by SJZC Administrator | Aug 12, 2024
Why leave behind the seat in your own home to wander in vain though the dusty realms of other lands? If you make one misstep, you stumble past what is right in front of you. ~Dogen Zenji Soten and I just returned from a trip wandering the dusty lands of Peru. We...
by SJZC Administrator | Aug 5, 2024
Impermanence is one of the unalterable marks of conditioned existence. Let’s just call it change. It’s an awareness practice that’s always at hand. We can appreciate how different each moment is from the moment before. Conditions change and condition what...
by SJZC Administrator | Jul 29, 2024
The Sangha jewel is the third of the Three Treasures, along with Buddha and Dharma, that functions to support awakening altogether to the richness of life on this particular path. We need each other, we sit zazen together, we maintain the building and grounds, work...
by SJZC Administrator | Jul 22, 2024
There are many teachings in the Zen Buddhist tradition. Taking up any one as a way of life will access them all, guiding us in the direction of wisdom and kindness. Dogen’s Eight Awakenings of Great Beings is an example of these. In eight brief prompts he reminds us...
by SJZC Administrator | Jul 14, 2024
We are ending our morning service these days with the Song of Lovingkindness which goes like this: May you dwell in the heart. May you be free from suffering. May you be healed. May you be at peace. This is accompanied by a drum beat that sounds like a human...
by SJZC Administrator | Jul 8, 2024
Daily life is direct and immediate. Media sources are not. It’s so important to remember this as we aim to be responsible citizens and keep up with what’s unfolding in the public sphere. Reading the news on-line can catapult us into a swirl of anxiety, mental...
by SJZC Administrator | Jul 1, 2024
“Then, Bāhiya, you should train yourself thus: In reference to the seen, there will be only the seen. In reference to the heard, only the heard. In reference to the sensed, only the sensed. In reference to the cognized, only the cognized. That is how you should...
by SJZC Administrator | Jun 24, 2024
Stepping out into the early freshness this morning was so much like the bell ringing to begin zazen a little while later. Any moment, every moment brings with it its own freshness, its own call to be right here. All things proclaim the dharma. We need only notice....
by SJZC Administrator | May 20, 2024
The Buddha recommended that his disciples contemplate death each and every day. This body is of the nature to die. All conditioned things are impermanent. It is Springtime, everything is being born and we should not forget that birth is the number one cause of death....
by SJZC Administrator | May 13, 2024
Born, born, everything is always born. Thinking about it… Try not to. ~Zen Master Ikkyu Springtime! Every moment life is created anew. Each moment we are born again. Anicca, impermanence. This is a directly observable truth of reality. This life, this body, our mind...
