all encounter when we first emerge into human form. We encounter, in the words of e.e.cummings, “everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is ‘yes’”. The...

Patience

by | Aug 26, 2023

Patience. It’s considered one of the paramitas, the perfections. Patience prompts us to take our time, be kind, listen well, and to persist in our efforts, giving each portion its due. We practice patience – with ourselves, with others, and with the conditions...