Taisen Deshimaru Archives

Taisen Deshimaru on Becoming Truly Free

August 5, 2019December 19, 2019 Vanessa Able

Taisen Deshimaru was a student of Kodo Sawaki who traveled to France to teach in the 1960s. In Paris he set up the headquarters of the Association Zen Internationale and roused a large following. In this excerpt from a book of his teachings compiled by his student Philippe Coupey called Zen and Karma. In it,… Continue reading Taisen Deshimaru on Becoming Truly Free

Book Bits

Taisen Deshimaru and the Doctrine of Emptiness

November 19, 2018 Vanessa Able

The concepts of form and emptiness - shiki and ku - as put forward in the Heart Sutra - the Hannya Shingyo - are among the most difficult ideas in Zen, especially for new students. Here, they are tackled by Taisen Deshimaru, the monk who travelled from Japan to Paris in the 1960s and eventually… Continue reading Taisen Deshimaru and the Doctrine of Emptiness

Seeing Into the Reality of Emptiness
Zen Master Tangen Harada Roshi on how understanding the truth of emptiness can reveal Original Mind.
The Problem With Business As Usual – On Interconnectedness and the Climate Crisis
Inspired by the work of the Dalai Lama and Greta Thunberg, Susan Bauer-Wu's book is her personal expression of concern for the earth.
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.

Ryan Diaz – A Vow of Poverty
With the juxtaposition of piousness and sacredness to desire and indulgence, Ryan Diaz surprises us with his "A Vow of Poverty".
Joanne Alfano – Hope
Positively radiant, Joanne Alfano's "Hope" is a poem that crashes through darkness with its opening lines like a clarion call.
Sheila Lynch-Benttinen – Equations
Massachusetts poet Sheila Lynch-Benttinen's "Equations" is a work of heavy content, juxtaposed with simple elegance and sparseness.
Judy Mathews – After Weeks Without Rain in Northwest Ohio
"After Weeks Without Rain in Northwest Ohio" by poet Judy Mathews is an offering or a prayer to the natural blessings of a place.
Erika Seshadri – Eviction Notice
As gently as the narrator of the poem relocates a spider, Erika Seshadri carefully places her quiet poem "Eviction Notice" at our feet.