by Abby Mushin Terris | Aug 12, 2023
What is freedom? Who’s in control? Who’s responsible for your life? Are you responsible for your life or is someone or something else? Zen practice is always pointing us back to the source of experience. Are you aware of what guides you? How we approach this question...
by Abby Mushin Terris | Aug 5, 2023
How often are you walking along wrapped up in your thoughts, and feeling unsettled? When a moment of awareness erupt into this, just look around. What’s right here, clear and present? Appreciating the singularity of any moment is a gift, one that we all can receive....
by Abby Mushin Terris | Jul 29, 2023
During service every other week we chant the Enmei Jukku Kannon Gyo. We chant it through three times, each time more briskly, to call on Kannon, the name of the Bodhisattva of Compassion in Japanese, to raise the energy of compassion in our own hearts. Even if we...
by Abby Mushin Terris | Jul 22, 2023
Awakening before dawn and seeing the morning star, brightly shining in the dimness, I thought of the moment, just a moment! when Buddha awoke. A moment like this one, like any moment. A moment that continually unfolds for each of us. When the thinking is quiet, we can...
by Abby Mushin Terris | Jul 15, 2023
Practicing Zen is all about attitude. Discovering and cultivating quiet mind encourages us in an attitude of openness and modesty, a willingness to be with what is. With this comes simplicity in how we live and consume. How we receive what is given without complaint...
by Abby Mushin Terris | Jun 17, 2023
The Vow to awaken for the sake of all beings unfailingly points us in a reliable direction. And Bodhisattva precepts give us the tools to enact this vow at every choice point in our daily life. Precepts guide what we become aware of and what we value. Instead of being...
