Teachings
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Teisho: Case 65, Blue Cliff Record: A Non-Buddhist Questions Buddha
June 16, 20181 min read
"... Buddha is showing us who he is by remaining still, showing us the core of our own heart ..." Description: The first part of this talk centers on Case 65, which also appears in the The Gateless Gate. The questions arise: What is a Buddhist? What is a non-Buddhist? What is awakening? In this koan, Buddha is showing us who he is by remaining still, showing us the core of our own heart. The non-Buddhist...
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The Dharma of Deconstruction, by David Loy, Part 1 of 2
June 9, 20184 min read
For Nagarjuna, the world as we commonly experience it is a linguistic construct. The fundamental insight of what is known as the “linguistic turn” in twentieth-century Western thought is that language shapes our experience. Some of the most influential modern thinkers challenge our usual assumption that using language is merely a matter of attaching names to things that already exist in the world. In a very important sense, language creates the world as we know it. This...
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Teisho: A Love So Great
June 8, 20181 min read
"... What is this activity? ... the principle of ultimate compassion, of love ..." The bodhisattva doesn’t control themselves, they’re controlled by the needs around them. Description: Henry references several koans from the Book of Equanimity in this talk, which begins with the distinction between a dharma talk and a teisho. This leads us into Case 7, Yakusan Ascends the Rostrum, and Case 67, Wisdom in the Kegon Sutra, and Case 66, Kyûhô’s ‘Head and Tail’. The question arises:...
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Sangha Meeting Minutes: June 2, 2018
June 6, 20189 min read
Thank you to all who attended our June 2 sangha meeting. Attendees are listed at the end of this report. We have three sangha meetings per year. We are now publishing the minutes on our website and will continue to post them on our bulletin board. Opening sit at 10am followed by the approval of the January sangha meeting minutes. Teacher's Report (see below for the complete report written by Henry for the meeting) Construction Update Chris Wuest reported....
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Between the Human Animal and the Animate Earth (Part 2b of 6)
May 31, 20182 min read
"... the sacredness of our human inter-being with the rest of nature ..." Description: This is the second in a three-part series of spontaneous conversations between Henry and David Abram. Henry and David continue to explore the sacredness of our human inter-being with the rest of nature. David is an ecologist, geo-philosopher, and writer. David describes a geo-philosopher to be someone who reflects under the influence of the earth. He is particularly interested in the ecology of sensory experience—how...
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What is Eco-dharma, by David Loy
May 26, 20183 min read
...practicing in nature, clarifying the ecological implications of Buddhism, and using that understanding to engage in the eco-activism... Ecodharma is a relatively new word, and its meaning is by no means fixed. The term combines the teachings of Buddhism and related spiritual traditions (dharma) with ecology or ecological concerns (eco). A bit more specifically, ecodharma can be understood as a new development in contemporary Buddhism, in response to the ecological crisis that now threatens civilization as...
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Between the Human Animal and the Animate Earth (Part 2a of 6)
May 24, 20182 min read
"... the sacredness of our human inter-being with the rest of nature ..." Description: This is the second in a three-part series of spontaneous conversations between Henry and David Abram. Henry and David continue to explore the sacredness of our human inter-being with the rest of nature. David is an ecologist, geo-philosopher, and writer. David describes a geo-philosopher to be someone who reflects under the influence of the earth. He is particularly interested in the ecology of sensory experience—how...
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Teisho: Case 67, Book of Equanimity: Wisdom in the Kegon Sutra
May 21, 20181 min read
Koans are dark to the mind but radiant to the heart Description: This talk centers on Case 67, which is taken from the Kegon Sutra. The Buddha says, “Now I see all living beings everywhere, and I see that each of them possesses the wisdom and virtue of Tathagata.” Henry explains the word Tathagata and points to the wonder of practice, which may allow us to see “all living beings everywhere.” In Zen training, we can discover that...
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Fully Human
May 19, 20181 min read
To be fully human – that’s the project. To do that, the key is dropping the self, being liberated from a constricted notion of self, forgetting self, seeing through self and its two attendants, greed and aversion. ~ Henry Shukman Image: Ocean woman by Nerivill, CC0 Public Domain from Pixabay.com
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