Teachings in Portugal, November 2009

Going through the days, one thing to another, and not finding words for this space. Always with "bodhisattva" in mind. Then find these words from Thich Nhat Hanh: "When we come into contact with the other person, our thoughts and actions should express our mind of compassion, even if that person says and does things [...]

Snow coming obliquely through the gray light this morning has me thinking, as ever when the flakes come "general all over" like this, of the final lines of Joyce's masterful short story The Dead: "His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of [...]

I read tonight that when Shunryu Suzuki Roshi was on his deathbed, his successor, Richard Baker, asked him where they would meet again. Suzuki Roshi stuck his boney hand out from under the sheet and drew a circle. Indeed. No one is going anywhere ever. And after a fruitful day of writing, with breaks for [...]

Sometimes my notebooks have lines and sometimes they don’t. Writing with the lines and writing without lines are very different experiences. As a writer, I know that different pens and paper, like different places and moments, offer different experiences. The experience of writing with lines, I realized, can be likened to the experience of practicing [...]

In an old book that I haven't opened for many years, I discover a scrap of paper on which I had written: "Sweet birdsong before dawn pierces night & day and the aching heart, too, is pure.'' An underlined sentence says, "Everything we need for awakening is present in the very ground upon which we [...]

Another one of those days. Everyone tells me it's warm, almost spring-like. And from the window it doesn't look like winter in the garden, although it is damp and overcast. Cats chase one another through the full bushes, up the leafy trees, over the rooftops. Isn't there too much green out there? Finally I just [...]

“City” retreats (nonresidential) and one-day practice sessions: led by Amy Hollowell Sensei Paris Feb. 13-14, May 1, June 26-27 Lisbon Feb. 6-7 Residential retreats: Normandy April 15-18, Aug. 20-27 Portugal March 19-23, July 25-Aug. 1 Introduction to Zen in Paris, March 2, 19h30-21h30, and other dates by appointment. To register or for more information: zenscribe@free.fr

More words about the fundamental "oneness" of all things, as an aftershock rocks Haiti again and President Obama's second year begins, looking less promising than the first, and the days are growing a wink longer here in the Northern Hemisphere and the cat sleeps most of that time beside my desk as I work for [...]