by Abby Mushin Terris | Sep 23, 2023
If we don’t persist steadily over time in a daily practice, we lose our life – the wholeness, the vitality and ripening that zazen brings to the daily world. If you sit zazen, you know this for yourself. Each day we start anew streaming along in the present...
by Abby Mushin Terris | Sep 16, 2023
In his Receiving the Marrow by Bowing Dogen Zenji says, “…retreat from the world and make the Way your abode.” Ordinarily we might understand this as saying that practice is separate from the ordinary daily round. But Dogen is prompting us here to realize that the...
by Abby Mushin Terris | Sep 9, 2023
Living according to the Bodhisattva Vow to awaken for the benefit of all beings, is an endlessly demanding and mysterious undertaking. This Sunday we celebrate the Precept Ceremony, adding our support to those in the sangha who are entering into this mysterious...
by Abby Mushin Terris | Sep 2, 2023
I am reminded, after a visit with my baby granddaughter, of the lively direct universe that we all encounter when we first emerge into human form. We encounter, in the words of e.e.cummings, “everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is ‘yes’”. The...
by Abby Mushin Terris | Aug 26, 2023
Patience. It’s considered one of the paramitas, the perfections. Patience prompts us to take our time, be kind, listen well, and to persist in our efforts, giving each portion its due. We practice patience – with ourselves, with others, and with the conditions...
by Abby Mushin Terris | Aug 18, 2023
How often in a day do you just stop? Not to rest, not to turn around, but just to stop for the experience of stopping. Spotted by the moment – for any eyes watching, waiting, there’s a place for you right here. An instant to stop your seeking. Always going somewhere...
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...
