Zazen Notes

Here are the instructions I give myself, when I sit:

Follow the singular location of self, from the breath in through the breath out, and from the breath out through the breath in.

By “the singular location of self”, I mean the sense of where I am in my body, of where the awareness I identify as my self is located.

In order to follow the singular location of self, I have to appreciate spontaneous ...  read more

In his description of the induction of the first state of concentration, Gautama spoke of how a person:

… steeps, drenches, fills and suffuses this body with zest and ease, born of solitude, so that there is not one particle of the body that is not pervaded by this lone-born zest and ease. (1)

In my practice, I make use of some advice Shunryu ...  read more

I lived in El Cerrito for most of 2015. While I was there, I made an effort to attend some of the sittings at the Berkeley Zen Center, and likewise to attend some of the weekend lectures.

At one of the lectures, I signed up for a one-day sitting.

When the day came, I got to the zendo on time, and found an empty mat at the back. One day sittings ...  read more