The Freshness of Life

These words of wisdom about the freshness of life by Uchiyama Kosho Roshi come to us from the Upaya Zen Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico. My friend, Roshi Joan Halifax is the founder of Upaya and its abbess. I look forward to her emails weekly. Uchiyama Kosho Roshi lived between 1912 and 1988. He […]

Gratitude as a Daily Practice

I first met Zenju Earthlyn Manuel at an event sponsored by the Buddhist Peace Fellowship around 2006 or 2007. I was impressed with her lovely demeanor, and want to get to know here better. She is no longer the director of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, and I keep encountering writings from her from time to […]

Beginner’s Mind

Shunryu Suzuki Roshi was the founding teacher of the San Francisco Zen Center. His simple teachings have inspired many new dharma teachers such as Myogen Steve Stucky, Zoketsu Norman Fischer, Wendy Johnson, and many others. My first experience at the San Francisco Zen Center was in 1972. I did a seven day sesshin there with […]

What Is Meditation? What is Zen?

Myōgen Steve Stücky, the late central abbot of San Francisco Zen Center, answers, “What is meditation?” for us in this video. He also talks about, “What is Tassajara?” and “What is Zen?”It was filmed last summer at Tassajara. In the video Steve explains: Zazen is to settle into ‘now’ – right here, right now. And, […]

In Memory Of Myogen Steve Stucky

I just learned that Zen Master Myogen Steve Stucky passed away on December 31, 2013 – just a couple of days ago. He was a wonderful man and beloved teacher. In the 1980’s, I sat Zen meditation with him in his home in Mill Valley with many other devoted students. He will be deeply missed […]

Zen Meditation Practices Taught By Harada Roshi

Zen meditation practices taught by Harada Roshi include counting the breath, following the breath and koan meditation (“thinking about a problem to exhaustion”). The easiest of these is probably counting the breath. You find a comfortable position (not necessarily the lotus posture) and sit or lie down. You count your breaths from one to ten. […]