by Abby Mushin Terris | Apr 11, 2021
There’s something that can seem so elusive about Zen, a way of life which cannot be reached by words. What can be so confusing about this is that we use words to point to what cannot be reached by words. As soon as we hear them, the tendency is to try to think our way...
by Abby Mushin Terris | Apr 2, 2021
The thing about interdependence is that there’s no escaping it. Not the young, not the old, not the unborn. It marks all dharmas, all phenomena. All of us, in whatever condition we are, and no matter how awake and aware we are, we are all one ecological system,...
by Abby Mushin Terris | Mar 26, 2021
Writing this from the midst of sesshin I am freshly aware of the gift of relaxation that allows us to be whole, to know our wholeness. Sesshin (Zen retreat) means to touch the heartmind. We cannot touch and be touched when we are tight and stressed and moving at 60 or...
by Abby Mushin Terris | Mar 13, 2021
When instructing people in the art of zazen we suggest using the breath to help us stay present and alert. For some of us, though, some it’s more effective to use the practice of listening to sound. We can use it occasionally when we’re very stimulated by a lot going...
by Abby Mushin Terris | Mar 5, 2021
Radically intimate attention is a phrase that Kisei used during her lovely dharma talk last week, to describe the heart of zazen. When exploring the intimacy of silence, the silent center of every momentary experience, right at the heart of the silence in zazen we...
by Abby Mushin Terris | Mar 1, 2021
To study the Buddha Way is to study the self. This instruction orients us to what we are all about in Zen practice, and comes to us from Dogen Zenji’s Genjo Koan, the Way of Everyday Life. To experience the present moment directly, and in the body, is how we study...
by Abby Mushin Terris | Feb 22, 2021
I’ve been thinking a lot about freedom and slavery and who’s in control? Which is not exactly the same as, but is related to, who’s responsible. Who’s responsible for your life? Are you responsible for your life or is someone else? Zen practice is always pointing us...
by Abby Mushin Terris | Feb 12, 2021
It is common in any center that trains in Zen practice to ask serious students over the course of their training years to assume each of the roles that help maintain the center. In addition to the roles for conducting formal practice in the zendo and...
by Abby Mushin Terris | Feb 5, 2021
We may begin Zen practice with a wish for bliss, a wish for peace. We do taste these in practice at times and more so in long practice, but we may also discover once we get into it, more deeply-seated grief, shame or fear. Feelings and mind states that have never been...
by Abby Mushin Terris | Jan 29, 2021
Coming across a quote that I share with you here from the journalist, Walter Lippman, clarified something for me about the practical importance of the precepts and may be of help to you too: “The right to freedom of speech is no license to deceive, and...
