We’re living in a time when books are being banned, when people are being demonized just forbeing who they are, when discourse has been reduced to shouting matches and blame…

Whether you are a beginner or an old-timer, discomfort and/or pain during zazen is inevitable,for any number of reasons. First, physically: sitting for long periods of time can make the…

As I tell everyone who enters the zendo at Hokoku-an, “You don’t bow to the Buddha, you bowas a Buddha. To truly bow means letting go of everything. When Bodhidharma…

When I first started my monastic training at Mt. Baldy, I absolutely hated the chanting. Hated it.Mt. Baldy has a 25-page Sutra Booklet. We had to chant the entire booklet…

A student asked Master Bankei: Is it helpful for students to look through the Buddhist sutras andZen Records? Bankei replied: There’s a time for reading the Zen records. If you…

Dear friends, A long time ago, my teacher said to me: “Seido, you teach kindergarten Zen.” And withouthesitation I replied: “Well, someone has to do it.” I never took his…

Words can only point the way. Memorizing words and being able to repeat them is like beingbroke and counting other people’s money. Even if you understand the things I’m sayingintellectually,…

Trying to understand the Mind with the mind is a big mistake. —Sengstan Be Still —It has been taught for centuries that the most expedient means of entering the Way…

One: For Contemplation: Some Verses on the Faith-mind by Sengstan The Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences. When love and hate are both absent, everything…

Words! The Way is beyond all language, for in it there is no yesterday, no tomorrow, no today.--Sengstan As I see it, beginning with the body: from conception to death…