Author: zenzdragon
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In This Body In This Lifetime, an Interview with Esho Sudan
By Tova Green During the last several years, Esho Sudan has been editing the newly published book, In This Body In This Lifetime, Awakening Stories of Japanese Soto Zen Women, translated by Kogen Czarnik. Originally published in 1956 in Japanese under the title Collection of Experiences in Zen Practice, the book gathers writings of…
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99. All life, not just human life is valuable
I came across a brief quote in the Tao Te Ching that says:“Meaning in life is arbitraryWhy ruin the universe with rigidity?” Meaning in life is so often tied to a belief system when as a matter of fact, it is inmany cases religious beliefs that stand as the centerpiece for human suffering.Human beings assign…
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100. A Synopsis of Sorts
Most of my almost 100 blogs have pointed towards and encouraged time honoredtechniques and meditation practices that I have distilled into what is hopefully auser friendly format for 21st century life. During the last two years, often referenced is the Anapanasati Sutra purported tohave been the meditation method used by the Buddha himself. Naikan meditationtechniques…
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Pictures on My Wall
Many years ago, I attended a Dharma talk on nonattachment. The monk explained the teaching by discussing the importance of having bare walls. He explained that if we decide that we want to hang a picture on the wall, that requires us to buy a frame for the picture. Then we have to get…
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The Animal Within Us
I don’t have a large house by any means. But there’s plenty of room for three cats and two humans. In addition to our first floor, we have a basement, an upstairs, and an attic space. If our four-legged children wanted, they could divide the house up into sections and never see each other. Instead,…
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Review of Mike Slott’s Mindful Solidarity
Mike Slott’s Mindful Solidarity: A Secular Buddhist Democratic Socialist Dialogue (Tuwhiri, 2024) lays out the arguments in favor of Secular Buddhism, why social engagement is necessarily a part of it, and how a Marxist analysis can complement the Buddhist analysis of suffering’s causes and amelioration. Mike is a long-time political and labor movement activist who…
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Buddhists Organize to Defend Democracy
This is a brief blog post to inform readers of a new non-sectarian Buddhist organization representing Buddhists from many lineages and traditions and holding a broad spectrum of political views who are united in acting to preserve democractic norms, institutions and processes in this time of peril. Why do we need a new…
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Wrens’ nests
In the opening lines of his poem “Gauze,” Ted Kooser, a former Poet Laureate of the United States, asks a provocative question: “Can a man in his eighties, with cancer, / be happy?” In the remaining lines, he provides a tentative answer: It seems that he can, cutting yesterday’s gauze dressing in pieces…
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The inside story
Many years ago, I was invited to visit a psychology class to speak about Buddhist meditation. The class was taught by a senior professor, a respected scholar who had studied the mind for decades and had published many peer-reviewed articles in the leading journals in his field. Toward the end of my presentation, I offered…
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the day after mother’s day
I don’t want to deprive anyone of that one special day to remember and appreciate mothers. But I want to talk about the days after, the days before, and the days of mothering that go unnoticed. I want to talk about the regrets, the fear, the trust, the hope, the hard lessons and the wisdom…