Reflecting on why more of his students aren’t experiencing breakthroughs in their practice, Nyogen Roshi indicts a lack of faith in the practice itself as the culprit. Specifically, he pinpoints a cynical reluctance to believe anything that we haven’t personally perceived as the hindrance to insight. “When you hear about some of the wonders that […]
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The Overstory
“I read a book that changed my life,” says Claudia Hosso Politi. The Overstory–a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about inter-connection between human beings and the natural world, especially trees–sparks wonder and a new passion for nature in Hosso. She relates “homo-centrism,” the destructive worldview that subjugates the rest of creation to human desires, to Buddhism’s focus […]
Obon
Obon is a traditional Japanese Buddhist observance which allows families to honor and feel closer to their loved ones who have died. It’s a time for sharing memories, prayers, rituals of food and drink, nourishment and generosity.
The Courage of Humility
I am a Hazy Moon student living on the east coast. Along with daily practice at home, I attend two extended training periods a year with our Los Angeles sangha. Traveling to the Hazy Moon, I’m on pilgrimage to a place far away from everything familiar—a place where I can try again and again to let go and simply sit…
The Manifest Koan
The manifest koan is you, what is apparent and appearing, depending solely on right now. Nothing else. If you’re still caught in the comparing mind, the judgmental mind, you won’t see it. If you’re trapped in seeing objects as separate from you, you are far from it. But I think everybody here is starting to sense it…
Inspiring Transformation
In this Dharma talk which he gave shortly after he returned from a hiking adventure to Everest Base Camp in Nepal, Kelly Doman Stevens Sensei recounts the rewards and challenges of his transforming experience. “It was vast, desolate and awe-inspiring,” he says of the landscape around Mount Everest. “But I wouldn’t call it pretty exactly.” […]
Maezumi’s 3 Admonitions
Luckily for me, my teacher Nyogen Roshi keeps repeating the same thing over and over again. (I’m beginning to realize that’s what teachers do.) In nearly every one of his weekly dharma talks he ends up reciting a set of instructions given to him by his teacher Maezumi Roshi in the early days of his training…
How to Meditate
Learn the basics of Zen meditation in less than five minutes. Clear, step-by-step meditation instruction, as practiced at the Hazy Moon.
Affirmations Work
“When he began talking about affirmation practice, I told Nyogen, this is so long overdue for me personally. This habit of negative thinking of mine is poison, and I have been poisoning myself with it for years.”
If I Don’t Do It Now . . .
Lailah Dainin Shima will sit as head trainee during Summer Ango 2019 at the Hazy Moon. In this video statement, Dainin talks about the life-and-death concerns behind her desire to sit as head trainee, as well as her growing appreciation for the Hazy Moon’s lineage of practice…
When Family is Sangha
It’s not unusual to find couples that practice together, or see friends accompany one another to a retreat. But it might seem a bit strange that the Dewdrop Sangha includes me, my adult daughter and my sister. For the three of us, sharing this practice has not only proven that sangha is family, but that family is sangha too…
Answers for an Authentic Life
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…
