zazen as a godless and objectively meditation practice.

scattered notes lifted from silence from the unspeakable in words what seemed like silence never stays ...

" Everyday is a journey and the journey itself is home." - Matsudo Basho To those of you who are joining or contemplating joining us on...

no matter in what state the old buddha’s mind i’ve always been here sitting in the palm of his hand heart flooding with grieving and love a poem i wrote many years ago and posted here on this blog before. i can’t find any other words to add to these at the moment. are you grieving this world of ours as well right now? is the grieving deepening the love that you feel, the love that you are, that we all are? how can we know how to love if we have not grieved? how can we grieve

wonderful! marvelous! the teachings of the insentient are inconceivable. ( chan master dongshan, 9th c.) " the ceremony of innocence is...

starting a silent retreat here in bali. ‘just this’, what is it? we practice to find out what is here, what has always been here even if it's looking for what is there that brings us here to practice. here, what is closest while we are far, lost in thought. lost in thought is also just this. whatever we may think this is, wherever we think it may be or not be, it is always ‘just this.’ ______________________________________ early morning lush greenery look outside bejewelled

because directly i could not, speaking obliquely of these times of ...that's how hölderlin called it over two hundred years ago: times of...

and there is a time for the wind to break the loosened pane- t.s.eliot / four quartets in case of loss to whom to turn to when to return is no more there is no return is what loss is what remains is what is no more it's ocean deep to swim here is to drown to drown learning to swim don't turn away from it let it tug at your heart let it break you open let it open you to just open you to open you to what that what is vastness it gives life and receives all traces home to everyt

in the world of zazen, when we sit, we are sitting with all beings even though we may think we are just sitting on our own. the just...

Back home now reflecting on our 5-day silent retreat a few days ago at Great Ocean Road in Victoria. During the talks, we delved into...

What a truly magical experience. This retreat was a holiday for my brain and my soul. I had no idea that there was so much healing in...

jatiluwih, bali, november 2024 master dogen: expounding a dream within a dream ________________________________________ nightfall storms rage the termites' road stops in front of the mountain a dream ferries me to the other shore the one you leave the one you reach apart in thought alone is what drifts in the river's voice rain swollen

The first dhamma talk Hamid gives invites us ‘to become intimate with our own mind’. This invitation shapes this retreat for me. The word...

Coming out of the world of doing, it felt quite intense to go into being. It's strange to see how something I really want - going to the...

As pointed out in the retreat there is an immense source of distractions as never before in the history of humankind. I’m sitting in an...

All reflections have a beginning, yet I am unsure where to start. How far back in time should I go for you to understand my current...

We are at Karuna Center, in Monchique, Portugal, starting our Autumn 8-day silent retreat. When we sit together in silence, what...

ei-tai ji temple, la rochette, 13 august 2000 here is a poem i presented to my teacher, ryotan tokuda roshi, on my monk ordination day...

silent retreat september 2024 / payangan, bali ______________________________________ in and out of silence words freely move where there is no in there is no out * fatal crossing juvenile serpent you are now one with the road * nighttime finding refuge in my room a fly falls asleep what tomorrow will offer you i don't know * the master's words i pray god to rid me of god invite us to silence * bouts of sleep in sleepless nights  in the land of dreams awakening is never far *

ultimately the journey makes us understand that there is no going from here to there and no becoming for us. the journey begins and ends...