Out of Bounds: The Bodhisattva’s Way Since yesterday I’ve been thinking about a question someone asked: Is there ever any mention of compassion in this Zen practice? Is there any emphasis on compassion? I was thinking about how best to address that question, all the while asking myself that question. I have many answers for [...]
As we sit in the cool room in the midday heat, the roof cracks and creaks overhead. I am filled with a swelling love for this beautiful building, its selfless giving of itself so that we may have shelter from the elements. In fact, it just sits with us and we just sit with it. [...]
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 [...]
Talks by Amy “Tu es cela” Hollowell Sensei from the summer 2009 retreat in Quinta das Águias, Portugal.
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 [...]
Talks by Amy “Tu es cela” Hollowell Sensei from the summer 2009 retreat in Quinta das Águias, Portugal.
Talks by Amy “Tu es cela” Hollowell Sensei from the summer 2009 retreat in Quinta das Águias, Portugal.
Ready to "go" again. Retreat in Portugal this time. After all these years, I still love (or am in love with?) the idea that any number of disparate individuals choose to come together from their very singular lives and sit down as one for awhile. Day after day. And acknowledge that we're all in this [...]
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 [...]
Back now from retreat. Return after a week away to find the city relaxed, moving step by step, unbound. Recall the mist on the green morning hills outside my window before a first sitting. Night had been filled with fitful sleep. I drank it all, then turned to dress. The entire week was like that: [...]