by Abby Mushin Terris | May 22, 2022
I came across a quote in one of the on-line Dharma sites, “We should pay close attention to how we talk to ourselves.” How true this is. Dharma teachings always refer to body, speech, and mind as our instruments for expressing our clarity or delusion. Paying attention...
by Abby Mushin Terris | May 15, 2022
A number of you are signing up to receive the first five precepts and several will also be receiving the full sixteen. Precept practice is one leg of the whole of a life of practice. Precepts help us live the Bodhisattva Way. They are a promise and a guide — to stay...
by Abby Mushin Terris | May 8, 2022
“Silence is the great revelation,” said Lao Tzu. Even without going any further, this is a powerful statement about the quality of practice. It instantly reminds us of what we know of silence already that comes in breeze and birdsong. The silence that...
by Abby Mushin Terris | May 1, 2022
One of the Paramitas that we practice is patience. Patience prompts us to take our time, be kind, listen well, and to persist in our efforts. I surely notice for myself these days, and maybe you do too, that I am called on to practice patience — with myself, with...
by Abby Mushin Terris | Apr 24, 2022
Dust, gravel, mud, clay, flesh, bone, muscle, breath, cloud, tree, bird, flower, cement, rock, wire, mountain, worm, shrub, rice, water, whale, human. When we celebrate Earth Day, we’re celebrating how every morsel of matter that makes up this world is brought to us...
by Abby Mushin Terris | Apr 17, 2022
One of the miscellaneous koans is “Stopping the sound of the distant temple bell.” We begin looking into this koan by considering our experience with sound. First, what do you know of bells? Your direct experience of them? There are so many varieties of bells. The...
