Hakone Zendo

Zazen Meditation Community in Saratoga, California

Category: zen

  • The Four Noble Truths

    Shared by Ann. Buddism is philosophy, psychology & religion. Philosophy: Some people see Buddhism as finding a way to lead your life differently. Psychology: finding and investigating yourself through mindfulness and meditation. Religion: Certain beliefs. Each sect has different practices, but almost all of them practice The Four Noble Truths. Suffering: We all suffer personally,…

  • Dream Yoga

    Luke shared his recent reading and learning of Tibetan dream yoga. He read the book ” The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep” by Tenzin Wangyal. We had a great discussion about dreams. Raphael also shared a book, “Limitless” by Jim Kwik. You can see Raphael’s ikebana and haiku in this post.

  • Ikebana and haiku by the student, Raphael Whitten

    Whispers of farewellGracefully plunging to earthA leaf finds solace -Raphael Whitten 10/6/2022

  • Nan’s experience with the tea ceremony

    Shared by Nan During a winter Sesshin in Dallas last year in December,   I was partaking in a tea ceremony with my group. This was a journal from my experience. During the tea ceremony, I was holding a very small cup … the tea server poured the tea inside my cup … everything was done…

  • How students should prepare for zazen 坐禅心得 ( zazen kokoroe)

    How students should prepare for zazen Shared by Kaz In 2012, Rev Ito shared with students how students should be prepared to come to our zendo for zazen. “Rinzai hakone zendo zazen kokoroe”. I added explanations. Here is recording of teisho by Rev Ito from 7/22/2012.

  • ACCEPTING AND MAKING PEACE WITH EMOTIONS

    Shared by Oscar Through meditation, I began to question how to accept negative emotions. Although wanting to be happy is a habit and being able to control what we are exposed to is the easy path. It is important to have an open mind that willingly accepts comfort and discomfort. Instead of having a mental…

  • Happiness is a habit

    Shared by Peter In the book titled “The Art of Living”, it said “Happiness is a habit.  It’s training” The author was Thich That Hahn, a renowned Buddhist monk.  Habit can be either an exceedingly good servant or a very bad master.  So how do cultivate a good servant and stay away from a bad master?…

  • “We were born with our spiritual power, ki.”

    Shared by Reni Rev. Ito’s teisho: “We were born with our spiritual power, ki.”    We were born with our life energy which is part of the invisible energy forces of the Universe. Ki is our spiritual self, life energy. Ki, the spirit lives in our seika tanden, in raw translation, it means “everlasting life”. Seika…