“It is foolish to use the verb “to appear” in describing the manifestation of the buddhas. We simply use the expression “a buddha appears in the world” to make it easier for sentient beings to understand. “Picks up a shit pail and hauls away all the shit of conceptual proliferation” means that a buddha removes all traces of various types of ignorant thoughts. If you do not depart from the original true reality of the middle way, then whatever words […]
Category Archives: Emptiness
Empty, emptiness, without a permanent self.
Exploring The Transmission of Mind with Huangbo
Good Friends, In the New Year, I will share a series of posts on the ‘Transmission of Mind’ by Master Huangbo (Similar to the series we did in August of the ‘Platform Sutra of Hui-neng‘). This series will primarily use the Book ‘Zen Roots – The First Thousand Years‘ by Red Pine as its main study text (There is a link to purchase the book on the website). Another good translation is ‘The Zen Teaching of Huang Po: On the […]
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 […]
Original Light Zen Temple 90 day retreat – Dharma Talks
Chong An Sunim – 01/15/2022 Original Light Zen Temple 90-day retreat
A cloud and water man
Cloud and Water Man. Since I have a zen stick, I like to fly 30,000 miles. Wielding my ink brush, I will not flinch if several thousand watch me. Sometimes winning, sometimes losing: gain and loss do not matter to a cloud and water man. –il-bung
Bittersweet Life Lessons
The Road trip to my old homestead in northeastern Pennsylvania was a lifetime in the making. Touching into the deep recesses of my repository consciousness, the storehouse of all memories. Bittersweet memories intermixing with the present moment like clouds breaking up rays of sunshine. Real and unreal, laughing and crying at the same time. Emotions dragged out of the deep caverns of the forgotten. One flowing into the other. My mother’s ashes placed next to my daughter Karen’s and my […]
Where is the Dharma?
The Dharma is in plain sight, yet it is nowhere to be found.
radically observing nature in your backyard
Observing nature in your backyard is not dull but radically significant — Aeon.co, a world of ideas https://psyche.co/ideas/observing-nature-in-your-backyard-is-not-dull-but-radically-significant “Addressing the profound challenge of global environmental change is complex and multifaceted. But one certainty is the need for a change of world view, the fostering of humility towards the natural world and its shared community of beings. Such humility and appreciation are made possible by acute observation, empathy and delight in the mysteries and quirks of other species,” Yadvinder Malhiis professor […]
Mind, clear like space
Join Abbot Will Rauschenberger of Ordinary Zen Sangha for Zen Meditation Practice on Siesta Key Beach Saturday mornings (weather permitting). Meditating in nature is ideal and we will have the beach mostly to ourselves this early in the morning. This is a wonderful opportunity to meditate together in a safe and beautiful environment (we will practice social distancing, by keeping 8 feet apart). No experience is necessary and all are welcome. Please bring your own cushion or mat and arrive […]
The Very Ground Shaking Under Our Feet
We are faced with unbelievable instability and suffering as the upheaval of the unstable societal ground we thought we could stand on shifts, creating fissures, and shakes us to the core. We attempt to keep some sense of normalcy, seeking ways to cope, or just pretend that we are okay and build walls of stoicism. The pandemic forces us to social distance and its effect can be feeling alienated and alone, limited in our ability to communicate intimately. What can […]