An Introduction to Zen Book Review

Click on the title of this post to go to the Japan Subculture Research Center, where there is an extensive review of the book, An Introduction to Zen.

Is That So?

Reference Points

Poems about Life



Reference Points
he was a man
of awareness

now he's an
awareness
of a man

Buddhist Hip Hop: Skillful Methods Records | A Cultivator

Skillful Methods Records | A Cultivator: "A CULTIVATOR aka Spencer Sanchez is a Buddhist rapper who brings a fresh message to hip hop without beating people over the head with his message. But for every line about peace and love, he balances it with a real life understanding of “Samara” and never backs down from taking shots a the corrupted values of popular culture."

Meditation Techniques

Meditation Techniques
"The natural goal for anyone beginning meditation is to experience some real degree of stillness. It is easier said than done. How many of us continue would continue to meditate without getting some sense of the benefits? In the beginning that obvious benefit is some sense of peace. One needs to experience a degree of peace and relaxation that can be without a doubt attributed to the fact that one has meditated."

Read more about meditation techniques

Lectures and Articles by Nishijima Roshi

Gudo Wafu Nishijima is a very senior and well respected Zen practitioner in Japan. This link will direct you to a web page where you will find a number of articles written by him on various aspects of Zen practice.

Into a Cloudless Sky

my chest is bare

in the path of an arrow

with eyes affixed

i embrace this last breath

savoring sweet intrigue

before being struck

will you also be blinded

by the brightest of mirrors?

will we wobble together

with poor eyesight

drunk on romance

near the cliffs at lovers cove?

if so, let us fall in unison

yet not towards the beach

covered in shells

but away from our bodies

into a cloudless sky

Naked and Free

as i lay on grains of sand

near tide pools by the shore

my looking glass is cracked

the sun has proved its patience

and left all yearning bleached

i hear a gentle call

not from saviors made of stone

for their touch is but skin deep

but from a gentle pulsing

past the center of my bones

telling me to rise and meet the sea

to let each step find its stone

with equal balance and grace

while creatures scurry

remembering my march

oceanic and wild

i reach the door

let me pause to salute her beauty

to greet her shimmer with my own

and praise her dynamic nature

the time has come to jump

and sink in these salty depths

naked and free

Anarchy and Order

zen fire, zen wind
carry this ash far away

past all vulnerable notions

of social right and wrong

so we may revel unclad

attuned with the cosmos

dancing in complete contrast

with confident vibration

to telegraph authentically

both cacophonous discord

and notes of harmony

to illuminate the relativity

of anarchy and order

Zen Breath Counting Meditation

On the subject of Zen Breath Counting Meditation:

"Following the breath while counting (breath-counting) is simply counting 1 to 10, which can be exhalations (most typically), inhalations, or even both (1 on inhalation, 2 on exhalation, 3 on inhalation, etc.). The idea is to keep returning to 1, and notice where you mind was. If you get to where you can't remember whether it was 5 or 6, return to 1. If you get to 35 or 47 (the mind having gone off on its own parallel track)—return to 1. Again, that noticing is the point of perfect awareness."

—Genko Rainwater

This quote is taken from an interview with Genko Rainwater at MeditationHow.info.


This six part meditation testimonial and interview features Genko Rainwater who speaks on Shikantaza Meditation, Breath Counting Practice in Meditation, Following the Breath, Kindness and Compassion, Meditation Teachers, and Zen Buddhist Meditation Experiences.

Zen on Love, Zen on Ego

Zen on Love
there is something
at the heart
of all things

deep empty full
alive simple vast
sweet innocent free
courageous profound
still perfect clear
lovely loving love

***

Zen on Ego
the subtle and illusive
assumption of existence
a starting place
for other thoughts
an assumed reference-point
the thought of "I"
the "I" thought
where division begins
and wholeness breaks apart
dividing our world
into names and things

***

Short Zen Poems, Koans

Christian turned Zen Buddhist (Christianity, Buddhism)

Christianity, Buddhism

"Sometime in 2007, it fully dawned on me that I did not, and indeed, could not believe some of the things that, more or less, one is required to believe to call oneself a Christian, and that no amount of deciding or effort was going to change that. Additionally, I realized that I actually never had. One of the ideas that my mind would not sit still for was an externalized, interventionist God. I simply didn't buy it.

Now that was troublesome, having been raised a Christian, and it took some time to actually admit what I had already realized because of fear of damnation inculcated since childhood in the church. Once that admission was made, though, I let go of Christianity. I decided that I wanted a spiritual life that would work for me, not the other way around, and for the first time felt free to look outside the faith I was brought up in."

—Will Collum

This quote is taken from an interview with Will Collum at MeditationHow.info.


This four part meditation testimonial and interview features Will Collum of Columbia, South Carolina, who shares his experiences shifting from Christianity to Zen Buddhism, cultivating Inner Awarness, Zazen Shikantaza (Sitting Meditation), and his process of Letting Go.