(This article is based on a transcription of a talk given at the Lay Ministers’ retreat at Shasta Abbey in 2017) [Rev. Master Haryo asks] “Would someone get me some water, please?” [A glass of water is brought]. “Hmm… I …Continue reading →
I recently came across the phrase “the mind of poverty” and was struck by its power. It is the mind that is impoverished. We are not speaking about material poverty, but rather emotional and spiritual poverty – the sense that …Continue reading →
It is a basic human desire to seek happiness and satisfaction in our lives. The question we all face in life is how do we find this happiness and satisfaction? The way we answer that question is the way we …Continue reading →
When conditions arise, no matter what the conditions are, they complete us. And then conditions change. Acceptance means that conditions change, completeness doesn’t. So although we say that heat or cold completes us, it is not that we were incomplete …Continue reading →
We seek Buddhism when we recognize that there is something seriously wrong with the direction we have taken in our search for satisfaction and happiness. Buddhism points us to deep truths that resonate in our hearts. We are drawn to …Continue reading →
Zazen is acceptance. We can’t accept while we remain as a self-conscious self, a separate self. I think you’ve all probably been sitting long enough to know how persistent thoughts are…. What we need is to recognise that our thinking …Continue reading →
For some time I have found myself reflecting on the Buddha’s Teaching of anatta or ‘not-self’ and how it might be applied in daily life—willingly opening ourselves to radically changing our perspective on ourself. In my experience, a good start …Continue reading →
When I was the Prior at the Eugene Buddhist Priory several people asked me about a sense of confusion regarding their meditation practice. These are some thoughts I had at the time, revised slightly for inclusion in this issue of …Continue reading →
Two words about which we are often confused and thereby cause suffering for ourselves and others, are ‘real’ and ‘true’. We often don’t notice that we take them to be synonymous; what is real is true. But is this conclusion …Continue reading →
This has been a turbulent period in our history and there have been extraordinary changes in 2016 and 2017. We are all affected in how we engage or don’t engage in the society in which we live. Our interactions with …Continue reading →