Zen Stories

Yet more Zen stories.

Old joke - stop me if you've heard this one . . .

The Zen Master is visiting New York City from Tibet. He goes up to a hotdog vendor and says, "Make me one with everything."

The hot dog vendor fixes a hot dog and hands it to the Zen Master, who pays with a $20 bill.

The vendor puts the bill in the cash box and closes it. "Where's my change?" asks the Zen Master.

The vendor responds, "Change must come from within."

Zen Car (?!?)

Finally, a car you can just sit in.

Donate to tsunami relief efforts

Another option for donations is Direct Relief International

The New Year Comes and Finds Its Seat

A New Year's poem by Zen Master Seung Sahn. Here's a piece:

Time is empty.
So the New Year is not the New Year.
The New Year is also empty, only made by your thinking.
So the New Year is not necessary.'

Sick Practicing

Some words of wisdom for those with the sniffles or worse. "For Zen students being sick is only another opportunity to pursue clarity." Tell that to my stuffed up nose.

The Gateless Gate

A book of koans. Read a koan picked at random from the text.

Zen Mind International

Zen Mind International is for beginners of all ages and religions. It is an international web site dedicated to teaching people about meditation and Buddhism in English, French, Spanish, German, Portuguese and Hungarian.

Feel free to read it in only one language. There's also a glossary of Buddhist terms.

Infinity and cognition: The Pac-Man factor

Meditations on Pac-Man, from Pac-Zen Philosophy & MetaPhysics

The Exhilarator

Randomly pairs a cartoon and a caption. Some R-rated language.

What is Happiness? What is Sadness?

Another good short article:

"What is true happiness? What is sadness?" Not moving. This mind is very important.

Zen Into Science

The memes of most religions are not compatible with science, but some kinds of spiritual practice are. Zen practice and science have much in common and each may benefit from the other. They may even lead to some of the same insights about self, mind and consciousness.

So begins this short but well written article. Dr. Blackmore asks:

And what about the world that I seem to see out there? Research on change blindness, inattentional blindness, and the timing of awareness all suggests that the visual world is a grand illusion (Noë 2002). There really is no picture in the head, even though psychology and cognitive science have long assumed there must be. What then do I see? According to the sensorimotor theory of vision, seeing is not building a picture of the world but is a kind of doing; a mastery of the relationships between what this body does and the way the world responds (O’Regan and Noë 2001).

What is Zen?

Working Zen, motorcycle Zen, tennis Zen, walking-in-the-park-smiling Zen. At war with what's too long and too short, the simple truth is obscured. Even though the word "Zen" is used in the zazen halls, what is it?

Interesting site. Check out the articles section, including many by Thich Nhat Hanh

Zen Garden's Calming Effect Due to Subliminal Image?

Interesting article about a Zen rock garden:

unconscious sensitivity is able to discern the image of a trunk and branches of a tree within the Zen garden's pattern of rocks and stones. Viewed from the verandah, the image is apparent to the subconscious but is invisible to the eye.

Zen Food Warmer (?!?)

For the Zenster who has (almost) everything (or nothing) there is the Typhoon Zen Food Warmer. How does it work? Apparently, it just sits there.

The Zen Guitar Dojo

The Zen Guitar Dojo is the living vision of musician, author, composer and teacher Philip Toshio Sudo. The Zen Guitar Dojo is a place to be.

If you like guitar, this is indeed "a place to be." Don't miss the Featured Lesson for beginners.

Floating Logos

'Floating Logos' is a working title for this project. The images are inspired by signs perched high atop very tall poles in order for people to view them from a very long distance. The poles are digitally removed from the image in order to give the illusion that the signs are disconnected from the ground as they ominously float above us.

Pretty cool pictures, eerie. [via]

Ordinary Mind Dharma Talks

Covers many topics, well written. Don't miss Why Are We
(Really) Practicing?

On Zen Work

An old but interesting article.

For Zen students there's no work time and leisure time; there's just lifetime, daytime and nighttime. Work is something deep and dignified—it's what we are born to do and what we feel most fulfilled in doing

Zen Music

Interesting interview with Ronnie Nyogetsu Seldin, an American Grand Master of the shakuhachi flute

the whole idea of Zen music is that you're completely united with the sound. You're not distracted, not doing something else, or thinking something else.

The Grocery List Collection

A collection of over 500 grocery lists that were tossed away -- found in the trash and on the street -- that have been found by the collector, Bill Keaggy, and his readers.

