orientation talk on the first day of our july 2018 sesshin in sierra de monchique, algarve, portugal. a presentation of the practice of shikantaza, just sitting: to be simply aware of what arises and bringing one's full attention to it during meditation without seeking any reward as a result of it. zen meditation is about what manifests itself right in this moment, right in each moment, without trying to direct what is unfolding from moment to moment to some future goal. we

Zazen is at once a bare-bone form of meditation and at the same time it is not one. Historically it’s a twice millennial practice passed on through generations by the Buddha as the unique gateway to liberating us humans from the rounds of birth and death and the suffering that comes from being trapped in Samsara, the world of delusion and ignorance. But also it is not meditation in the sense we ordinarily understand it to be. This practice has no object and is not meant to be

we passed this gate to reach our place of practice, a towering ganesha greeting us. we sat through an intensive period of meditation knowing little of the tumult unfolding in the world outside. when we ended our retreat and broke silence we found out about the intensified activities of mount agung and its imminent eruption. when you meet the world, your mind quiet and still, you see events in their unfolding, favorable or unfavourable, as they just are: manifestations of impe

It's a happy moment whenever I get the chance to sit with others an intensive sesshin (meditation retreat) as this allows me each time to come back to that place of honesty where I can meet my own practice and, through it, my own life in a very open way. Over the years you begin to realize there is a depth to this practice of silent sitting that you will never fully plumb. Something rather joyful as what you are sensing as unfathomable is simply the mystery of life revealing