top of page


Waking Up
"Zen practice has only one purpose and that is to awaken! To wake up to things as they are - not as we think they are or we want them to...


Getting Unstuck
"The process of becoming unstuck requires tremendous bravery, because basically we are completely changing our way of perceiving reality,...


Life's Passages
"Going through life's passages is difficult at best and for some totally overwhelming. It is not easy to grow up and take responsibility...


Fourth Great Vow
The Buddha Way is uncontrived, I vow to embody it. "When we say, "The Buddha Way", we are not vowing to follow a historic figure, though...


Whole Life is Meditation
"What I’m really interested in and what I hope you are really interested in, is not a particular kind of something called Zen or...


First Great Vow
The First Great Vow: The many beings are numberless, I vow to save them. "The first vow is the medicine for the endless wanting of...


Patience
"The practice of patience could not exist without there being people who do us harm. How, then, can we call such people obstacles to our...


Compassion
"Enlightened compassion has a face, in Buddhist art, and a Sanskrit name: the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara. This great cosmic being sits...


Dharma
"Nietzsche said: 'If you look into the abyss long enough, it looks back.' This is our practice: seeing and being seen, hearing and being...


Sangha
"To take refuge in the Sangha doesn't mean to join a club or belong or put on a particular robe or a set of clothing or badge or to be a...


Annutara Samyak Sambodhi
"Let all expectation drop away. Whatever is in front of you, that is Buddha. Whatever you are doing is the activity of enlightenment. The...


Basic Humanity
"It is very important to recognize the basic nature of humanity and the value of our human qualities. Whether we’re educated or...


Three Jewels
In Zen we refer to taking refuge in the Three Jewels: the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. Some thoughts from Zen Master Dae Gak:...


Mind and the Absolute
'Our thinking mind cannot know the absolute. Even if the mind makes up something fantastic and spectacular, what is created is made up...
bottom of page