A talk on emptiness begins with Nyogen Roshi’s recounting the experience of “writing on water” with a stick when he was a boy growing up in Colorado. Far from indifference to the world around us, Roshi says, realizing the emptiness of all things through Zen practice entails profound spiritual awakening…
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Aidan and the Mummy Girl Save the Universe
My first novel, Aidan and the Dragon Girl Save the World, was borne of my love of history and an interest in how dragons are viewed in the east—not as fire-breathing reptiles but as shape-shifting water spirits and protectors of the Dharma.
Now I’ve written a second Aidan novel, inspired by my interest in early Buddhism and the cosmology of ancient Egypt. It’s called Aidan and the Mummy Girl Save the Universe…
Losing My Misery
My name is Honmei and my practice is counting my breath. I’ve been practicing at Hazy Moon for 11 years.
When I started practicing, I did it because I felt like I should. Practice is good for you, like exercise, and I felt a connection to Buddhism…
Hanamatsuri
Hanamatsuri is our annual commemoration of Shakyamuni Buddha’s birth. The name literally means festival of the flowers. We mark the occasion by creating an altar of fresh flowers and holding a special service…
Happy Brain
A Review of Altered Traits: Science Reveals How Meditation Changes Your Mind, Brain, and Body by Daniel Goleman and Richard J. Davidson.
If you are a practitioner of Buddha Dharma for whom the pillar of great faith is unshakeable, I predict you will have no interest in this book. It is not really a book about the Way, as Zen refers to itself. An alternate title might be “This Is Your Brain On Meditation.”
Fusatsu (Atonement Ceremony)
Fusatsu is the ceremony of atonement in the Zen tradition. In doing Fusatsu, we acknowledge the suffering caused by our own ignorant view of ourselves as separate from the world we inhabit. In this video, students at the Hazy Moon Zen Center share appreciation for Fusatsu and the role it plays in their practice.
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.
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…
Chanting Services
If you’d like to include chants in your home practice, scroll down to find links to our complete chant book and Zendo recordings of several of the seminal chants in Zen.
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…
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…
Awakening in the Marketplace
Wherever Dharma is being manifested it is always this state of awareness here with each one of us. There are no barriers except for what we erect in our thinking minds. You can’t overcome thoughts by trying to suppress thoughts, but that’s what we often do when we begin…
A Buddha Knows How to Talk
Nyogen Roshi tells us that when he used to resist giving talks, Maezumi Roshi would say: A buddha knows how to talk. My work as an assistant professor requires me to give many presentations on topics related to social development, which is a subject I feel very connected to. However, as long as I can remember, I have been terrified of speaking publicly—especially when I have to say something personal…