The lists are beguiling. Some are funny; others tragic. From the paper that is chosen, the handwriting, the spelling and the items listed we learn intimate things about strangers.

Says Bill about what he has learned:

More people than I thought like onions. Mayonnaise is difficult to spell. So is banana, apparently. And anchovies. And yogurt. There are a lot of notepads out there touting the greatness of numerous bizarrely-named pharmaceuticals. I used to think my handwriting was lame. Now I don't. And lastly, very few people leave their grocery lists in the cart like they should.

Haiku Poet's Hut

Haiku Poet's Hut is a terrific introduction to haiku, or a great place to come to ready yourself for writing some of your own. The haiku masters, Issa, Basho and Buson are covered, as are modern variations -- there's even visual haiku -- that play with the form.

Travelling through the vast website feels, itself, like a haiku experience with its peaceful graphics and slow transitions when you click to a new page.

Zen and the Art of Corporate Productivity; More companies are battling employee stress with meditation

A puff piece about corporations that offer meditation classes for their abused workers.

Sometimes meditation classes are offered as a gesture of thanks for a job well done. Consider AOL Time Warner Inc., where the sales and marketing group was reduced from 850 to 500 people three years ago. Meditation classes were incorporated to help employees deal with the new 12-hour days.

Perhaps through meditation the remaining 500 workers will come to realize that working for AOL Time Warner 12 hours a day isn't what they want after all.

Zen and 7-Steps to a More Fulfilling Job

Time for a change? This Zen approach to finding a new job might help.

Like the way of Zen, which includes understanding of oneself as one really is, Miller encourages job seekers and those dissatisfied with work or life to examine their beliefs about work and recognize that, "in many cases your beliefs are what brought you to where you are today."

The 7 steps, which are described more in the article, are:

Step 1: Willingness to do something different.
Step 2: Commitment to being who you are, not who or what someone wants you to be.
Step 3: Self-definition.
Step 4: Attain a level of self-honoring.
Step 5: Vision.
Step 6: Appropriate risk.
Step 7: Action.

Buy Nothing Christmas

Adbuster's new campaign-Buy Nothing Christmas-features a meditating (and levitating) Santa Claus called Zenta Claus. Where can I buy one?!?

How to Meditate, from the Buddhist Sangha of South Jersey

Yes, it's another How to Meditate link, but it's also another good one. "The first thing to consider is why?"

Directory of Midwestern Buddhist Temples and Centers

If you know of other similar lists on the web for other parts of the country please post them in comments. Also note that this list was "Last updated 5/8/02". That seems like a million years ago.

Free plans: how to make a (Zen) Miniature Dry Garden

Want to make a holiday gift for your favorite Zenster? How about a little Zen garden? "The plan itself is free! Estimated cost of materials: $2" Scroll down on each page to see the plan (past the ads).

Zen Calendar, Anniversaries and Festivals of Zen Buddhism

Most of the entries are for deaths, but there are some other dates of note. It's not too late to plan a party for D.T. Suzuki's birthday.

Pure Zen Movement

What is enlightenment? What is delusion? For short answers to these an other deep questions, visit this site. Articles include What is Zen? and First Steps to Enlightenment.

Zen Christmas Fragrance Oils (?!?)

Cashing in on the incredibly lucrative Buddhist Christmas scented oil market ( . . . ? . . . ) here's an untempting yuletide treat. Although the site design will hurt your eyes for days, the soothing ad text makes it all worthwhile:

We wanted to create a wonderful holiday scent that would become a timeless classic. Soft bright notes of fig, and green tea perfectly blended with siberian fir round out the top and heart notes of this unique aroma. We added some traditional oriental notes of warm vanilla, jasmine and ylang ylang. This wonderful scent is quickly going to become your favorite and your customers as well.

Ho, ho, mu.

Everything Forever, Learning to see the timeless, infinite universe

If you like the science and philosophy of time and space, get ready to spend hours reading this site. Good use of graphics to help explain the concepts.

Dharma the Cat

A Zen cartoon. What more could you ask for.

Zen Unbound

A nice Zen blog, there are some real gems here, including a discussion of the Great Gatsby from a Zen perspective.

I Love Egg

An odd site that I don't really understand but like none the less.

Zen parenting Q & A

Interesting discussion with authors of Zen Parenting.

The Zen of Pondering Puzzles

Following up on the last post, here are some thoughts on Zen and puzzles.

Zen Puzzle Page

Amusing Zen puzzles, just for fun. Don't miss the Zen Crossword Puzzle