I am happy to be back after a month off and looking forward to sitting together! Please join me this Sunday, 9-03-2023 at our Zendo or online for our practice session. After our practice session, I would like to invite sangha members to join me for an Indian buffet at the Royal Peacock Indian Kitchen. They are just up the road from our Sangha at 5445 Fruitville Rd (near Publix).
Category Archives: Dharma Talks
Hui-neng leads us to water, but we must drink it.
Our study of the platform sutra only leads us to our own minds, nowhere else, no other Buddha. ‘Each of us must practice ourselves. No one else can do it for us. Nor can any text take our place‘ It isn’t that the teaching is direct or not, sudden or gradual. ‘The teaching is simply so. When we finally understand it, it appears direct because it is right in front of us. When we don’t understand it, it appears indirect […]
Platform Sutra Study- Part 4 – Sections 20-23
Dear Good Friends, We continue to explore the Platform Sutra of Hui-neng. If you are following along with me, I recommend that you go directly to the Platform Sutra and skip the introduction and the sections with commentary by Red Pine. Read sections (20-23) of the Platform Sutra, notice your reaction to this reading, sit with it, and comment below. I will respond to your comments (privately) as necessary. You may of course not follow my direction and not respond […]
Platform Sutra Study- Part 3 – Sections 15-19
Dear Good Friends, We continue to explore the Platform Sutra of Hui-neng. If you are following along with me, I recommend that you go directly to the Platform Sutra and skip the introduction and the sections with commentary by Red Pine. Read sections (15-19) of the Platform Sutra, notice your reaction to this reading, sit with it, and comment below. I will respond to your comments (privately) as necessary. During the month of August, we will continue each part of […]
Exploring the PLATFORM SUTRA with OZS
The Zen Teaching of Hui-Neng Hui-Neng was the Sixth Patriarch of China’s Zen sect. Over the centuries, he has become a most venerated teacher of one of the world’s great spiritual traditions. During my personal retreat this August, I will be focusing on the Dharma as presented by Hui-Neng. I read the platform Sutra many years ago and studied it as part of a curriculum in a Buddhist Studies class I took. Now it is time for me to take […]
Realization and Zen Practice
Realization happens when we do nothing!
Transcription of a OZS Dharma Talk – We Use Words
Edited Transcription of a OZS Dharma Talk – 03-22-2023 I have no words. There’s nothing I can give you that you don’t already have. There’s nothing I can add to what you already are. In our ignorance, we’ve forgotten who we are. We walk down the road of habit energy, it drags us along like a chain, and we struggle. As we go down the path of getting to know ourselves, we discover that there are options for us that […]
Happy Holidays!
Important schedule changes Please Note: There will be no Sunday Practice sessions for the rest of 2022! The Next Sunday Practice session will be on January 8, 2023. Wednesday Evening Practice sessions will continue through the rest of the year. We will meet every Wednesday, as scheduled. Our retreat is still scheduled for January 7th, 2023. However, that is also subject to change! Myakka River State Park sustained extensive wind and water damage from Hurricane Ian and will be closed […]
Embracing Change – Accepting Uncertainty
Will: Good morning. Nancy and Michael are here with me today. This morning I thought I would bring up embracing change. So is it really possible to embrace change? Everything is always changing. What is there to embrace? I was browsing through the opinion section of the New York Times and I saw an old article in there that said if you want to save your marriage, embrace change. Well, that’s a can of worms, we won’t go there. I […]
The gift of our Meditation practice
Transcript of the Podcast – I have no words I have no words, which is rather unusual for me. I’m sure I’ll think of something in a moment or two. Having no words reminds me to get to the root, relaxing into my nature without relying on the trappings of conceptualization or making something up. It sounds so simple, just being in the moment, as we say. However, there are so many distractions in our lives. When your mind is […]