CHOSEI ZEN BLOG
Wading through the muck
I’ve had the unexpected experience of confronting annihilation several times — not literally life-and-death, but something the ego experiences that way — while becoming or being created anew.
Keep Whisking
Resilience is much like making Hollandaise. It is the ability to keep whisking when you are tired, uncertain, or tempted to stop. It is the ability to continue without breaking.
Compelled to Persist
During recovery, I worked not to dwell on the accident or project into the future. Instead, I met each moment as it came. From my room, I watched the changing leaves and found a quiet sense of alignment with what was unfolding.
Resilience: Yours or Ours?
In any given gathering, the weakest person, the least resilient, is the one who thinks they stand alone. Right now, reading this…are you a tree or a forest?
The Poetry of Small Events - The Tragedy of Large Ones
Enjoy the sight of that early robin, the call of a barred owl at dusk. Develop your own calendar of life’s events and enjoy the sweetness of their passing.
Ode to our Japanese Bath
Seemingly a roughly constructed place for bathing, its impact goes far beyond that — It embodies how the things we build reinforce how we teach.
Addendum to “Islands of Coherence in a Sea of Chaos”
Whether you realize it or not, coherence is a natural result of our practices, both within our individual body-mind systems, and collectively as a community.
Cooking Sesshin: A Look Behind the Stove
What sustains training isn’t just the teachings, or the schedule, or even the ability to sit for long periods of time. It’s the way we show up, again and again, not just for ourselves and our community, but for the world.
Sharpening the Axe: On Zen Training and Support
At Chosei Zen, whether in-person at Daikozen-ji or online around the world, we are engaged in a kind of sharpening.
No Easy Answers
Being jiki, or stepping into any role, invites a deeper experience of our life together as practitioners. Even online, the “I” questions begin to dissolve.
Roots that Sustain
I have two ways to describe the roots of Chosei Zen: “a relentless pursuit of excellence,” and “our community of support.”
Zen: The Calm in the Storm
Fear, anger, despair, hopelessness, helplessness: These feelings make us want to hide, to run away, and to protect ourselves from the pain we see around us. This, however, we have learned, is a downward spiral into depression and sickness. So, how do we get out?
“They” Don’t Make Granola
The daily functioning of a dojo happens through the action of individuals. Someone takes out the trash. Someone opens the zoom room. Someone makes granola. There is no “they”.
Selfless Service
Genuine service, or selfless service in whatever form, is never a choice.
Pilgrimage As Practice
A pilgrim chooses to leave home in order learn something, or find an answer, to grow, or to heal. The pilgrim leaves, to be able to return, transformed.
Facing Uncertainty
We need to train to see through the noise. To find our own center and our own way. To not completely unravel or disengage. But, how do we stay engaged?
The Evolving Spring Green Kyudojo
We are pleased to announce the completion of the Kyudo Matoba, or 'Target House,' at the Spring Green Dojo.
Out Of Our Heads - Into Our Bones
Zen training is 24/7, and it involves discovering any opportunities to get out of our heads and take our training more deeply into our bones.
The World Inside My Skin
The topic at hand is the physical training we do in Chosei Zen. But I would turn that into a question: How do you develop a refined sense of all that lives inside your skin?
Transformation Through Shugyo
Now instead of performing kata to the point of exhaustion, we blow one note each with one breath to the same extreme… Tanouye Rotashi said “to practice so that one note puts someone into samadhi”