Another busy day: work, appointments, house chores, Métro rides, sitting group, meals... When sitting I see the revolution at hand. I see how this Zen practice is subversive. I love it! Think of the 9th-century Zen master Gensha: A monk asked him, "Where can I enter Zen?" Gensha replied, "Can you hear the babbling brook?" [...]
Peter Muryo Matthiessen Roshi, a successor of Bernie Glassman Roshi in our White Plum lineage, was awarded the prestigious National Book Award in New York last night for his novel "Shadow Country," a revision of a trilogy published in the 1990s. A marvelous honor for a marvelous writer, who, at 81, is one of the [...]
Here is Giacometti pinned on my bulletin board sculpting, his one intention being, as Yves Bonnefoy notes, "exhumer des aspects visibles l'invisible de la présence" (to exhume from the visible aspects the invisible presence) of what is before him. His drawing, painting or sculpture are his response to this experience of the "invisible presence" in [...]
The wild and wandering Zen master Hotei was confronted in a marketplace by another Zen master, who asked him to present his understanding of the Zen teachings. Hotei put down his bag. The other master then asked him to present the practice of Zen. Hotei picked up his bag and continued on his way.
Back from Portugal, a journey across five days, two countries, many encounters old and new. In Lisbon, up hills and down, along the river, then into the deepening night where I am pressed with questions about form. Which might better be called expressions of attachment to form in the guise of rejection of a particular [...]
It's a new day. Can't let this marvelous moment go by without a word or two. Obama's election brings tears of joy to my eyes in front of the computer at 5:30 a.m. My country's capacity to reinvent itself by picking this wise and inspiring man to lead it moves me more than any political [...]
The art of Zen is none other than the art of life. As Brando so aptly noted, Hamlet's soliloquy, Act III, Scene 2, says it all: "Let your own discretion be your tutor. Suit the action to the word, the word to the action, with this special observance, that you o'erstep not the modesty of [...]
A conference at the Cinémathèque was billed as "A cinema lesson," given by the actor/director/counterculture hero Dennis Hopper. It ends up being Hopper just chatting about Hopper and his (famous) buddies. Not much about the art of cinema. A few film clips. He wows the audience by crying as a demonstration of "method acting." I'm [...]
Afternoon is in its final retreat. Evening is enveloping the city. Today I went out for an appointment, ran errands, then returned. Soon, after cooking, I'll be leaving again. The best place is always where I am, nothing finer. A traditional Zen story: Crossing a marketplace, Banzan overheard a conversation between a butcher and his [...]
It's a quiet night now after the busy day. I see I'm anticipating more of that dailyness in the week ahead. Is that what I want? As Joyce said, "I'm like a blind man walking in the street. I trip on something and when I bend down to pick it up, I discover it's exactly [...]
Le Web carnet de Amy Hollowell Sensei, fondatrice de la Wild Flower Zen Sangha et successeur de Catherine Genno Pagès Roshi dans le lignage Zen Soto de Taizan Maezumi Roshi, fondateur du Centre Zen de Los Angeles.
The Web notebook of Amy Hollowell Sensei, founder of the Wild Flower Zen Sangha and dharma successor of Catherine Genno Pagès Roshi in the Soto Zen lineage of Taizan Maezumi Roshi, founder of the Los Angeles Zen Center.
Alexis says:
Alexis says:
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