by Abby Mushin Terris | Apr 8, 2024
This weekend I attended a retreat at the monastery called ‘Liberation Beyond Belief.’ Here are some of my reflections coming out of that retreat… Liberation. This is why we practice. This is the point of all dharma teachings and practices, to help us to get free from...
by Abby Mushin Terris | Mar 30, 2024
Is zazen necessary, or what? How much? What is too much? And what is just right? Life is short. Many take for granted the fact that we were apparently born, ended up with this or that responsibility, and now somehow feel like we’re trying to keep up with something...
by SJZC Administrator | Mar 23, 2024
You don’t have to have it all figured out. Well, maybe the next few steps. Maybe the plan for today, maybe even the plan for next year. But when it just plain looks like things are going to turn out badly, it’s time to throw out the future and just put one foot in...
by Abby Mushin Terris | Mar 17, 2024
When we come to Zen practice we are answering the call of the Way-seeking mind. The mind that seeks the Way knows what is essential, what it is to be free to be true to what is. Honoring what our life brings our way and responding to it with wholehearted and clear...
by Abby Mushin Terris | Mar 10, 2024
What do we mean by ‘Presence’? In one sense we are always present, there is nothing outside this present moment. Right? This ‘presence’ is all there is. And yet we have the experience of being present and the experience of not being present. It is like night and day....
by Abby Mushin Terris | Mar 3, 2024
‘What is my true path?’ A simple zen answer might be, ‘Well, the one you’re on’. The subsequent exchange follows quite rationally: ‘but where does it go??’; ‘well, walk it and find out’. Where do decisions come from? Do we rightly bear responsibility for making them,...
