yada There is nothing extraordinary or mysterious about Zen. I raise my hand; I take a book from the other side of the desk; I hear the boys playing ball outside my window; I see the clouds blown away beyond the neighboring wood…. In all these I am practicing Zen, I am living Zen. No […]
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Gratitude Teachings by The Buddha
August 17, 2017 by
In the Netflix series on Buddha, there was an interesting conversation with a householder couple that presented the gratitude teachings of the Buddha. I have reproduced the English translations here, along with a snap shot of the couple. Buddha: It is important to have harmony in a married life. If the husband and wife share […]
The Secret of Practice
December 29, 2015 by
These words of wisdom for Shunyru Suzuki Roshi tell us the secret of practice. He teaches that if something is wrong with our practice, it should be a signal to us that we may have a wrong idea about practice. However, we are encouraged not to give up but to continue our practice as best […]
Cultivating a Beginner’s Heart
July 1, 2015 by Leave a Comment
“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities,” wrote Shunryu Suzuki in his book “Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind,” “but in the expert’s there are few.” As much as I love beginner’s mind, though, I advocate an additional discipline: cultivating a beginner’s heart. That means approaching every encounter imbued with a freshly invoked wave of love […]
The Creative Spirit Of The Self-Actualizer
May 19, 2015 by
This quote from Abraham Maslow describes the creative spirit of the self-actualizer. As I see it, anyone one who is doing something they love, or even something the don’t, but who does it in present time is a creative person and in those moments, he or she is self-actualized. For example, when you “wash the […]
Wash the Dishes to Wash the Dishes
January 31, 2015 by
Shunryu Suzuki Roshi is famous for his quote from Zen Mind, Beginners Mind, “Wash the dishes to wash the dishes” – see 6 Mindfulness Practices For The Holidays. Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh says the same thing: “If while washing dishes we think only of the cup of tea that awaits us… then we are […]
The Perfection Of Wisdom
January 11, 2015 by
You might think that all of the paramitas that we have studied so far lead to this one, the perfection of wisdom. While we have studied them in the order of generosity, ethics, patience, diligence, concentration, and now, wisdom, it is true that the can be studied and practiced in any order. Not only that, […]
Can We Avoid Becoming Complete Robots
November 5, 2014 by
D. T. Suzuki was one of the seminal figures in bringing Zen to the West. He noted that our modern civilization is dehumanizing us at a rapid rate, even back then when he wrote in the ’50s and ’60s, he could see this was already becoming true. Now it is worse than ever. Can we […]
Your True Nature
October 22, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Yada So to be a human being is to be a Buddha. Buddha nature is just another name for human nature, our true human nature. Thus, even though you do not do anything, you are actually doing something. You are expressing yourself. You are expressing your true nature. Your eyes will express; your voice will […]
The Secret of Zen
September 28, 2014 by Leave a Comment
The Secret of Zen | September 17, 2014 “The secret of Zen is just two words: not always so.” – Shunryu Suzuki, “Mindfulness at Moonshine Hollow”
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