[Raises the Zen stick over his head, then hits the table with the stick.]
BOOM!
Form is emptiness, emptiness is form.
Our world is always changing-sometimes fast, sometimes slow. When the change is fast, we suffer a lot. Our world changing fast means volcano, earthquake, tsunami, war.…
[Raises Zen stick over head, then hits table with stick.]
Cloud is mountain, mountain is cloud.
[Raises Zen stick over head, then hits table with stick.]
Originally no cloud, no mountain.
[Raises Zen stick over head, then hits table with stick.]
Cloud is cloud, mountain…
Here’s a question for everybody: How can you get out of samsara, how do you get out of suffering? We’re really lucky because we have a good practice situation. We can help and support each other, come here freely and nothing is…
Read More...Excerpted from a workshop at the Whole World is a Single Flower Conference
Zen Master Soeng Hyang: It’s great that so many people came for the kong-an discussion. For me, kong-ans are the root of our practice. Kong-ans are like receiving a gift. There’s the package: it’s beautifully wrapped, there’s…
Read More...This is the workshop on Zen and psychotherapy. First of all, be aware that this is about Zen and psychotherapy, it’s not about Zen and psychology. There…
Read More...Three men are walking. The first man makes a sword sound, the second man waves his hands, and the third man picks up a handkerchief.
1. If you were there, what would be your correct function?
2. What is the relationship?
3. And lastly, what is the…
Read More...[Raises Zen stick over head, then hits table with stick.]
The whole world is suffering. Sickness and death everywhere. For what purpose do we come into this world? Only to suffer?
[Raises Zen stick over head, then hits table with stick.]
No world, no coming, no going, no suffering, no…
Read More...So, someone left the retreat last night. That’s not unusual in a retreat. It’s part of growing up. Whatever we do in our practice, we learn from. If we keep a…
Read More...Oh Jo said, “It’s like a water buffalo passing through a window. Its head, horns, and four legs have already passed through. Why is it that its tail cannot?”
Commentary:
If it passes through, it falls into a ditch;
If it turns back, it is destroyed.
This trivial
…
Read More...When Buddha was born, he sprang out of his mother’s hip, walked seven steps, said, “Heaven above, earth below, only I am holy.”
[hits table with zen stick]
When you and I were born, we sprung from our mother’s uterus, dropped into the doctor’s arms, and screamed, “WAAAAAAAAH!”
[hits table…
Read More...From a talk at Providence Zen Center on Buddha’s Enlightenment Day, 1991
Throughout the ages people have written commentaries on the Buddha’s enlightenment using many different perspectives. But from the point of view of history, the Buddha’s enlightenment is not very interesting. Nor is it very interesting…
Read More...Life is like a cloud that appears.
Lifts stick, hits table
Death is like a cloud that disappears.
No life, no death.
No appearing, no disappearing.
Lifts stick, hits table
Katz!
Just now, breathing in and breathing out.
Twenty years ago I first heard the…
Read More...At the beginning of December we celebrated Buddha’s Enlightenment. Then two days later we began the seven-day intensive retreat that’s traditionally associated with the enlightenment ceremony. That’s interesting, because in Zen Buddhism, ceremonies are usually associated with actual practicing. That is somewhat unusual in conventional religious life. Zen’s…
Read More...One of the most famous stories in our Zen tradition is about a little girl in ancient China named Sul. She and her family lived about a thousand years ago near the temple of the famous…
Read More...Letter to a student:
Dear Margaret,
Thank you for your beautiful card. You work is very beautiful.
You spoke about losing energy too fast and want to shut it off…. losing energy so you want to plug it up. After a period of long sitting usually we have much energy…
Read More...A Dharma talk given on February 9, 1982 at the Ojai Foundation in California.
Zen mind means everyday mind. Everyday mind means only-do-it mind. It’s very simple, so it’s very hard for some of us to accept. It’s too simple. Only do-it mind. Nobody understands what that…
Read More...July 26, 1977
Dear Soen Sa Nim,
I hope you are well. Please, as much as possible, try to take care of your body.
I have not seen you in awhile. I, too have been traveling around teaching the Dharma. How is the family on the East…
Read More...An excerpt from a letter written by Mu Bul Su Nim from Korea:
Before Soen Sa Nim left Korea, we had the great fortune to meet Mrs. So. She has been working for almost a year on getting a bell made for the Providence Zen Center. She went to great…
Read More...