I gave this talk at our Full Moon Zen Sunrise Sit on July 17, 2024. A recording follows the text. This is a translation of “Nothing Twice” by the late Polish poet Wislawa Szymborska: Nothing happens twice, Nor will it ever. For this reason, We were born without proficiency, And will all die without routine. Though we be the most obtuse Pupils in the school of this world, We will never be held back to repeat A single winter or summer. No day will be repeated; There is no such thing as two similar nights, Two identical kisses, Two equivalent gazes into someone’s eyes. Yesterday, when your name W ..read more

I gave this talk at our Full Moon Zen evening sit on July 11, 2024. A recording follows the text. This is the Evening Gatha we’ll hear chanted in half an hour or so: Let me respectfully remind you: Life and death are of supreme importance. Time swiftly passes by and opportunity is lost. Each of us should strive to awake Awaken! Take heed: This night your days are diminished by one.  Do not squander your life. I turned 62 yesterday. That’s not so very old, I suppose, yet it’s not so very young, either. It’s the average age at which people retire. I’m now eligible for social security, as on ..read more

I gave this talk at our Sunrise Sit on June 28, 2024. A recording follows the text. These are the first two of Bodhidharma’s Pure Mind Precepts as translated by Taizan Maezumi Roshi and reprinted in Nancy Mujo Baker Roshi’s book on the Zen Precepts, Opening to Oneness: Non-killing Self-nature is subtle and mysterious. In the realm of the everlasting Dharma, not giving rise to the idea of killing is called the Precept of Non-killing. Non-stealing Self-nature is subtle and mysterious. In the realm of the unattainable Dharma, not arousing the thought of gain is called the Precept of Non-stealing ..read more

I gave this talk at our Full Moon Zen evening sit on Thursday, June 7th. A recording follows the text. We’ll begin a study group on the Zen Boddhisattva Precepts later this month, so I thought I’d talk tonight about the precepts and how we think about and practice them.  The 16 precepts we chanted earlier this evening evolved from the Vinaya, the oldest and smallest of the three sections of the Pali Canon, which are the early Buddhist scriptures.  Dōgen crafted the version we chanted tonight.  Our Zen Boddhisattva Precepts derive, in part, from the Vinaya and the much longer set ..read more

I gave this talk on May 1, 2024, during our Full Moon Zen Sunrise Sit. A recording follows. This is part of the Zen teacher Reb Anderson’s guidance to us on shikantaza, which is included in our Sutra Book: Zazen does not prefer success over failure, or enlightenment over delusion. If we are enlightened, we sit still in the middle of enlightenment, with no preference for it. If we are deluded, we sit still in the middle of delusion, with no aversion to it. This is the Buddha’s zazen. Zazen practice is selfless. The goal of zazen is the liberation of all living beings from suffering, but the goa ..read more

I gave this short encouragement talk on April 27, 2024, deep into our recent sesshin. For context, see Wu-men’s comment and verse on Case 2 in The Gateless Gate in my prior post. A young monk approaches a teacher with a question.  That teacher, now an old man, approaches a teacher with the same question.  The first teacher gets it wrong.  The second teacher gets it right. How can we know who and what to trust?  On which teacher and teachings can we rely? It may seem one error, one misstep, one misguided response, will deny us what we’re seeking. &nb ..read more

I gave this talk at our Full Moon Zen sesshin on April 26, 2024. A recording follows. This is Case 2 in The Gateless Gate, with it We-men’s verse and comment: Once when Pai-chang gave a series of talks, a certain old man was always there listening together with the monks. When they left, he would leave too. One day, however, he remained behind. Pai-chang asked him, “Who are you, standing here before me?” The old man replied, “I am not a human being. In the far distant past, in the time of Kāśyapa Buddha, I was head priest at this mountain. One day a monk asked me, ‘Does an enlightened person f ..read more

I gave this talk at our Full Moon Zen Sunrise Sit on April 10, 2024. A recording follows the text. This is an excerpt from a sutra in the Pali Canon: Monks, there are these three kinds of persons found existing in the world.  What three?  The person who is like a line etched in stone; the person who is like a line etched in the ground; and the person who is like a line etched in water. And what kind of person is like a line etched in stone?  Here, some person often gets angry, and his anger persists for a long time.  Just as a line etched in stone is not ..read more

I gave this talk yesterday at our Full Moon Zen Thursday evening sit. A recording follows the text. This is a passage from the Pali Canon: Now this, bhikkhus, is the noble truth of suffering: birth is suffering, aging is suffering, illness is suffering, death is suffering; union with what is displeasing is suffering; separation from what is pleasing is suffering; not to get what one wants is suffering; in brief, the five aggregates subject to clinging are suffering. Now this, bhikkhus, is the noble truth of the origin of suffering: it is this craving which leads to re-becoming accompanied by ..read more

I gave this talk today at our Full Moon Zen Sunrise Sit. This is Case 3 in The Gateless Gate: Whenever Chu-Chih (J: Gutei) was asked a question, he simply raised one finger. One day a visitor asked Chu-Chih’s attendant what his master preached. The boy raised a finger. Hearing of this, Chu-Chih cut off the boy’s finger with a knife. As the boy ran from the room, Chu-Chih called to him. When the boy turned his head Chu-Chih raised a finger. The boy was suddenly enlightened. When Chu-Chih was about to die he said to his assembled monks, “I received this one finger Zen from T’ien-lung ..read more