a journal of self-propelled dharma
With the end goal of ending suffering (and saving all beings into the bargain), we bodhisattva wannabes get a toolkit of ten Clear Mind Precepts in a genuine leatherette box: don’t steal, don’t lie, don’t shit-talk others, etc. It’s pretty high-minded stuff and I can talk the talk as well as any of us who’ve …
This week we are told that we can extend physical contact. We can emerge from isolation and connect with select ‘family bubbles’. I ask, what is a bubble when I and so many of my close friends live alone and have no blood family? I don’t always come to a full stop at stop signs …
I want to say that the reason why I haven’t posted anything in the six weeks since I landed at San Francisco Zen Center is because I haven’t had time to write, but that would be untrue. The fact is there are 24 hours in every single day, with 60 minutes crammed into each hour …
Silent in the zendo face to the wall, Sangha surrounds me. Conventional wisdom says that the reason we gather is to support our practice, but I wonder again whether really the practice is just reason for sangha. Stripped down to essence of presence we don’t even pretend to drink coffee or walk or even talk. …
Mindfulness and a respectful heart in each moment are applied equally in meditation and other daily activities incuding work, interaction with others, and cleansing one’s body. Practicing and living in this way helps us to clearly see, understand, and value what is right before us as none other than the wholeness of life itself. As …