Zazen Notes

“Zen in everyday life is keeping the precepts”- I think a lot of Zen teachers are on board with that, I think Reb Anderson’s “Warm Smiles from Cold Mountain” is about that in the context of Richard Baker’s departure from SF Zen Center.

Some would say that the precepts have more to do with zazen than the revelation ...  read more

Here’s one from Kodo Sawaki:

The basis of all actions is to follow through to the end. If your mind is absent even just for a moment, you’re no different from a corpse.

(Antaiji: Kodo Sawaki- “To You”, 34)

That might sound like there’s something to be done apart from waking up and falling asleep; Sawaki goes on to say:

“It’s ...  read more

The trick is never to mount the ox in the first place, per the Ch’an master Foyan; he said there were only two diseases at his monastery, searching for an ox while riding an ox and being mounted on an ox unable to dismount. He asked, isn’t it better never to mount in the first place?

I would say the meaning is that where we are is sufficient ...  read more