One Bright Pearl

the white ox refuses to leave
suddenly - Bong!
dinner bell ringing
.

Rohatsu Sesshin is upon us here at Sanshinji. We will begin by having dinner together at 6:00pm and then meet again at 7:30pm for Okumura Roshi’s orientation talk. When he finishes sharing his words of encouragement, we will turn and face the wall, as the Buddha did all those years ago.
We sit a classic Uchiyama [...]

I have always loved the poems of Han Shan. One of my favorite is number 26 -

Since I came to Cold Mountain
how many thousand years have passed?
Accepting my fate I fled to the woods,
to dwell and gaze in freedom.
No one visits the cliffs
forever hidden by clouds.
Soft grass serves as a mattress,
my quilt is the dark [...]

Total dynamic function, or Zenki, is our life.
What does this mean? Who am I? What is this!? I ask myself these questions regularly. I remain curious, letting go of what I think.
With no inside or outside, no second person, it is radically different than what I think. And yet, this thinking is not outside of [...]

one
drop
splash!

The Samadhi of the Self accepting the Self as only the Self is known as Jijuyu Zanmai. Old Buddha Eihei presents this self fulfilling truth in his treatise Bendowa or Talk on Whole Hearted Practice of the Way. As an instruction for practice of the Way, it is supreme.
To actualize Jijuyu Zanmai, one must practice [...]

Wind roars through the cracked window. Brisk cold air sharpens the senses. At seventy miles an hour, the highway greets this old monk with horizon upon horizon. One line, then another, trace away into the distance. Glancing behind, through a rearview mirror, the withered trees march backwards. Hands firmly grip the steering wheel, holding steady. [...]

While meeting an Old Buddha, a question was posed thus, “Sri Ramana Maharshi states - That which is not found in deep dreamless sleep is not real. What practice is available to realize this within your school?”
Old Buddha Gentei responded, “”When you are driving your car, how do you manifest your Buddha nature?”
Exactly! Ineffability expresses [...]

While listening to Shohaku Okumura share his understanding of Bussho 1, he states:
“The power that creates our suffering or samsara, and the power that allows us to practice and create nirvana is the same power…”
It is all our responsibility.
This realization has become koan for me. It has put me on the spot. I can’t [...]

During zazen this morning I had several great ideas for today’s post, and I can’t remember any of them.  Letting go of thinking doesn’t oppose great ideas. It just doesn’t cling to them. This not clinging isn’t aversion to thought. Thoughts come and go. Non clinging and non aversion do not originate from a position [...]