Author: Kaz Kihara
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What is Zen?
Shared by Linu It has been more than a decade since I first encountered the word Zen. Over the years, I have heard this term in numerous contexts: design, art, meditation, Steve Jobs, and more. And yet when I ask myself to define what it is, I fail to put a finger on it. This unsettled…
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Three Good Things
(Photo by Reni) Shared by Anand These are excerpts from the Book: The Best Team Wins, by Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton (Page 233) Three Good Things Martin Seligman, a psychology professor at University of Pennsylvania, developed many of the ideas used today in the field of positive psychology. He suggested an exercise called “Three…
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Might As Well…
Shared by Kaz How do you motivate yourself to overcome challenges? Any special tactics? Personally, I train for triathlons every year, and the January training can be a real struggle. It’s cold, often rainy, and still dark in the mornings. Whenever I get ready for training, my mind starts coming up with excuses – maybe…
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Finding Joy in Life!
Shared by Deepak Deepak generated this image using AI To lighten the mood, I shared a humorous story about meditation A bunch of monks were meditating together when a Buddhist deity suddenly appeared before them. The deity pointed to one of the monks, named Larry, and said, “Your meditation is so pure that it has…
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“Fear is nothing more than a negative stream of consciousness”
Shared by Anand Reference and Acknowledgement – The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, by Robin Sharma, Page 101, 102 “Study a baby. She has no limits. Her mind is a lush landscape of potential and possibility. Properly cultivated, it will lead her to greatness. Filled with negativity, it will lead her to mediocrity, at best.…
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Sitting
Shared by Nan I am grateful for having this time to share my meditation practice with our group. I have been experiencing the joy of in person sitting in California. Recently, I was fortunate to have a vacation in Japan, and I was able to do zazen while I visited Kencho-Ji Temple at Kamakura. My…
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下山路是上山路 “The path down the mountain is the way up the mountain”
Shared by Kaz Grateful that we’re sitting together and sharing. Let me share a recent Zen saying I came across: “下山路是上山路” (asan no michiwa kore jozan no michi) translates to “The path down the mountain is the way up the mountain.” The lesson is all about “sharing what you’ve got” in a positive way. If…
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Frustrations
Shared by Susan Good morning, everyone. I’m Susan and I am a teacher and my students are second graders. There are certainly rewarding experiences about teaching but there are also frustrations. Today I am sharing about frustrations. Sometimes my students have frustrations and sometimes I do. I have been thinking about how I sometimes think…
Hakone Zendo 