Author: zenzdragon
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An Update on Zentatsu Richard Baker from Abbot David Zimmerman
Note from the editor: For the past few weeks, Zentatsu Richard Baker and his Dharma heir Tatsudo Nicole Baden have been visiting City Center where both Nicole and Richard gave a Dharma talk. They moved to Green Gulch Farm over last weekend and the plan was for Nicole to give the talk there on…
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Tassajara Summer Retreats 2025
Photo by Ty Greenstein San Francisco Zen Center is pleased to announce that Tassajara will be offering an inspiring array of retreats this summer! These Zen meditation and interdisciplinary arts retreats are geared towards guests who are interested in immersing in practice and nature under the guidance of some of our most established teachers.…
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Toward a Naturalistic, Pragmatic, Eudaimonic, and Cosmopolitan Buddhism
The Buddha lived prior to the discoveries of modern physics, chemistry, biology, geology, and astronomy. There are lots of things we know now—cell biology, genetics, evolutionary theory, relativity, quantum mechanics, astrophysics—that the Buddha had no way of knowing. On the other hand, during the Buddha’s lifetime there was active speculation and debate about the…
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Hells Bells and Buddhist Purelands
As I write this essay, there is an AC/DC album playing in the background. I like AC/DC for a couple of reasons. First, they are objectively the greatest rock band of all time; putting out bangers like You Shook Me All Night Long, Thunderstruck, and the infamous T.N.T. Second, the incongruity in their early…
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Nurturing the Seeds of Virtue
Three years ago, I planted asparagus in our garden. Asparagus is a centerpiece of many homesteads because it’s nutritious, easy to grow, and it comes back every year. But gardeners must abide by several rules if they want their asparagus patch to feed them year after year. First, the asparagus can’t be harvested for the…
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98. Zen Lessons from the Mississippi River
It is said that the origin of the great Mississippi River is actually a tiny spring.Growing from that source it eventually becomes a huge mass of water sometimesresembling a lake at it’s widest points along the way. Of course we all know that the mighty Mississippi’s ultimate destination is theocean. Once entering there atmospheric conditions…
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97. Trying To Suppress Thoughts Is A Mistake
There is an interesting and productive way to view and digest the conundrum ofthinking in meditation. Sometimes it can become a hindrance, while at other times,thinking is a necessary function and integral part of being human. Let’s explorethis in the following manner: Begin by noting that when you are doing anything, whether it be physical…
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Zhaozhou’s “Wash Your Bowl!”
Last week I had to share my understanding of Book of Serenity Case 39 and defend it in dharma combat as part of a shuso hossen ceremony. I am particularly fond of Case 39, and thought I would share some thoughts about it here: Case: A monk asked Zhaozhou, “I have just entered the monastery:…
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An unexpected lightness
In the summer of the year 2000, I had the good fortune to be spending the month of June in Ireland, where I was teaching Irish literature to American students at Trinity College, Dublin. One sunny afternoon, as I was walking down Nassau Street in central Dublin, I stopped to browse at a sidewalk bookstall.…
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It’s about the music
Andres Segovia once called the classical guitar a small orchestra. Traditionally, its back and sides are made of rosewood, its soundboard of spruce or cedar. Together with these resonant woods, its six nylon strings, three or four of them wire-wound, can produce a rich variety of tones, ranging from the velvety to the brilliant, the…