Not Knowing – I would like to start today’s Dharma talk with one of the most famous of the Zen Koans – Attention! Master Dizang asks Fayan,“Where have you come from?”Fayan replies, “I pilgrimage aimlessly,”“What is the purpose of your pilgrimage?” asks Dizang.“I don’t know,” replies Fayan.“Not knowing is the most intimate,” remarked Dizang.At…
Category: religion
THE WAY OF THE FOOLISH BEING
DHARMA TALK BY CHRISTOPHER KAKUYO SENSEI The Path of the Foolish Being Preface It is interesting how wandering through a bookstore on an unremarkable Wednesday can change your life forever. On one of those Wednesdays, while I was walking the aisles of Ken Sander’s bookstore looking for something to read, I serendipitously found what I…
We Call Upon Ourselves as Kwan Yin: On Mass Shootings in America.
by Christopher Kakuyo Sensei What can one say? I find myself at a loss for words again. Another mass shooting. Here is a vain attempt to share what I am feeling. Any words I could say to the families of the murdered or to their community would feel hollow, self-serving, so I could say my…
My Blind Self: a poem
vii. My blind self pierced by Amida’s light illuminated and dissolved into the great ocean of compassion into the Oneness of life – Palms together, embraced just as I am. Each step with the Buddha, my truest self, my Amida self – the deep flow of the oneness of realty – all beings one…
We are all Refugees.
Lately the world seems on fire, with mass shootings, mass migrations and terrorist attacks. People are more polarized of late, cultural shifts, deep old wounds are festering and all of these are changing the landscape, the earth seems to be moving under their feet and many are taking refuge in nationalism, bigotry and fear. The…
Everyday Nembutsu 