Renunciation! Now there is one scary word. Joyless ascetics giving up all worldly pleasures. Shaven-headed cave-dwellers. Celibacy. Ugh. Well I am thinking, never mind the resolutions that stem from feelings of failure and inadequacy. New Years is a great time for renunciation, and so I renounce all the hindrances that hold me back from shining …
Category: Zen & Dharma
Zen in a napkin: how oryoki kicked my ass
My first Zen sesshin introduced me to oryoki: the Japanese ritual of extreme table manners. For the full week of sesshin we sit zazen meditation for upwards of five hours a day, plus walking meditation and dharma talks. We eat all our meals in the zendo, oryoki style—seated on the floor on our round …
Rohatsu morning
Cracked open. Wrung out. Ready. Svaha!
that is not my beautiful wife
And you may find yourself living in a shotgun shack
 And you may find yourself in another part of the world
 And you may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile
 And you may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful
 wife And you may ask yourself-Well…How did I get here? …
On a day off with Georgia
I wake at 5:30, pink streaks in the desert sky, full moon fading to pale. It is my “personal practice day”—my day off! I toast the charcoal in the candle flame, lighting the incense burner for my favourite service—Enmei —a rousing chant dedicated to Avokiteshvara Bodhisattva, perceiver of the cries of the world, whose heart …