Deliberate Thought
Often in our practice it is helpful to go back to basics, to see what it is we are doing in meditation. The aspect I’d like to draw out is ‘deliberate thought’. I imagine that these words will remind you … Continue reading →
Soto Zen Teachings & Scriptures
How to Meditate
Taken from the Booklet ‘How to Meditate’, a transcription of a series of talks offered in 2016. It was transcribed and edited by Tracy Kitagawa, Michelle Feist, Pierre Kohl and Rev. Master Aurelian, with minor revisions for ease of reading. … Continue reading →
Rules for Meditation
This text, Fukanzazengi, was believed to be the first work written by Great Master Dōgen in 1227 when he was aged 27. He refined it several times over many years. It is studied in detail and recited daily at Mid-day … Continue reading →
Do we hear the call?
When visiting the Jersey Group recently there was a suggestion to talk about “Response to the climate emergency” Some people in the group are seriously committed to this work and I very much appreciated what everyone said. There was also … Continue reading →
The Five Diamond Points: the first point
This is the second in a series on The Five Diamond Points That Penetrate To the Very Heart of the Matter, teaching given by Rev. Master Koten of Lions Gate Priory. It primarily addresses the first point and speaks of … Continue reading →
There’s nothing wrong with death: the teaching of Rev. Master Meiten McGuire
It is so painfully obvious that absolutely everything is impermanent. Over and over, our clinging to that which is impermanent is the cause of dissatisfaction in our lives, so much so that we humans seem hard-wired to re-experience this dissatisfaction, … Continue reading →
In memory of Rev. Master Meiten McGuire
Rev. Master Meiten died peacefully in the early evening of Tuesday 2nd January 2018 in Victoria, British Columbia. She was 92 years of age. She offered to others the teaching and practice that had changed her own life; as she … Continue reading →
The light, the clouds, and their golden edges
In the chapter on the First Column of Light in Reverend Master Jiyu’s book How to Grow a Lotus Blossom, there is the image of a person standing in a pillar of light underneath a dark cloud, looking up towards … Continue reading →
Hanging by a thread: Kanshi Sōsan, the third Chinese ancestor
This article is based around talks during a 2015 Intensive Meditation retreat on Chapter 31 of Keizan’s Denkōroku. Extra historical background has been added since. Sōsan was a man from parts unknown. His first meeting with Taisō Eka was as … Continue reading →
When Mountains are Mountains and Rivers are Rivers
There is an old saying in Zen: “In the beginning, mountains are mountains and rivers are rivers; later on, mountains are not mountains and rivers are not rivers; and still later, mountains are mountains and rivers are rivers.” My own … Continue reading →