OneZenZoo

We have moved...

2010-10-15T09:03:00.002-05:00

I moved the Blog to www.onezenzoo.com.

Insight

2010-02-12T09:25:00.002-05:00

Everything changes
When you have an insight, what is it?

mind wanders

2009-09-27T20:57:00.001-05:00

just walk - when walking,
eat rice - when eating rice
drink tea - when drinking tea
the moon shines when the owl screeches and the mind wanders!

Just Walking

2009-09-18T01:56:00.001-05:00

"I" have always enjoyed walking.
It doesn't matter where, just walking.
In fact the best walks are the ones that are just walking, no "i" doing the walking!
Just walking is a good practice, like Just Sitting. They seem different, when "i" thinks so, yet there is none, when "i" is not occupying space with preconditioned notions of this or that.

Of course, it means letting go!
But as "i" walk, sometimes,
beyond the identifying mind monkey of "i" experience,
beyond the thieving identification,
beyond the past/future tripping is --

Nature in all it's magnificence, fully alive, as it is. That aha moment...
Original Nature

How a life gives when it has ended

2009-08-08T07:15:00.006-05:00

I learned yesterday that a neighbor (I had done some decorative painting for), passed away in May. I felt compelled to go to the estate sale. When I arrived there was the Buddha that we once had enjoyed together standing in her living room. It now resides with me and will always be awakening in me that reality beyond the transitory.

The Big Sit continues

2009-03-08T07:52:00.002-05:00

Sitting, practicing Zazen isn't difficult.
It is not practicing that is difficult...

Big Sit, Big Mind

2009-02-25T07:38:00.002-05:00

Today is day 3 of the Big Sit

big sit leads to big mind!
the sun is pouring in,
penetrating in its radiance

Buddha-Buddy

2009-02-20T07:39:00.002-05:00

Sitting, facing the morning sunrise,
the moor hens getting ready for spring,
the cat, Buddha-Buddy (Buddy for short)
sits with me in this sangha.
All is one...

Life is Dharma

2008-06-20T08:16:00.000-05:00

Daily Dharma,
opinions don't matter...

reflections of origination

2008-04-06T07:00:00.005-05:00

The egret feathers are not white.
The lakes water reflected
ripples as a fish surfaces.
The egret is the screen,
the motion picture goes on!

morning, new day

2008-03-16T07:44:00.002-05:00

Each moment is complete.
Awakening is knowing this.
Drink my cup of coffee, go to work.

undisputed perfect wisdom

2008-03-15T13:53:00.002-05:00

Zen is as the sun is to the flower,
which means that there is undisputed perfect wisdom.
Nothing more or less...

Duality and Faith

2008-02-29T20:42:00.008-05:00

Faith is generally understood as belief in some other, greater outside source that is beyond our experience of life. Having faith in a doctrine that you have come to believe is true may have some value and may be comforting but such dualistic thinking creates separation and suffering. There is a different kind of faith based on the experiential. Faith in the interconnected and inter penetrated oneness of life.

The chatter of birds in spring,
songs and sunlight interpenetrates space

question: is everything just an illusion?

2008-02-15T08:01:00.004-05:00

No!
The magic show is only the minds trick.
With each breath the point of existence is felt.

Apparent this and that...

2008-01-15T09:05:00.001-05:00

The mind, until wisdom is gained is where clinging has its root. What IS can not ultimately be understood by the clinging mind. It is hard for us to go beyond the apparent. Yet all apparent distinctions that divide us and keep us separate are ultimately non-existent. Naturally that is difficult for the mind to except. Going beyond what is apparent to what is real, is meditation. A process of awakening to this moment.

Buddha-Nature

2008-01-13T08:25:00.005-05:00

"Sailing along on a boat, scanning the shore, you may mistake the land as sliding by. You need to focus closely on the boat to see that it's what's moving along. In the same way, surveying all things with body and mind in disarray, you may mistake your own mind and own nature as enduring. Focusing closely on your life and turning back within will clear up the notion that all things are without self."

from Genjo Koan, DOGEN ZENJI

Dogen's essay answers the question for me; If we have Buddha-Nature why do we have to work at it?

Note: This quote comes from a translation of Genjo Koan, "The Truth Unfolds" by Bob Myer's; http://www.numenware.com/article/category/dogen

The unexpected Butterfly

2008-01-09T08:30:00.002-05:00

The Gulf of Mexico, aqua green.

The surface like rippled glass reflects the sun.

Gentle swells inform me of the tides and breeze.

What is that in the distance? A form on the surface.
A beautiful butterfly, orange, red, and black.

Gently lifted out of the gulf and resting on kayak bow.

I paddle on with this precious visitor.

It gathers its strength to fly again.

I watch it fly over the gulf, one more time.

Gentle butterfly consumed by the great gulf.

Letting go IS Freedom

2008-01-07T08:54:00.002-05:00

When old wounds lock down and imprison the heart and overcome the mind, acknowledge it completely and let compassion find its way through the cracks in the old walls that have been built over time. No matter how thick, the walls of resistance will crumble in the light of compassion. See that this too is part of the ever-changing, that what is left when the walls crumble is everything, nothing is gained by imprisoning the hurt and dwelling in the prison. Letting go is freedom.

Emptiness

2008-01-06T07:49:00.001-05:00

The ripples at sunrise

disrupt the orange and purple sky.

The pond is now still.

Emptiness.

Ebb and Flow

2008-01-05T09:04:00.000-05:00

Like a fish,

go with the natural ebb and flow of life...

The inevitable changes don't need to be road blocks to happiness.

It is when I cling and don't want change that I get caught in the muck of low tide.

War

2008-01-04T08:33:00.001-05:00

Wars are fought by those claiming it is self defense and noble... All claim God is on their side... Painting the world as black and white is fallacy, it is neither this or that.
I once had a teacher that had a sign above the door that was just below the clock as you left class, it said; "All problems can be solved when they are small". It is up to each of us to understand our own violence in thought, word, action. If you want peace, be peace.

The jewel

2008-01-03T05:48:00.002-05:00

As worn out clothes are discarded,
the hidden diamond is discovered.
The ever changing on the changeless ground,
naked freedom.

Note: is this non-sense?

Not this, not that

2008-01-02T07:51:00.000-05:00

finding the middle way in the moment...

Neither new, modern or old
just current to the culture in which we live,
the Zen of our time is the apparent within the real and the real within the apparent.

Emptiness is a paradox that is neither this or that.