talk 1 , silent retreat Bali, May 2026 As you may have noticed, because we’re a small group, Lucas and Nora were not able to join us today, as they are both sick. We wish them a quick recovery. It’s not pleasant to come to a retreat and fall sick on the first day — but such is life. We will have three talks during this retreat. They won’t be very long. In these talks, I’ll try to offer some context for those of you who may be new to the practice zazen so that you may have som

munggu, bali, 2026 almost to the point of silence the ever unpointable flickering on the threshold of not knowing which way to fall words fewer than before when the dark had sprawled beyond questions street noise birdsongs from the eaves brushes of the morning quick against the sky the rain has almost stopped traced before us a trail scattering of clouds do you rejoice do you regret

here is a poem presented to master ryotan tokuda on the day of my monk ordination some twenty-six years ago in a crumbling stone house clinging to the mountainside he named: ei-tai ji temple / temple of eternal peace, in the lower alps in france. after a few of years of studying and practicing zen buddhism, meeting my teacher one day in 1997 in paris was a pivotal experience. after following his teachings and doing sesshins with him for some time, asking to be ordained monk s

david chadwick, at talking leaves library, sanur, bali, 8 february 2026 erring cloud sangha/ talk transcript / february 10, 2026 Yesterday, April 14, I contacted David's wife Katrinka, to ask if I could go to their house to pay David a visit as I knew he was ill. She got back to me to announce that David had passed on February 24 and that a big ceremony was held for him at Green Gulch Farm (Green Dragon Temple), in Marin County, California, on Sunday April 12. In light of his

silent retreat, payangan, bali, february 2026 parole ebréchée pour mieux dire rêve émietté pour mieux voir ce qui ne se dit ne se montre pas non par refus non non par refus qui ne le peut le dire autrement le non le dire il le faut des mots tu n'es pas quittes souviens-toi même en silence des mots tu n'es pas quittes à même le silence le dire autrement cette langue d'emprunt karma d'emprunt

on this hilltop road we were fated to meet evergreens you mantled in white me a homeless shadow roaming into where our hearts sibilant evergreens a mantra of storm snowstorm flurrying evergreens engulfing slopes we make us turn evergreens waning light of winter pages of no return evergreens

à la nuit tombée, sur la route de monte-clérigo, espartal, algarve driving through pine-studded heathland at twilight spot you lying on country road you may be in need of some help come closer to scoop you up no stars have paled your bones all crushed still a warmth in your belly in the glare of headlights i scrute your eyes that frozen gaze you look through me past skyline and fading silhouette of pines into a darkness too vast for me how a single sparkle can lead to someth

your light beam adorns my eyes dimmed by erring through darks darks where soul cannot alight earth you call your smile a shelter you offer the stranger wind gates open in my ears it's your whisper i hear remember this is nirvana the mother of all shores here your hand in mine brush of a petal the plum-branch our loosened hold we scatter

this dream we are born into

ninh binh, vietnam, august 2023 An idea dear to Zen Master Dogen that he speaks with emphasis about as an essential part of his expounding of the dharma is : shushō-ittō. In Japanese, shu means practice, and shō means realization or verification. And ittō means equality or oneness. Translated into English, that would mean practice and realization are one. They are not two separate and distinct phenomena. This view turns the traditional Buddhist approach of a linear path, the

a man there is keeping his silence silence is keeping her man held holding beholden whole forgets to leave his hut stunned by light blazing on the doorway to a world of dew nenuphars awaken

' zazen is the dharma gate of easeful joy.' - eihei dogen the year that ends the year that begins under what sky ever will they meet there where no thing begins no thing ends verdant hills and birdsongs freely come and disappear unremembered yet a place closest to you there this empty seat pemuteran, bali, 31 december 2025

sky is getting thicker to shelter trees night reaches closer rest given to everything tiles on star-lit roofs nettles cobbles on the pathway ei-tai ji temple alpes-de-haute-provence

fingers plumes of yearning beyond the body reach nothing to grasp nothing to yield they know it now we know it now misremembered our very mind to this or is there another shore we are recalled exiting exile may take a little longer they know it now we know it now qui sommes nous images resurfacing on spume nameless and unclaimed we are ballotés ici et là tongue rolling over itself something veils us in daylight the wait for waves to intercede

sleep will not be part of what darkness has to offer the hour lying restless in a cot next to sandlewood buddha your gaze cast down as you sit stifly on the pane outside these walls fireflies mingle their glow with stars clustering over heavy boughs shadows deeper in this tiny cell where death slowly restores me

dispersed and free free of ancestry of smoke free chimney smoke rubble smoke exhaled from earth from lungs of prayers you drift eastwards here the mute have their kingdom here we are birthed into and out of strife out of redemption here your hands are empty empty of clouds empty of dawn melody brims with empty heart joyous with empty empty alone knows alone stays

talk on 2 december, 2025 erring cloud sangha Summary: This Dharma talk on December 2, 2025, led by Hamid, explores Master Dogen’s Genjo Koan ("Actualizing the Fundamental Point"), using the metaphor of fanning oneself to illustrate that while Buddha nature is inherent—like the wind—practice is the necessary action of "hoisting the sail" to actualize it in the present moment. Hamid: As you may have seen from the group post yesterday, we're going to talk about the end

' learn the backward step that turns your light inwardly to illuminate your self.' fukenzazengi / eihei dogen light does it enter does go out does it ever leave the dark take the light and turn it inward we heard the master say moving inward the outer moving outward the inner is this movement is movement another name we give to what we can not grasp inscrutable for incessable turning it in is what returns you to emergence of light where inward and outward inflow this is th

birds' path you follow call it treading flying falling you are born here with branches vernal notes adrift in the evening breeze unseen traces unfold song-clusters in echo return to what we never leave silence its one body one sphere from one end to another azure it's what knows no end mirrors coming passing abiding nowhere chiming bells of stones meld with sighs of grass slowly waking in the prairie throbbed with morning light alentejo

in a letter of intent addressed to friends to friends to come healed of wounds of wounds to come this softening of pain surrendering to a smile in brief repentant tone harms undoable done passing on blames to gales to tide-awakening mistral where roars gather deliver the unspoken word unroll sea scrolls of seas to come amis où sont les amis java