There are koan stories that obliquely look at blame, shame, getting it wrong, embarrassment and a host of other possible difficulties that every human being, perfectly imperfect, experiences every single day, that reveal how a Zen person is with this stuff. Does a Zen person blush with shame? Quake with anxiety? Flutter with insecurity? If not, why not? Gillian Coote, roshi looks into a couple
Huang-po, instructing the community, said:‘All of you people are gobblers of dregs; if you go on travelling around this way, where will you meet Today? Don’t you know there is no Zen teacher?’ This is the last teisho of sesshin. Later tomorrow when we go forth in the world, the treasure of sesshin is here. We vow to meet Today. In the
In his ‘Song of Realising the Way’, Yungchia says: It speaks in silence In speech you hear its silence The Great Way has opened and there are no obstacles. It’s difficult to practise listening unless our minds become quiet and our thoughts aren’t clamouring for attention, or for expression in speech. We practise noticing thoughts and returning to the count
Chapter One:Once upon a time, between two hundred and forty-five and sixty-six million years ago, gentle vegan dinosaurs from the Evazoum family were roaming around the vast land mass called Gondwana, foraging on ferns. Their footprints sank into the water-sodden layers of ancient plant debris, their tracks later in-filled by silt and sand which, after millions of years, turned into
The first teisho of Diamond Sangha sesshin traditionally focuses on the koan ‘mu’, a primary koan – a koan that opens the way –even though it is a gateless barrier.Mumon’s commentary on this case is a rare case of hearing how to work with a koan – which translates as ‘a matter to be resolved”. This teisho was given by
We recently honoured Sally Hopkins, who gave herself unstintingly to our sangha, and, in a couple of weeks, will honour Tony Coote, who gave so much to create Kodoji, our wilderness retreat centre. So, Gilly explores the concept of Dana, the Sanskrit word for giving or relinquishment. Dana is the first of the Ten Perfections, or Paramitas, the others being
In this teisho Gilly explores death – three months had passed since my life partner, Tony, died. I was grieving deeply and Thich Nhat Hanh’s ocean metaphor helped ease the burden. He begins: ‘When we look at the ocean, we see that each wave has a beginning and an end. A wave can be compared with other waves but if we look more deeply,
Trust the Buddha, trust the practice, trust your intention to realise the Way. Youmade the decisionto come to sesshin. Trust yourself enough to honour that decision and commit anew to your practiceat the start of each period of zazen. Release anything extra in your body, mind and heart. Mu is the first koan in the collection called The Gateless Barrier,
Gillian Coote, roshi explores what we might have to do to practise as the Bodhisattva of Compassion, Kuan Yin. Whether we’re sitting on our cushions in meditation or are functioning in the day to day world, many challenges are sure to emerge. This teisho was given at Spring sesshin in 2021
These words are dedicated to Tony, who fully lived his wild and precious life with generosity and love, until June 20 this year. The disease Tony had, MND, is known as the One Thousand Day Disease, but we didn’t know this when he was diagnosed. We knew the disease was a muscle thief, and grieved when his hands seized up,
