Shikantaza Archives - The Dewdrop

The Guidepost of Silent Illumination

July 13, 2020July 16, 2020 Vanessa Able

"When wonder exists in serenity, all achievement is forgotten in illumination. What is this wonder? Alertly seeing through confusion is the way of silent illumination and the origin of subtle radiance." - Hongzhi Zhengjue Hongzhi Zhengjue was a 12th century philosopher and Zen master in China who authored a large number of philosophical texts as… Continue reading The Guidepost of Silent Illumination

Japanese Texts, Texts, The Masters

Dogen – Remember That You Are Alive Only Today In This Moment

April 10, 2019December 19, 2019 Vanessa Able

In a world where a certain kind of intellectualism is valued over many other human capacities, it's easy to feel inferior to those we perceive to be smarter than ourselves and to imagine that the things that we do not understand with our intellect will somehow hold us back from a more profound experience of… Continue reading Dogen – Remember That You Are Alive Only Today In This Moment

Orhan Pamuk on Writing By Hand
Orhan Pamuk's hand-writing habit hasn't budged, despite the conventions of our time.
How We Live Is How We Die: Pema Chödrön on Preparing for Death Here and Now
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.

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".
Quincy Gray McMichael – After Portugal
In the vivid "After Portugal", the simple act of doing a load of laundry after returning home from time abroad brings back moonlit memories