Ringing in the New Year

Happy New Year! Always a new day to awaken to Bodhi mind. What flows here and now is one life in service to all beings. Our inheritance from a long line of ancestors, ancient and current, inspires us and points out the Way. They have offered us many methods to clear...

The River

The precepts. Beyond precept study, reflection, and discussion, we emphasize the practice of zazen to clarify the precepts. Why? The precepts are about living in integrity, harmoniously, in tune. But what are we tuning with? We are tuning with respect to our deeper...

Monastery

‘If you spend your whole life not leaving the monastery, not talking for ten years or for five years, no-one will be able to call you a mute. Do not wonder whether not-talking might be vacuous. Entry is one monastery. Getting out is one monastery. The way of the birds...

Dharma Gates

We hear the phrase “dharma gate” often in the Zen tradition, but what does it refer to? Is there a gate somewhere that we need to find and what does it let on to? “Dharma” of course refers to the teachings in the Buddha tradition. The teachings refer to all things and...

Choices

Conditions are always changing. The larger cycles of war and political disruption, marked by three poisons, don’t seem to change, though. Greed, hostility, and ignorance are as innate in the human condition as is generosity, compassion, and awake awareness. It’s up to...

Vows

Jizo Bohisattva, also known as Kishitagarba, is the Bodhisattva of Great Vow. Jizo embodies the energy of vow or intention that each of us has the capacity the to access. What is your spiritual vow? To awaken? To love? To resolve the fear in your heart? To serve? Are...