Teachings
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Rohatsu Sesshin Talk 1 of 6: A Guide to the Museum Called “Me” (Part 1)
July 14, 20181 min read
Description: This teisho is the first talk from the 2017 Rohatsu sesshin. The objective is to outline a guide to two levels of “the museum called ‘me,’” beginning with an excerpt from Hakuin Zenji’s Song of Zazen: Lost on dark paths of ignorance, we wander through the six worlds, from dark path to dark path. Henry examines the six worlds, first in their traditional framework and then, in a more personal way. The second level is...
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The Power of the Fact, by Yamada Ryoun Roshi
July 14, 20184 min read
Above and below the heavens there is only myself, alone and sublime. ~ Shakyamuni Buddha Two thousand four hundred and forty-five years ago Gautama Siddhartha discovered the true fact concerning his own existence and became Shakyamuni Buddha (the Awakened One, the wise man of the Shaka clan). (Note: here I am following the accepted time frame of his life span as being from 463 to 383 BCE. with his awakening occurring at the age of 35.) Shakyamuni used these...
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Zen and the Quantum Computer, by Yamada Ryoun Roshi
July 7, 20184 min read
In December of 2015 an historical news conference was held in America’s Silicon Valley, sponsored by NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), Google, and D-Wave Systems Company of Canada. For over two years this consortium had been using the Quantum Computer of D-Wave and carrying out performance tests. They announced their results at the news conference. “The D-Wave computer can compute at a speed one hundred million times faster than any other computer.” “A hundred million...
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Teisho: The Circle of the Way
July 6, 20181 min read
"... the point of all of this is to be of service, each in our own unique way ..." Description: Henry begins by talking about a recent workshop at Mountain Cloud with noted calligrapher and translator of Dogen, Kaz Tanahashi. Dogen is a national treasure in Japan, both expressing and shaping the collective soul of the country, just as Pushkin in Russia. Inspired by a talk given by Kaz, Henry discusses Dogen’s notion of the Way as...
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Infinite, Eternal
June 30, 20181 min read
The Tao is infinite, eternal. Why is it eternal? It was never born; thus it can never die. Why is it infinite? It has no desires for itself; thus it is present for all beings. The Master stays behind; that is why she is ahead. She is detached from all things; that is why she is one with them. Because she has let go of herself, she is perfectly fulfilled. Text: Mitchell, Stephen. Tao Te Ching: A...
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Between the Human Animal and the Animate Earth (Part 3b of 6)
June 29, 20181 min read
"... We live in the vast earth, breathing inside this great mystery, having an immediate experience of co-creation in every moment ..." Description: This is the third in a three-part series of spontaneous conversations between Henry and David Abram. Henry begins with a reading from Becoming Animal and David reads a poem from Henry’s collection, Archangel. Henry and David continue to explore the sacredness of our human inter-being, or inter-breathing, with the animate earth. This generous and fertile conversation,...
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The Tao is like a Well
June 23, 20181 min read
The Tao is like a well: used but never used up. It is like the eternal void: filled with infinite possibilities. It is hidden but always present. I don’t know who gave birth to it. It is older than God. Text: Mitchell, Stephen. Tao Te Ching: A New English Version (Perennial Classics), HarperCollins. Kindle Edition. Image: Concentric wave by geralt, CC0 Public Domain from Pixabay.com
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Between the Human Animal and the Animate Earth (Part 3a of 6)
June 21, 20181 min read
"... We live in the vast earth, breathing inside this great mystery, having an immediate experience of co-creation in every moment ..." Description: This is the third in a three-part series of spontaneous conversations between Henry and David Abram. Henry begins with a reading from Becoming Animal and David reads a poem from Henry’s collection, Archangel. Henry and David continue to explore the sacredness of our human inter-being, or inter-breathing, with the animate earth. This generous and fertile conversation,...
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The Dharma of Deconstruction, by David Loy, Part 2 of 2
June 16, 20188 min read
For Nagarjuna, shunyata is simply a shorthand way to express the interdependence of all things. Nothing has any “self-existence” or “self-presence” because everything–including all concepts–is dependent upon everything else. Click to read Part 1. Western philosophy’s turn toward examining the role of language in shaping experience, can one find in it, as in Buddhism, an acknowledgment of the possibility of profound spiritual liberation? Well, not quite, but there are some intriguing similarities. Friedrich Nietzsche was one...
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