Dr Helen Redmond explores how Zen Practice and Environmental Activism spring from the same source. Helen has been involved in Zen for over 30 years, has been a doctor for 25 years, and has been an environmental activist for Doctors for the Environment Australia for 9 years. In this dharma
A tribute to Peacemaker Bernie Glassman, roshi Perhaps more than ever before, we need to take wise action in our fractured world with its global problems of climate change, rise in natural disasters, refugee crisis, economic and political instability. Wise action requires both an inner and outer revolution, not just
‘The reason you do not clearly understand the time-being is that you think of time only as passing. In essence, all things in the entire world are linked with one another as moments. Because all moments are the time-being, they are your time-being.‘ Dogen Time can measured in seconds, minutes,
Medicine and sickness cure each other, all the earth is medicine, where do you find your self? Gillian Coote, roshi, examines Yun-men’s words about our own sickness and suffering – as individuals, as family members, in relationships at work or in the sangha, and as members of this society and
All the harmful karma ever created by me since of old On account of my beginningless greed, hatred and ignorance Born of my body, speech and thought I now acknowledge openly and fully In the Purification gatha which opens our sutra service the “I” is salient and crucial. Let’s
“If there is even a bit of difference, it is the remote distance between heaven and earth.” This is a famous Zen saying that has been used many times by the masters of the past and present, but what does it mean? Difference between what and what? Allan Marett, roshi explores
Not knowing is central to Zen practice. When Fayan and his companions were on pilgrimage, they ran into a snowstorm and took shelter at the temple of Dizang. Dizang asked him why he was wandering around on pilgrimage (a question that pilgrims frequently encounter) and Fayan replied, “I don’t know.”
Upon his Awakening, the historical Buddha, Shakyamuni said, “Wonderful, wonderful, now I realize that all beings are buddha, only their ignorance and attachments prevent them from realizing this fact.” The term Buddha means “one who is awake,” and it is this experience that is the very heart of
Maggie Gluek, roshi, describes how old Chao Chou offers us a key to the gateless barrier, a word that is no word that opens the door to everything. And in which Wu Men with his long comment shines a light on the practice of Zen. Don’t go thinking you’ve heard
Paul Maloney, roshi, examines the question of what, if anything, is to be attained through the practice of Zen. While we may feel that we know WHY we are here in sesshin, the answer as to what are we actually DOING, now that we are, may not be so clear.
