In news, student talks, interviews and personal reflections, members of the Hazy Moon Sangha share the ways practice has transformed every aspect of their lives—at work, at home, in relationships, and in handling the change, pain, loss, and fear that all of us face at times. The consistent message from any serious Zen student is that practice works.
Ascending the Platform
In a powerful conclusion to the 2018 Summer Ango training period, Head Trainee Rafael Doshin Carrasco presided over the traditional ceremonies of Shosan, or public dokusan, Tea Ceremony and Shuso Hossen, where he defended his presentation of the koan “The World-Honored One Ascends the Platform..”
Grass Huts and Hermits
A review of Road to Heaven: Encounters with Chinese Hermits by Bill Porter.
Not long ago I ran across a new Buddhist blog that says it is for people who “are interested in meditation but don’t want to pretend they live in ancient Asia.” I try not to get too worked up about how people characterize Buddhism, but that line about pretense got my attention…
Flowers Fall
“The ambulance took the old man away because he wasn’t feeling good,” my daughter tells me excitedly as I walk through the door from work. I plaster myself against the window to see if this is true. She’s speaking about my neighbor, my friend, a man who has been so kind and attentive to my daughter since the day we brought her home from the hospital…
Kinhin
Kinhin is walking meditation. At the Hazy Moon, we perform kinhin in between periods of zazen, or seated meditation. Kinhin is a continuation of practice that also refreshes your legs after sitting and gives you an opportunity to exit and re-enter the zendo if needed. A period of kinhin lasts 10 minutes. It begins with […]
Stefan Munen Kamph’s Jukai
Combining his commitment to practice with his love of travel, Stefan Munen Kampf has cultivated equal devotion for both the Hazy Moon and its sister temple, the Black Scorpion Zen Center in Mexico…
Statement from Rafael Doshin Carrasco, Head Trainee for Summer Ango 2018
I am from Santiago, Chile and I have been meditating for some years. I do not have a Sangha there, so I usually practice alone. For me, it’s really important to know that I have my teacher and my Sangha here in Hazy Moon…
My Life As It Is
I was looking for a teacher. My busy life as a mother, wife, and physician was becoming more chaotic. Meditation had intrigued me ever since I’d had a lesson at a spa. For the first time, my mind had felt relaxed—quiet yet alert. After searching local meditation groups and Zen centers, I found the Hazy Moon…
A Physicist Encounters Naked Awareness
A review of The End of Suffering: Fearless Living in Troubled Times by Russell Targ
For a number of years at the Hazy Moon, Nyogen Roshi has been talking about science. Specifically how a number of scientists from different disciplines increasingly are hitting upon a track that parallels the insights of classical meditative or spiritual practices…
On Turning TEN
Reflections from the Sensei and Sangha of the Black Scorpion Temple on its 10th anniversary.
Already 10 years have passed since the Eye-Opening Ceremony of the Black Scorpion Temple in Tepotzlan, Mexico…
Not So Religious
In the hospital where I’m a chaplain intern and in the hospice where I volunteer, patients rarely ask about my faith. When they do, I take care not to raise any walls between us. I don’t think of myself as a Buddhist chaplain, or any other kind. Rather, my experience of chaplaincy is meeting people in a deeper place than religion…
Don’t Be Seduced by the Cool in Quantum
Entropy is often thought of as a measure of randomness, disorder and in information theory, ignorance. It seems to be on the one hand trivially statistical and on the other hand deeply embedded in our experience…
Sewing the Rakusu: A Formless Field of Self-Observation
In our Japanese Zen lineage the precept-taking ceremony is called Jukai. Those who wish to take Jukai begin by sewing a Rakusu, a bib-like garment assembled from cloth strips. The practice emerged from the custom set by the Buddha, whose followers sewed their own robes. On the back of the Rakusu, the teacher writes the Dharma name chosen for the student…
