An edited transcript of teaching given during the lay trainees’ sesshin in August 2024. I’d like to look at what Dōgen means when he says, in Rules for Meditation: “The kōan appears naturally in daily life”.1 This is a clue … Continue reading →
In this article, first published online in the Dew on the Grass blog, Anna describes how her childhood experience of pain caused a disconnect between body and mind, as a method of survival, and how Buddhist practice, over time, was … Continue reading →
An edited transcript of a Dharma talk given to the Priory congregation in January 2023. What I wanted to start with for this talk was the line from the Sandōkai that gets brought up many times, the one where it … Continue reading →
I’ve been a lay practitioner at the Columbia, South Carolina Zen Priory for eight months now. Recently, Reverend Master Rokuzan invited the sangha to write an article for the OBC Journal. I have benefitted greatly from the Journal’s articles … Continue reading →
An edited transcript of a talk given at Shasta in March 2024. Last month I celebrated my 50th ordination anniversary as a monk. I don’t mention this because I think it was a big deal, a great accomplishment or anything … Continue reading →
How do I fully live life until I die? Having retired from being Abbot at a Sōtō Zen monastery, and now living in a small village near Cambridge in the UK, there is the wish to live brightly until … Continue reading →
This title may be taken as sounding rather weary, dreary and depressed, or as a statement of positive basic Buddhist training. Both are true for me, and I will continue this training forever. It may not match up with … Continue reading →
Whilst watching a wildlife programme, I was touched by the effort salmon were making to return to the part of the river where they had been born. Swimming up waterfalls and over shallow rapids, whilst bears tried to catch … Continue reading →
This is an edited transcript of a Dharma talk given at Shasta Abbey in June 2022 to commemorate Memorial Day. Last Sunday, we concluded our Jukai Retreat. It’s always inspiring for me to see new people coming and taking … Continue reading →
Originally published on the Pine Mountain Buddhist Temple website. Since the old Zen Writings were done in times when people were much closer to nature than we in our urbanized society are, it makes sense that some of the … Continue reading →
