by Abby Mushin Terris | Nov 6, 2022
The conditions in the world now require us to live with great patience. Patience, kshanti, is regarded as one of the paramitas, the practices of enlightened beings, facing conditions with a clear eye, open mind and warm heart. Without patience, our suffering is...
by Abby Mushin Terris | Oct 30, 2022
There is so much to how practice unfolds, and so it’s useful to reflect on what is offered by each of the three arms of Buddhadharma practice — meditation, study, and ethics. We practice meditation to unfold and explore natural awareness, usually filled with some sort...
by Abby Mushin Terris | Oct 17, 2022
Are you willing to stop suffering? This seems like a silly question, but when we ask ourselves this in all sincerity we’ve taken the first step in committing to practice. The Buddha Way is a practice. We practice being aware continually, spotting our habits of mind...
by Abby Mushin Terris | Oct 9, 2022
In Zen practice we talk a lot about “don’t know mind.” Even if it appears that things are as they seem, it ain’t necessarily so. So many of the conditions influencing the moment are invisible. We don’t know when or what the next second will bring. And when it doesn’t...
by Abby Mushin Terris | Oct 2, 2022
Contemplating one’s karma is a commitment to turn towards an infinite view. What landed you here? Where do you come from? What makes this moment? What cloth of your particular threads has woven this spectacle of the world in time and space, as it registers and defines...
by Abby Mushin Terris | Sep 25, 2022
We are entering the season of wandering ghosts, tormented by insatiable hunger, celebrated as Sejiki in the Buddhist tradition. Our greatly westernized version of this is Halloween. In Buddhist lore these ghosts, called gaki, have escaped the gates of hell and are...
by Abby Mushin Terris | Sep 18, 2022
Some of us live alone, some of us live with others, in various states of harmony and disharmony. Sangha practice encourages us to attend to our relational awareness as it conditions our life condition. How closely we pay attention to the quality of our heart energies...
by Abby Mushin Terris | Sep 11, 2022
When we vow to not defame the Three Treasures, the tenth of the Grave Precepts, we are celebrating the facets of the Jewel that we inherit in this tradition. Respect the Buddha. Upholding this, we accept all the details of our life, no matter what they are, with an...
by Abby Mushin Terris | Sep 4, 2022
We may begin practice with a wish for bliss, a wish for peace. We do taste these in practice at times, but we may also discover a deep well of grief, shame or fear as we establish a deeper practice. Feelings and mind states that have never been acknowledged or...
by Abby Mushin Terris | Aug 28, 2022
One of the hardest things for a young child to learn, or even for you or me, is to share. It’s a foundation for the Bodhisattva Way. Do not be stingy with the dharma assets. This refers to far more than material possessions or money, though these are included when...
