“Vast sky transparent throughout;
a bird flies like a bird. ”
- Dogen
What Zen Is
Take the backward step and turn the light inward.
- Dogen
The Blogisattva Awards
This is cool. I just saw that a post I wrote for Elephant Journal has been picked as a finalist in the annual Blogisattva Awards for excellence in Buddhist themed blogging.
My post “Pizza: My One Obstacle To The Pure Land of Veganism” is a finalist in the category Best Achievement with Humor in a Blog or Blog Post.
Give the post a read over at Elephant Journal.
Thanks, Blogisattva judges. That’s really cool.
The Complete Shobogenzo
Wow. The complete master work of Dogen Zenji translated by Kaz Tanahashi.
The Treasure of the True Dharma Eye is 1616 pages of writings, commentary and notes on one of the most profound documents ever written.
I can’t wait to read this. Thanks, Kaz.
Whitman, Dogen & the Essential Path
I find this passage from Song of Myself by Walt Whitman to be so very connected to the beautiful non-dualty of the great Zen mystics. Dōgen wrote at length about the intimacy that arises when the separation between the self and other fall away.
Whitman wrote this:
Stop this day and night with me and you shall possess the origin of
all poems,
You shall possess the good of the earth and sun, (there are millions
of suns left,)
You shall no longer take things at second or third hand, nor look through
the eyes of the dead, nor feed on the spectres in books,
You shall not look through my eyes either, nor take things from me,
You shall listen to all sides and filter them from your self.
Likewise, Dōgen wrote that: ”To hear sound with the whole body and mind, to see form with the whole body and mind, one understands them intimately.” This is the essence of Zen. It’s also as ordinary as taking a breath, walking, eating. It is this very life, this very moment.
Simple. Beautiful.
Who says my poems are poems? My poems are not poems. When you know that my poems are not poems, Then we can speak of poetry.
- Ryōkan
Zazen.
I’ve been searching for a new meditation cushion. Of course, in the midst of my search, I’d stumble upon this beautiful poem. And thus, Carl Jung smiles.
A single meditation cushion, and one is completely protected
Earth may crumble, heaven collapse–but here one is at peace.
—Xinggang,
in Daughers of Emptiness:
Poems of Chinese Buddhist Nuns.
(via Buddha at the Apocaplypse: Awakening from a Culture of Destruction by Kurt Spellmeyer)
Listen: Beautiful podcast about Zen & Art featuring John Daido Loori, Roshi.
John Daido Loori was the Abbot at Zen Mountain Monastery and a renowned photographer. His take on creativity is powerful and inspiring.
The Commodification of Yoga
Is yoga becoming just another consumption machine?
It’s a booming business to be sure as new brands pop up at an amazing rate. So what does this mean for yoga?
Will it get usurped by consumerism and lose it’s way in the process?
Or, is the commodification a good thing—a way to widen the audience, increase awareness and grow? Certainly the mainstreaming of yoga can lead to awareness as Oprah and other national sources have put an important light on the health and well-being benefits of yoga.
Others have suggested that the growth will lead to a watering down or stripping away of essential elements that make yoga what it is. At some point is yoga nothing more than another form of exercise akin to Pilates or Kickboxing? That remains to be seen.
Read the post I wrote for Elephant Journal about this topic. Below is an excerpt: