zenscribe

A woman tells me on the first night during my introduction instructions that although she didn't know anything about Zen, she came to the retreat because, she said, she told herself that if she didn't like it she could leave. I smiled and said, yes, that is true. I didn't say, however, that this practice [...]

Ritually rich, in and out of order As was requested, I will try to say something about the forms and rituals of this practice. Before that question came up this morning, I had been writing in a new notebook. It has lines on the pages, unlike my previous notebook. Sometimes my notebooks have lines and [...]

Amid the bustle of worldly affairs, summer is hot and cool, dry and wet, clear and overcast, day and night... I'm like that, too, one activity, another activity, and another... The papers are full of it, and the garden, too, in full bloom, and me. News arrives by phone of a sudden grave illness in [...]

Off for a week, in retreat. Keeping in mind the words of Obaku, one of the ancestors: I don't expect anything. I just bow. And so I do, to one and all.