Founder’s Day celebrates the legacy of Zen Master Seung Sahn, founding teacher of the Kwan Um School Of Zen
Poem by Marshall White JDPSN
Wind through leaves
The tree speaks.
Wind through throat
Words appear:
Tree, wind, voice
Wind across water
Ah! Waves!
Wind across ear drums
Ah! Voices!
Wind...
A monk asked the Sixth Ancestor, Hui Neng, "Who has inherited the spirit of the Fifth Ancestor?"
Hui Neng answered, "One who understands Buddhism."
"Have you inherited it?"
"No" replied Hui Neng, " I have not."
"Why have you not?" asked the monk.
"Because I do not understand Buddhism." Hui Neng...
When you fall asleep, your conditioning runs the show. You just play things out the way conditioning would play it out. It’s only through being alive, aware, and awake in the moment that we are in, that there’s a possibility to change that. In Buddhist terminology, we say if you fall...
If you think you are going to give up likes and dislikes, you’ll be very disappointed. But, the fundamental teaching of Zen is if you stay in your likes and dislikes, you’ll create heaven and hell. Let go of your likes and dislikes, paradise is right here.
The great way is not...
Dear Friends of Empty Gate Zen Center,
Thank you so much for all of your ongoing support. Whether you’re a long-time member of Empty Gate Zen Center, or recently connected to one of our Zen Centers, we value all of your personal and financial contributions.
The pandemic and its...
Letting go of that attachment means that we can be in the real and what’s true. We build this capacity to stay present or we find the capacity we already have. The more we let go of attachment to self, the more we find freedom. We practice to find that place before “Self”. What...
If I can connect with what I am doing, I can stay grounded and pay attention to those reactions, see them and not get carried away with them. It doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy the good times or despair the bad times. But if I stay grounded, connected with something beyond my likes and...
What practice offers us in a very simple way, is to connect to the moment. Put aside that dream of I, my, me and act, not making a big deal about it. Then go on moment to moment, meeting these moments.
The more we stay in the dream of who we think we are, the less able we are to connect with what...
Like or dislike is what creates a prison that we live in. So if you only practice when you want to practice and then don’t practice when you don’t want to practice, that’s a fundamental problem. You are following the winds of your desire, and that’s what leads to...
The Buddha saw a star and got enlightenment. That's the myth of the Buddha, that's the story that's been told for over 2,500 years. Buddha had this experience. Zen Master Man Gong said, "I saw a star too and I lost enlightenment." Everybody thinks "Got Enlightenment" is what we want. But Man Gong...
We talk about the Buddhist teaching, but the talk is to help us actualize the teaching, the practice, and our own true nature in the very moment of our lives. In many ways, this is a pretty radical teaching because everybody can do it. It's not like you have to attain some special knowledge, or...
The first of the Buddha’s Eightfold Path is clear view, or right view. Right view means clarity. Right view means letting go of "my" view to be able to perceive the moment. We all know what this is like. There are times we are involved in an argument, and in the middle of it we start...