Category: zen
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A Reflection on the Enmei Jukku Kannon Gyo
By Ewa Good morning everyone.I’d like to share a few words about the chant we recite at the beginning of our Zazen practice. When I first started coming to Zazen Kai, the chanting, honestly, made me feel a little uneasy. I could read the Chinese characters, but I didn’t fully understand what I was chanting.…
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Cherish All Beings
By Bob In the Book club Ann organized We are learning about practicing right action from the book “The eightfold path” by Jikyo Cheryl Wolfer, Dainin kataguri said “Whether weak or strong, in high or middle or low realms of existence, small or great, . . . may all beings be happy Let no one…
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Wage Peace by Judyth Hill
By Aaron Wage peace with your breath.Breathe in firemen and rubble,breathe out whole buildingsand flocks of redwing blackbirds. Breathe in terrorists and breathe out sleeping childrenand freshly mown fields.Breathe in confusion and breathe out maple trees.Breathe in the fallenand breathe out lifelong friendships intact. Wage peace with your listening:hearing sirens, pray loud.Remember your tools:flower seeds,…
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Reflections on the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch
By Chloe Recently I’ve been reading the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch (六祖坛经), a foundational text in Chan (Zen) Buddhism. It shares the life and teachings of Huineng (慧能), who began as an illiterate woodcutter in southern China and went on to become one of the most important Zen masters in history. He taught…
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The Mystery of My Blurry Vision
By Chris Has anybody ever left here, driving home, and noticed that your vision was a little blurry, or you couldn’t focus quite as well? I have found that on many occasions when I’m driving home, it takes a while for me to get my clarity of vision back. I always just chalked it up…
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I’m Learning to Be a Shambhala Warrior
By Rona Lately in my practice, I’ve been feeling a deep pain—sorrow, anger, the heaviness of division in our world. It stirred despair in me, and even my own anger. I know I need to work with these feelings, to take care of them, because they’re not the energies I want to send into the…
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Catharsis and Reality
By Michael Good morning, everybody. I’m going to be sharing something very personal today that impacts some stuff that we’ve been studying in the book club and some overall Buddhist doctrine and philosophy. A little bit of a background: about a year and a half ago, I had a very near-fatal bike crash. I had…
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You are perfect as you are…..and you have more work to do
By Ann Having just experienced my familiar difficulty with technology, I am wondering about the accuracy of what I want to talk about with you today… the belief that each of us is perfect, in this second, in the experience of this moment. As I tangle with the headset, placing the mic in my ear,…
Hakone Zendo 