Ordinary minds are caught between yes and no. All of Zen is directed towards learning to hold the paradox of non-duality. Life is happening; we exist. At the same time, if we look deeply into time and place, even the physicists are finding that we don't exist as we thought we did. We are not just the appearance of things.

If this is reality, how do we live without denying or getting caught on one side of the dynamic functioning of existence and non-existence... Read more..

Commentary on Blue Cliff Record 45
A monk asked: The myriad things return to one. Where does the one return to? Joshu answered: When I was in Ch'ing Chou I made a cloth shirt. It weighed seven pounds.

The strategy for great peace is ceasing to fight with duality. In this season of peace, there is quiescence with the opposites. The classic... Read more..

The 22nd Chapter of Dogen's Shobogenzo
We often hear there is no god in Buddhism. Yes, we can say, there is no centralized intelligence; there is no anthropomorphized god or personalized god following our every move. But there is something: the mystery of being, the functioning of the universe. Dogen addresses this something (which we can't even call a "thing") as Zenki, the total dynamic functioning... Read more..

The radical nature of Buddhism is a deep challenge to how we normally see the world. This is the radicalness of living in the present moment. Our ordinary way of life expresses itself through the bondage of our mentally constructed stories about who we are and what we need. We live in the world of our internal chatter. This alienation from the true reality of life in the present ... Read more..

When I would go up to Katagiri-Roshi's office, at almost any time, he would be studying. He was a diligent student and, by the end of his life, was known as a Dogen scholar. What I really appreciate now is that he digested many texts in the course of his study and would summarize the teaching in his own words. At the time, I didn't understand him: his very thick Japanese accent, the incomprehensible dharma teaching and the spiral style of his talks. Now, twenty years later... Read more..

"How is it when a person of great realization returns to delusion?" From Dogen's Shobogenzo fascicle, "Daigo" or "Great Realization"
This wonderful question from the koan of Zen teacher Hochi, "How is it when a person of great realization returns to delusion?" is one of the core investigations of Zen practice. It is taken up for study in Dogen's fascicle "Daigo". Dogen insists that we should study this completely. How is it when a person who understands interrelationship, who can see life beyond the individual story and psychological components of a self, and who can be completely ... Read more..

Our Busy Lives (Yunyan Sweeps the Ground)
Most all of us feel that our lives are too busy. This is our predicament. The American mantra is "I'm too busy; I'm too busy." So maybe that's why we're all here at a Zen Center--to find out how we ... Read more..

"Buddha's eye and the spontaneous response of compassion"
We all come to practice looking for ways to release our suffering. The Buddha taught in the first noble truth that life is unsatisfactory and filled with the tumultuous ups and downs of humanity ending with old age, illness and death. As our mindfulness grows and becomes more subtle, we can actually see the minute suffering that occurs everywhere ... Read more..