You can read the articles as web pages below.
Please ask permission to reprint. OBC Copyright Policy.
And there’s a flipbook below – best viewed fullscreen (icon lower right).
Do You Need To Be Religious To Practice Zen?
The brief answer is: it depends on what you mean by ‘religious’. If we see ‘being religious’ as believing in a set of religious doctrines that define belonging to a particular religion, then I would say the answer is … Continue reading →
Willing Acceptance
Practising willing acceptance is a gateway to trust and Right Understanding. In formal meditation we sit in willing acceptance by being here openly with everything that shows itself, without interfering with it, without judging it, without dividing it into … Continue reading →
Patience and the Three Pure Precepts Go Hand in Hand
This is an edited transcript of a talk given at Shasta Abbey in June 2023. I would like to start with a story about an animal that I grew up with in the Midwest, the buffalo. Actually what I … Continue reading →
Observations About Myself — It Helps to Keep Training
This article first appeared in the Pine Mountain Buddhist Temple Newsletter. I appreciate the Dharma offerings I read from Reverend Masters Phoebe and Seikai, and it seems appropriate to make my own offering. I have taken the approach of writing … Continue reading →
A Gift From Mom
My mother recently gave me a cup. It has JAPAN stamped on the bottom. I think it is a pretty common design, I’ve seen it often in second-hand stores. It’s unusual as cups go only because it has two layers; … Continue reading →
My Experience of Sangha
This article first appeared in the May-August 2023 issue of the Portobello Priory Newsletter. You must know the ideal; you must accept the actual. Only thus can you help others and yourself. ― Rōshi P.T.N.H. Jiyu-Kennett, The Wild, White … Continue reading →
Some Thoughts on ‘Guest’ and ‘Host’
I have been thinking about the idea of ‘guest’ and ‘host’ in Buddhism and how it plays out in our daily lives. This is a concept I come across occasionally, and it hasn’t always been clear to me what … Continue reading →
A Close Pass
A Personal Perspective on the Regional Sangha Meeting Held in Leeds, July 2023 When plotting the route of their explorer spacecraft like the Voyager mission, NASA takes advantage of a close pass of one or more planets to use … Continue reading →