There’s a saying in English “Practice makes perfect”, but in our Zen practice we actually drop ideas of perfection and non-perfection. We practice just to practice, without any gaining idea. I make this point because it’s so easy to get caught up in the emotion of “that was a good sitting” (pat on the back) and “why can’t I concentrate?!!
Will Moon discusses the adventuring mind, playing on the extreme edge of life and how one moment can sometimes have serious consequences. He explores, drawing from his own life, how the extreme behaviour of a wilderness adventurer can provide rich and intense experiences that can become addictive, and its importance in one’s life can overshadow everything. He describes some of his early days of climbing on the big
Teisho by Subhana Barzaghi, roshi ‘Cultivating the immeasurable quality of joy’
Teisho by Maggie Gluek, roshi ‘Wumen’s One Treasure’ Case 62 from Blue Cliff Record
Jeff Ward, Sensei talks about Silent Illumination
Teisho by Subhana Barzaghi, roshi ‘My heart is not yet at peace’
Jeff Ward, Sensei gives meditation instructions about Silent Illumination or Shikantaza
Teisho by Maggie Gluek, roshi ‘Xing Yang’s non attained Buddha’ Case 9 from Wu-men kuan or The Gateless Barrier
Teisho by Subhana Barzaghi, roshi ‘Verses on the Faith Mind’ from Hsin-hsin Mind by Zen Master Seng-ts’an
Musican and Zen practitioner Jane Andino has called her talk ‘Singing and Dancing are the voice of the Law’. Jane discusses and plays an excerpt of one of her compositions related to this quote from Hakuin’s ‘Song of Zazen’. She also explores ‘what is thought that is no-thought?’ and Tung Shan’s Five Modes.
