Bendowa Archives - The Dewdrop

Last week we published the Jijuyu Zanmai, which is the second part of the first half of Master Dogen's Bendowa, the first text to be written in casual Japanese to explain the Zen Dogen had learned in China under Master Rujing. This text is the very first part of the Bendowa that precedes the Jijuyu… Continue reading “When you release it, it fills your hand; when you speak it fills your mouth” – Dogen’s Bendowa

Japanese Texts, Texts, The Masters

Jijuyu Zanmai – Master Dogen’s Self-Receiving and Employing Samadhi

November 22, 2019December 19, 2019 Vanessa Able

The Jijuyu Zanmai is the second section of the first part of Dogen's Bendowa - 'The Endeavor of the Way' and concerns the experience of zazen itself. The whole text of the Bendowa is held in high esteem as being Dogen's best and most comprehensible explanation of his understanding of Zen and the Dharma. There are… Continue reading Jijuyu Zanmai – Master Dogen’s Self-Receiving and Employing Samadhi

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Orhan Pamuk's hand-writing habit hasn't budged, despite the conventions of our time.
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Pema Chödrön on what the Tibetan approach to living and dying can teach us about liberation in the present moment.
The Path that Goes Nowhere – Barbara Brown Taylor on the Practice of Labyrinth Walking
Barbara Brown Taylor reflects on her own experience of Labyrinth-walking and the significance of the path without a destination.
What Can the Earth’s Crisis Teach Us About Ourselves? David Hinton’s Tao of Ecology
David Hinton on what Taoism can teach us about Deep Ecology and how we can reconnect with our own ancient Paleolithic roots.
‘When the Lights of Health Go Down’- Virginia Woolf on Being Ill
Virginia Woolf on our relationship to illness, its potential spiritual value, and the mysterious intelligence of the body.

Susan Coultrap-McQuin – Sunday Morning at the Cabin Up North
Poet Susan Coultrap-McQuin shows us nature's sacredness with her poem "Sunday Morning at the Cabin Up North".
Ronán P. Berry – On The Mountain of Forth
"On The Mountain of Forth" is Irish poet Ronán P. Berry's anthem of the natural and wild world and what could even be considered enlightenment.
Regina Dilgen – Meditation on Thomas Merton’s Hermitage
Regina Dilgen's exquisite "Meditation on Thomas Merton's Hermitage" imagines American monastic Thomas Merton worn by grief and inspired to write.
Orhan Pamuk on Writing By Hand
Orhan Pamuk's hand-writing habit hasn't budged, despite the conventions of our time.
Mike Christie – Knock Knock Knock
A narrative of a woodpecker at work on a tree expands to the oneness of all things in Mike Christie's "Knock Knock Knock".