February 2012
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The Heart Sutra to a two year old!
inpursuitofthebuddha:
Heart Sutra to a 2 year old Avalokitesvara, you say! Doing deep meditation all day. A silent song, a dance in the gray. Didn’t stop for a bowl of stew, cake or tea Stared deep into life’s flowing sea, clearly saw that it was emp-i-ty. Dancing around, the wind in hair,completely free from pain and care. Things are thoughts and thoughts are things! (I said it once, twice,...
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January 2012
18 posts
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“Zazen is the most radical, revolutionary act we can perform in this particular...”
– The radical practice of Zazen - APPAMADA
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Joyful Abandon: Lazy Meditation Tip #1 →
I think this is an excellent practice.
lazyyogi:
It is difficult to get a daily meditation practice going. So here is a trick I use on a day in which I haven’t meditated.
When I think about meditation, I check the clock. If I have time to meditate, I immediately set a timer on my phone and sit down to meditate. I do this before I have time to…
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People are always talking about finding their...
pessimistpoetry:
The whole point of Zen is that it is everything, there is no inner and outer, no this and that, just emptiness and the world our mind creates on top of it.
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Leaving home 2
Leaving home I vow with all beings to walk through the front door and step off the 100-foot pole
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Leaving home 1
Leaving home I vow with all beings to give up notions of doors, windows and locks
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What is Shukke Tokudo? Part 5: Why online?
So let’s address the elephant in the room - why am I doing all of this online? I live in a city with a wonderful, thriving community of Soto Zen practitioners at Austin Zen Center. I’ve taken classes there and I sit with them on occasion. So why am I not doing this “for real”? I would argue that it is “for real”, or just as “real” as anything in this...
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What is Shukke Tokudo? Part 4: The ceremony
There’s nothing secret or mysterious about the Shukke Tokudo ceremony. In fact, you can watch the entire first Treeleaf 2010 ordination ceremony online.
My ceremony (which will occur sometime in Spring 2012) will be streamed live and will be available on YouTube later as well.
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What is Shukke Tokudo? Part 3: Standards
What’s expected? What separates a Zen priest from a lay Zen practitioner? Why does the distinction matter?
The foundation of priest training rests on the following principles of Zen practice: (1) zazen, (2) mindfulness to care and detail, (3) deepening understanding through personal effort, (4) self-reflection, (5) working with a teacher, (6) studying Buddhist literature, and...
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What is Shukke Tokudo? Part 2: Purpose
So when I commit to taking Shukke Tokudo, what exactly am I signing up for? If you’re REALLY curious, you can read the entire Treeleaf Sangha Guidelines for Training Soto Zen Buddhist Clergy and learn more about it than you’d probably ever want to know. But I’ll give the Cliffs Notes version here.
The purpose of priest training is to prepare individuals for a life dedicated to...
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What is Shukke Tokudo? Part 1: The background
Based on some excellent feedback I received recently from my friends and family, I’m going to do a short series of posts on Zen priest ordination (Shukke Tokudo) - what it is, what it means within the Soto Zen tradition, and what it means to me specifically.
So what is Shukke Tokudo? I will leave it to my teacher to explain this.
From time to time, after undertaking Zen practice for many...
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Ways to practice Zen
Say thank you
Empty the dishwasher
Walk carefully
Question the status quo
Turn off the TV for 10 minutes
Hike in the wilderness
Sit on the floor
Trust yourself
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December 2011
14 posts
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Intro to Zen →
For those interested, this PDF is the best beginner’s introduction to Zen that I’ve found online.
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“In Soto Practice, we “just sit”, letting thoughts drift out of mind,...”
– Jundo Cohen, my preceptor
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Ending Ango
I would like to sincerely thank my Tumblr family for all the likes, reblogs, retweets and kind words that encouraged me during this practice.
Gassho and thank you for being here.
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Ango Gatha 90
At the end of Ango
I vow with all beings
to meet the new person
who comes out the other side
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Ango Gatha 89
Counting my mala
I vow with all beings
to find the 108 ways
to be enlightened by the 10,000 things
November 2011
39 posts
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“Thirty years ago, before I began the study of Zen, I said, ‘Mountains are...”
– Ch’ing yuan Wei-hsin of the T’ang Dynasty
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Ango Gatha 88
Fighting anger I vow with all beings to feel fully but act carefully
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Ango Gatha 87
Planning a trip
I vow with all beings
to pierce the concepts
of space, time and movement
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Ango Gatha 86
Approaching Rohatsu I vow with all beings my sweatshirt a monk’s robe, any seat a mountain
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Ango Gatha 85
Hanging Christmas lights I vow with all beings to balance, balance one misstep and gravity wins
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Ango Gatha 84
Mindful of spending I vow with all beings to place coins in the hands of the hungry
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Ango Gatha 83
Expressing gratitude I vow with all beings to thank buttons and nettles and sandwiches
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“I have been having some email discussions this week with my old friend and...”
– Norman Fischer
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Shukke Tokudo
I guess I better figure out a way to explain this to people. I need a “Zen priest in training/part of a Soto Zen Buddhist online sangha” elevator pitch.
Or maybe it’s better to not talk about it too much. Either way, I’m diving in.