Retreat is a time to look inside and investigate our life. It is an opportunity to clear our mind of habitual thinking and access our wisdom and compassion.
The retreat will be led by Zen Jason Quinn JDPSN. We are allowing up to 13 people to come sit with us in person at the Boise location and 15...
That's Zen mind. It's not about being perfect. It's not about doing everything right in such a way that someone will tell a wonderful story about you, and people will still be talking about it a thousand years from now. It's simply paying attention, meeting the moment, and helping. Our teacher,...
Dear Friends of Empty Gate Zen Center,
I would like to personally thank all of you for your participation in the practice at Empty Gate Zen Center. Over the past four years, our sangha has grown in many, many ways. Our root Zen Center in Berkeley was closed for a time and is now slowly increasing...
The First Noble Truth is "All things are suffering." Life is suffering. The word in Sanskrit is duḥkha. Sometimes it is translated as unsatisfactory." Situations in this world and our lives are not what we want them to be. There's almost always a gap between what we want and what is. As much as...
Retreat is a time to look inside and investigate our life. It is an opportunity to clear our mind of habitual thinking and access our wisdom and compassion.
The retreat will be led by Jason Quinn JDPSN. We are allowing up to 15 people to come sit with us in person at the Berkeley...
The question always comes to, “Why do that?” So now we’re present, now what? Is it for our own enjoyment? That’s okay, that’s nice; we all want our own enjoyment. But that brings us back to suffering because we’re only happy as long as it brings us joy. As soon...
We think we understand what's good and what's bad, but we don't know. So just breathe! And then whatever happens, that's what happens. You learn from all of it. That struggle is powerful. That moment of bliss is also powerful. There is something to be gleaned from all of it. It's just the craving...
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...
During the Buddha’s time, there was a farmer who had many problems. He told the Buddha all about how difficult his life was. The weather never cooperated with what he wanted. It was too wet or too dry, so his crops often failed. His wife was very critical of him, and his children didn't...
The basic teaching of the Buddha was that if you want happiness, don’t go chasing after the things that you want or like, and don’t push away the things that you don’t like. It's chasing after what you want and the resisting of what you don’t want that causes suffering....