Now I have a single robe, Not made of gauze or of figured silk. Do you know what colour it is? Not crimson, nor purple either. Summer days I wear it as a cloak, In winter it serves as a quilt. Summer and winter in turn I use it; Year after year, only this.
‘I don’t think taking sides suggests that we negate the humanity of everyone else’s position. We take sides and we understand that we must take care of the whole. We take sides in a way that doesn’t take sides. We take sides in a way that doesn’t separate. It distinguishes and it discerns, but it […]
I can be a bit of a sucker for self-help articles on the internet; sometimes it helps me to realise that just about anyone can pontificate about just about anything online and someone will enjoy it; sometimes I get to feel a little smug about having lived long enough to have acquired a little bit […]
‘At this time, while we continue aiming to arrive at freedom, as the ultimate treasure-object, this intention to arrive is itself real manifestation—and so, right in the moment of getting free there is expression of the truth, which is realized without expectation. It is beyond the power of the mind and beyond the power of […]
‘When we include everything in our understanding, we are more cognizant of the intrinsic value of each thing, and we are more aware, of the place each being or event has in relationship to us. We don’t exclude anything, recognizing that everything is already present. Accepting things as they are is predicated upon knowing that […]
Over the weekend, I had dokusan scheduled with Fu at Green Gulch. I jumped at the chance to see her, and then having looked ahead at the forecast, I planned for a rainy ride; on the morning of, I heard gale warnings, so was anxious about riding in that. When I left the city, the weather […]
‘Sometimes we may think that a Buddhist life comes through the mind. But actually it involves the mind, the body, and the heart. It’s not just what we think. That’s important, but it’s not 100 percent of our practice. Practice involves what we do with our bodies and how we live in community. It involves […]
