Alan Watts was one of the foremost interpreters of Eastern philosophy in Europe and the United States in the mid 20th century. This extract from his book, 'The Wisdom of Insecurity' talks about our tendency to reject pain in the service of pleasure, and how in doing so we are ultimately shying from the full… Continue reading Alan Watts’ Pain and Time
Month: October 2018
Rumi’s Guest House
Jelalludin Rumi was a Sufi mystic who lived in the thirteenth century and was a contemporary of the Zen master Dogen. Rumi's poetry transcends cultural and religious borders to appeal to a vast readership, mainly on account of its humanity and sincere ecstatic engagement with life's questions. In this poem, The Guest House, Rumi was… Continue reading Rumi’s Guest House
The Genjo-koan (Part 2)
This is the second part of Dogen Zenji's Genjo-koan, (read the first part here), one of the most fundamental chapters of the Shobogenzo which illustrates the key tenets of Soto Zen philosophy. In this second half of the text, Dogen talks about the mystery of knowing the elements we live in and how practice occurs… Continue reading The Genjo-koan (Part 2)
The Genjo-koan (Part 1)
The Genjo-koan, whose name can be translated as 'Realizing the Heart of the Matter', is one of the key chapters in Master Dogen's voluminous Shobogenzo. The Genjo-koan cuts to the heart of Dogen's teaching and presents us with the fundamental tenets of Zen practice as well as an account of its distinct phenomenology. This version… Continue reading The Genjo-koan (Part 1)
Chekhov’s Heartache
This short story by Anton Chekhov was written when he was just 26 years old, a medical student in Moscow who was writing in his spare time to support his family. 'Heartache' is a devastating sketch of failed attempts to communicate loss and grief. The quote at the beginning of the story is the first… Continue reading Chekhov’s Heartache
The Five Gates of Daoxin
Dayi Daoxin was the fourth ancestor in China: the student of Jianzhi Sengcan and the teacher of Daman Hongren, he was the founder of the Sizu temple in China's Hubei district which is still an active monastery today. Daoxin did a lot to popularize the practice of Chan, and his was the first monastic community… Continue reading The Five Gates of Daoxin
The Maha-Saccaka Sutra – The Longer Discourse to Saccaka
The Maha-Saccaka Sutta narrates the very interior journey of the Buddha's path to realization and this particular excerpt recalls when he was a boy sitting under a rose-apple tree while his father was working. The moment was one of the first times the young Siddhartha entered into a state of meditation and understood 'the pleasure… Continue reading The Maha-Saccaka Sutra – The Longer Discourse to Saccaka
David Whyte’s The Journey
'The Journey' was written for a friend of the poet's undergoing a difficult time at the end of a relationship. Watching the black silhouettes of geese inscribing lines across the sky, he muses that a departure in the dying light is actually also an arrival. The Journey Above the mountains the geese turn into… Continue reading David Whyte’s The Journey
What to Do About Noise
One day a student at the Cambridge Zen Center said to Seung Sahn Soen-sa, "I am disturbed by noise when I sit Zen. What can I do about this?" Soen-sa said, "What color is this rug?" "Blue." "Is it quiet or noisy?" "Quiet." "Who makes it quiet?" The student shrugged his shoulders. Soen-sa said, "You… Continue reading What to Do About Noise
The Ultimate Path is Without Difficulty
Chao Chou, teaching the assembly, said, "The Ultimate Path is without difficulty; just avoid picking and choosing. As soon as there are words spoken, this is picking and choosing", "this is clarity." This old monk does not abide within clarity; do you still preserve anything or not?" At that time a certain monk asked, "Since… Continue reading The Ultimate Path is Without Difficulty