In Chapter 32 of the Diamond Sutra, the Buddha teaches impermanence through poetry, likening our conditioned existence to dew, lightning, and dreams. This dharma talk reflects on impermanence (anicca), grief, and gratitude, inviting us to embody—not merely understand—the fleeting nature of life and to meet it with tenderness and presence.
Tag: Gyomay Kubose
Ordinary Awakening
In Ordinary Awakening, Christopher Kakuyo Leibow reflects on the freedom of being who we already are. Drawing on Shin Buddhist teachings, he reminds us that awakening isn’t escape but clarity—the humble seeing of our interdependence, where even the most ordinary moments shine with luminous truth.
The Space In Between: Miles Davis, Pure Land, and the Music of Emptiness.
by Steve Rojin Genyo Lefever 🪷 Opening Koans “Not knowing is most intimate.”Zen Master Dizang “It’s not the notes you play, it’s the notes you don’t play.”Miles Davis “True entrusting is living fully in the here and now.”Rev. Koyo Kubose 🎺 Who Was Miles Davis? Miles Davis (1926–1991) was one of the most influential jazz…
Kintsugi: The Beauty of Imperfection
For Today’s dharma talk, I want to share some ideas and feelings about the beauty of imperfection. To do this, I want to use a metaphor from Japanese material arts, Kintsugi. Metaphor helps us learn by adding a deeper, more emotive dimension. Metaphor tends to be the language of the heart. For me, kintsugi is…
The Voice of the Buddha: Finding Dharma in Everything
Dharma Talk by Chris Kakuyo Leibow Today I want to explore a profound line from the Tan Butsu Ge, a poem found in the preamble of the ancient Buddhist scripture known as the Larger Sutra of Boundless Life. This particular verse speaks of how “the voice of the Buddha’s enlightenment reverberates through everything”—a concept that…
The Need for Quiet.
“It’s important to take time to have some quiet moments in our lives, otherwise we get caught up in the busy-ness of always having something going on.” So opens Gyomay Kubose Sensei on his chapter about Quietness in The Center Within. I don’t know about you, but I know that I am entangled…
The Grace of Oneness
Z “ This realization of oneness involves the highest type of communication and respect. IF your life is realized in this sense…you would see that the whole world supports you. You exist because others; everything supports your life. This totality, this oneness evokes a gratitude and a great joy beyond explanation.” Gyomay Kubose We live…
Driving, Delusions and the Dharma
I would like to start our my dharma glimpse with a poem from the Venerable Robina Curtin; she is a Tibetan Buddhist nun in Australia, I love its matter-of-factness of her lines. “We’re all mentally ill. We’re all delusional. We’re all junkies. It’s just a matter of degree. “ I like how she embraces…
Deep Listening as Buddhist Practice
A Dharma Glimpse “Deep listening is more than hearing with our ears, but taking in what is revealed in any given moment with our body, our being, our heart.” – Susan McHenry I have been thinking a lot about listening lately. Actually, I think about it a lot. For many years I thought I…
Meaningless Meaning
“ A reporter from a local newspaper came to our house to interview my wife about the Japanese tea ceremony. This report continually asked, “What is the meaning? What for? Why do you do that? What is the purposes for that?” This kind of question was directed at everything in the making tea – at…
Everyday Nembutsu 