Practicing with the Breath

Good article:

"I think unconsciously we try to control our state of mind and external circumstances by controlling and holding our breath as if by holding our breath, we can hold back what we fear. Our breathing does not function independently from our emotional and mental activity. So the more we practice awareness of the breath, the more we become aware of all our experience."

Zen marketing: Pier 1 Zen Picnic Basket

"Al fresco dining has never been easier. Simply fill our lovely willow Zen Picnic Basket with all your favorite foods and find a shady spot."

more Zen marketing: NOOKA ZEN-V

What is time? Perhaps this Zen watch can help you answer that question:

"Following the success of the zoo and zot, we are pushing the design of linear expression to its purest form with the release of the new Nooka Zen."

Huh?

A Time of Complete Transformation

Interesting talk that contains this little nugget:

"It is necessary to die every day, and every day to give life. If in one day you die ten thousand times, you are ten thousand times alive. This life is maybe seventy or eighty years long. Many things happen in one life. We think it is so short, but to some beings, even one second is very long."

Bellingham Zen Practice Group - Stopping the World

Longish talk with some good stuff:

"'Stopping the world' is stopping the world of beliefs, the world of desires, the world of anger, the world of hatred. If we can stop this world of our own creating even for a moment, my experience is that we will lighten up a little. It will be more possible for us to be flexible. To be generous. To be kind. To be less reactive of others whom we don’t agree with. Because fundamentally we are all just people. There’s not really that much difference between us. Those divisions and differences are generated by the mind."

Zen Master Seung Sahn - Our Practice

"But if our mind disappears, then thinking disappears. If thinking disappears then time, space, and cause and effect disappear; then empty world appears. Empty... completely empty. Another name for 'empty world' is Substance. This is the Substance of the whole universe: human being's substance, dog's substance, everything's substance."

Poem

Zen masters say "Don't seek the truth - just drop your opinions:

"Without Name and Form

Well versed in the Buddha way,
I go the non-Way
Without abandoning my
Ordinary person's affairs.
The conditioned and
Name-and-form,
All are flowers in the sky.
Nameless and formless,
I leave birth-and-death.
P'ang Yün (龐蘊 Hõ Un)"

On Zen Work

Interesting article that makes and explains the following distinction:

"I would like to distinguish between two modes of work practice. One is work as meditation and the other is work as giving, or work as love, or maybe simply, work as offering."

Zen Guitar

Once again we find something that has the name “Zen” involved with it, and this time it is the guitar. Now I have heard of the “Zen” flute, but never the Zen guitar!

Zen Guitar:

"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.

Based on the spirit and principles of the Japanese dojo, it is a participatory community that seeks to elevate the human spirit through music. The Zen Guitar Dojo is a gathering place for artists who want to explore the possibilities of cyberspace under the umbrella of the Zen Guitar philosophy.

"Zen Guitar LINK

Zen Quotes

I can't remember if I posted a link to this page of (centered for no reason) Zen quotes, but here it is:

"The mind that does not understand is the Buddha. There is no other..."

Zen Mind, Bush Mind

Mildly amusing article:

"The emergence of George Bush’s persona, the decider, has spurred interest in how he renders judgments with absolute certainty. The unique Bush decision-making process is best understood by contrasting it with that of the Zen masters. For the first time, here are the secrets of the Bush master:"

There’s No Such Thing as American Zen

Interesting essay by Zoketsu Norman Fischer:

"As it turns out, the idea of American Zen is irrelevant to me. I don’t even think about Zen. I have no use for experiments. I am just trying to get through the day. Whatever ideas I may have had about American or Japanese or Martian Zen are abstractions to me now, luxuries I cannot afford. "

Lecture on Teaching Meditation

The following cracked me up:

"Whenever I see a new book on Buddhism in a bookstore, I always pick it up to see if it’s got meditation instructions. I always read them, and invariably think, yes, yes, that is how to meditate; why can’t I remember that? Then I put the book down, and five minutes later I don’t know how to meditate anymore."

The rest of the article/lecture is interesting too.

Zen Master Seong Hyang - Making a Complete Effort

Good Dharma talk:

"We think a situation is bad if it makes us uncomfortable or unhappy or if it's just very difficult to get through, but it's wonderful that these things happen. The more we do hard meditation practice and together action and just give of ourselves -- give our time, give everything we have towards helping other people -- then the more these things that happen to us won't hurt us, won't be heavy, won't be sad. We'll only say thank you for everything that happens."

Searching for the Ox

Short Dharma talk:

"People come to Zen for many different reasons. People often want 'peace of mind'. Our lives are stressful. So it's a natural expectation to have of Zen. But I find that unless people find a deeper question for entering into Zen practice, they usually don't stick around very long.
. . .
Zen is a pure and profound spiritual undertaking, and without lighting a fire in one's belly, nothing happens."

Yet more Zen marketing

Dalai Lama ringtones?