Uji The Time-Being by Eihei Dogen Zenji 1 An ancient buddha said: For the time being stand on top of the highest peak.For the time being proceed along the bottom of the deepest ocean.For the time being three heads and eight arms.For the time being an eight- or sixteen-foot body.For the time being a staff or whisk.For the time being a pillar or lantern.For the time being the sons of Zhang and Li.For the time being the earth [...]

One certain path I suddenly figured out something I had long wondered about: why nuns live so long but never grow old. It enabled me to put into words a truth that had been inchoate in me for many years. Here me: One certain path to happiness lies in having the opportunity to work to the utter limit of your strength on some difficult that you believe to be worth doing. 

SMOKEY THE BEAR SUTRA BY GARY SNYDER Once in the Jurassic about 150 million years ago, the Great Sun Buddha in this corner of the Infinite Void gave a discourse to all the assembled elements and energies: to the standing beings, the walking beings, the flying beings, and the sitting beings--even the grasses, to the number of thirteen billion, each one born from a seed, assembled there: a Discourse concerning Enlightenment on the planet Earth.   "In some [...]

Bernie Glassman's Reflection on Issan Dorsey  In my experience, many people come to Zen practice because they love the stories of Zen masters of long ago. They love reading about outrageous teachers who said strange things and acted in even stranger ways, seeming like children, fools, and even madmen to the rest of society. It has also been my experience that while we love these characters that lived hundreds of years ago, we don’t love them so much [...]

WALKING MEDITATION Thich Nhat Hanh from Savor, p. 170-173 Walking with TNH Take two or three steps for each in-breath and each out-breath. Breathing in, say, “I have arrived”; breathing out, say, “I am home.” Breathing in, say, “In the here”; breathing out, say, “In the now.” Breathing in, say, “I am solid”; breathing out, say, “I am free.” Breathing in, say, “In the ultimate”; breathing out, say, “I dwell.” To start, when you breathe in slowly, take [...]

Metta Practice Jack Kornfield Kindness Meditation Practice The practice of loving-kindness is a specific meditation practice that can be used both to develop concentration and to develop the quality of kindness. The following instructions are taken from "A Path With Heart" by Jack Kornfield, (Bantam Books 1993) but it is also possible to recite to oneself the Buddha's discourse on kindness. "Begin by repeating the following phrases over and over for 15-20 minutes once or twice daily in [...]

Nathan the Wise - A Story In 1779, the German Enlightenment philosopher and art critic Gotthold Lessing wrote a play, Nathan the Wise, that neatly encapsulates the problem of religious conflict and its solution in a way that might be extended to the argument between believer and skeptic. The play is set in the twelfth century in the Middle East. The Muslim Sultan Saladin has won a victory against the Crusaders, but it cost him a great deal [...]

Living a Life of Vow by Zenkei Blanche Hartman In our Soto Zen tradition we have a ceremony called tokudo in Japanese-entering the Way," or "attaining the Way." The opening line of the invocation is, "In faith that we are Buddha, we enter Buddha's Way." The main elements of the ceremony are confession and repentance to purify the mind, followed by receiving the precepts and vowing "to follow this compassionate practice even after becoming Buddha." So here we [...]

Mary Oliver. “Bear.” Why I Wake Early. Boston: Beacon Press. 2004. It’s not my track, I say, seeing the ball of the foot  and the wide heel and the naily, untrimmed toes. And I say again, for emphasis,     to no one but myself, since no one is with me. This is not my track, and this is an extremely large foot, I wonder how large a body must be to make such a track, I am [...]

Spirituals Rocks and the firm roots of trees. The rising shafts of mountains. Something strong to put my hands on. Sing, O Lord Jesus! Song is a strong thing. I heard my mother singing When life hurt her: Gonna ride in my chariot some day! The branches rise From the firm roots of trees. The mountains rise From the solid lap of earth The waves rise From the dead weight of sea. Sing, O black mother! Song is [...]