Energy for Practice

Why is it so difficult to get started with a meditation practice or to begin practicing with a sangha? I wish I had a good answer for that, but I don’t. Before I started practicing zen meditation, I had read many books on zen. I loved Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind by...

The Very Ground Of Being

In the Compass of Zen, Zen Master Seung Sahn says that Mahayana Buddhism teaches the insight of the true aspect of all phenomena. It is said, when the Buddha was enlightened, he cried out, “Each thing has it. Each thing is complete. It and dust interpenetrate....

Gentle Glory

There is a story told about Manjushri, the bodhisattva of wisdom. A small temple in China offered food for one month in the spring to everyone who wanted some. No one was excluded – the poor and the rich, the monk and the lay person, the small child and the old...

No Hindrance

King George VI of England reigned during World War II and was instrumental in keeping up the spirits of his nation through radio broadcasts, but King George had a terrible stutter. In his young years he was the Duke of York and was expected to speak at public...

The Inexhaustible Lamp

I was recently going through books in my office and discovered “The Vimalakirti Sutra.” Vimalakirti, according to legend, was a lay person of some wealth who resided in the city Vaishali in northern India. He had great wisdom and understanding of the...

Waiting for the Hit of the Chugpi

Most of the zen centers (if not all) in the Kwan Um School of Zen have shut their doors temporarily to maintain social distancing in response to the pandemic.  It’s been gratifying to see how sanghas have begun ways to reach out in virtual community to...