In gratitude to William Nyogen Yeo Roshi for allowing me to have the opportunity to work with him as Head Trainee this Ango period. Thank you to Shelly Mushoku Cao for all of the planning and organization that she continually provides to our Sangha. And finally, thank you to the Hazy Moon Sangha for their friendship and support.
May I cause no harm to sentient beings. May I honor the Dharma appropriately.
In a talk that begins with a famous koan about a flag waving in the breeze, Nyogen Roshi encourages us to move beyond the limitations of the chattering mind that we mistake for our true self. Discovering who we really are sounds daunting, but Roshi helps us keep things in perspective…
Let’s clear up the misconceptions about what it means to study koans. A koan is not a puzzle or conundrum. They aren’t to be reasoned with intellectually or used as a form of psychotherapy. A koan is to be experienced. They will aid you in producing a state of consciousness in which you have full awareness, and as you practice longer, that state will generalize into how you function moment after moment in any circumstance…
A review of Zen: The Authentic Gate by Koun Yamada Roshi
An old friend passed away this morning. I wasn’t aware he had suffered a stroke two weeks earlier, so I was shocked to hear that he was gone. A silent pause seems to follow news like this, then my mind fills with questions…
Wisdom teachings are fascinating things. They may not appear to be special. They are never complicated. They can sound so ordinary that we don’t even hear them or grant them consideration. But like seeds, they burrow into us and one day surface in full bloom. Only then are we ready to appreciate them. Here are Maezumi’s Three Admonitions, which you’re not likely to find elsewhere…
During this challenging time of uncertainty and social isolation, the benefits of Zen meditation are vividly apparent. We have discovered that the strength and energy that come from practicing with a group are as palpable during virtual meditation sessions as they are “in real life.” The Hazy Moon is pleased to offer several opportunities for virtual practice via Zoom, in English and Spanish…
In one of the most famous Zen stories, Joshu asks his teacher Nansen, “What is the Way?” Nansen replies, ” Ordinary mind is the Way.” What is ordinary mind? Nyogen Roshi walks us into it. “Get quiet,” he says. “Purify the mind–which means stop talking to yourself. Just sit here in the present moment. What else is there to be known? You know everything there is, perfectly.”
Maezumi Roshi answers the question, “How do we open ourselves to wisdom?”
Transcribed from a recording made in July 1993.
Learn the basics of Zen meditation in less than five minutes. Clear, step-by-step meditation instruction, as practiced at the Hazy Moon.
I once heard Buddhist teacher Pema Chodron talk about the instructions she gave to people who came to retreats while dealing with trauma. She gave them the mantra, “Stay.” Whatever is going on, stay with it. Thoughts might be crazy — let them fly but stay with the moment. Want to get up and run — don’t, just stay. Stay within the body; stay within your field of hearing. Just stay. After a while, the individual would invariably settle.
Services introduce the aspect of ritual into our practice. Specifically, a “service” consists of a chant, performed in front of the altar, to transmit the energy, intention and benefit of our practice into the world we inhabit. In one way, rituals are an external expression of our inner state. At the same time, we strengthen and reinforce our inner state by the external chant. The service brings together what we think of as “inside” and “outside” into a unified whole.
A review of The Grand Biocentric Design: How Life Creates Reality by Robert Lanza, MD, and Matej Pavsic with Bob Berman.
