by Abby Mushin Terris | Mar 4, 2023
There’s a metaphor, “turning on a dime” that describes one of the ways that we adjust to unexpected changes of conditions. A dime is a very small detail. And it is the small details that can cause us to pivot. Buddhism teaches that causes and conditions fashion our...
by Abby Mushin Terris | Feb 24, 2023
At the recent Board retreat the topic of Silver Dragon practice came up. This refers to an option that is particularly suitable for aged people, who could use an easier schedule at retreats in order to be able to attend at all. It’s important to be aware that part of...
by Abby Mushin Terris | Feb 18, 2023
What is the difference between practicing meditation only, on your own at home, and practicing in sangha at the Zen Center? It IS essential that you practice at home. It IS your own practice, after all, no matter where you are. And developing a habit of stopping...
by Abby Mushin Terris | Feb 11, 2023
This Zen path is a continual process of un-conditioning, allowing each moment its entirety, its “as is” face. The mind is made fresh in zazen….opening steadily, experiencing freshly the conditions that the burdened human mind of confusion mistakes for real. Here’s...
by Abby Mushin Terris | Feb 4, 2023
Sunday is a full moon. This day is set aside traditionally for the Fusatsu ceremony, where we contemplate our basic life intention. We look at what ways we continue to be led by our habits of mind and activities that are contributing to our own suffering and to that...
by Abby Mushin Terris | Jan 28, 2023
Our Zen practice of steady, determined, daily cultivation does tend to lighten our load in some mysterious way, and brings joy. But how does it alter the difficulties in the world directly? We still know sorrow, we still know grief. Though the Buddha tells us that...
