The Zen practice of just sitting, says Lewis Richmond, doesn’t help us to reach our destination. It allows us to stop having one. But how do you “go” nowhere? The practice of “just-awareness” is the essence of Zen meditation. The Japanese word for this, shikantaza, is usually translated as "just sitting," but Dogen, the founder of the Soto school of Zen, specifically taught [...]
About Lewis Richmond
How should Buddhists respond to the gun violence epidemic?
After December, 2015's mass-shooting in San Bernadino, Zen teacher Lewis Richmond had to wonder: What is an appropriate or effective response as a Buddhist? Since such events evoke strong visceral emotions, including fear, I thought it might be helpful to report some facts about gun violence in America I have gleaned from my recent readings. Some of these are rather [...]
Remembering Shunryu Suzuki
The great teacher who founded the San Francisco Zen Center and played a historic role in the establishment of Buddhist practice in the West was born on this day in 1904. Lewis Richmond remembers him. Shunryu Suzuki Roshi has had an enormous influence on the growth of buddhadharma in the West. Yet when he came to San Francisco in 1959, he had no plans, no grand strategy—only a [...]
How Do I Deal With Painful Thoughts of Revenge?
You needn't give harbor to thoughts of ill will, says Lewis Richmond, no matter how justified they seem to be. Question: Someone did a real wrong to me recently and now I’m haunted by thoughts of revenge. Although I think they deserve it, I know I shouldn’t try to hurt them back. How do I deal with these painful thoughts of revenge while still recognizing the harm that was [...]
Now the Bad News
A young prince named Siddhartha was so shocked when he encountered the sufferings of the body that he went off to seek enlightenment. Today, the bad news of birth, old age, sickness, and death is still the impetus for awakening. Birth By Rachel Neumann I was four the first time I saw a woman give birth. It was early evening, at a commune deep in the Siskiyou Mountains of [...]
Commentary: Three Levels of Transmission
"When you spend a week immersing yourself in lineage," says Lewis Richmond, "It becomes deeper than an idea, and you actually start to feel its presence in your body and the surrounding space." Recently I empowered two of my senior students—Rinso Ed Sattizahn and Kuzan Peter Schireson—as full-fledged independent Zen teachers, in a weeklong ceremony we call dharma [...]
Fear of Public Speaking — Lewis Richmond
In the final instalment in a series of short writings, Zen teacher Lewis Richmond considers death's surprising rival for the top honor among Buddhism's "five great fears." The fifth "great fear" of Buddhism is, strangely enough, the "fear of public speaking." The other four -- fear of death, fear of illness, fear of dementia, and fear of loss of livelihood -- are so [...]
Fear of Loss of Livelihood — Lewis Richmond
The fourth instalment in a series of short writings on Buddhism’s “Five Great Fears” by Zen teacher Lewis Richmond. The fourth "great fear" of Buddhist teaching is "fear of loss of livelihood." It is interesting that this doctrine was formulated by monastics living a life of mendicancy and voluntary poverty. One would think that the vow of poverty would liberate monks from [...]
Fear of Dementia — Lewis Richmond
The third instalment in a series of short writings on Buddhism’s “Five Great Fears,” by Zen teacher Lewis Richmond. What a downer of a topic! Who wants to think or talk about dementia, Alzheimer's, losing one's mind? Yet it is the "third great fear" in Buddhist teaching, so clearly the ancient Buddhists wanted to talk about it. They knew that the best way to transform and [...]
Fear of Illness — Lewis Richmond
In the second instalment of this series, Zen teacher Lewis Richmond considers the common fear of becoming and being ill. The second of the five great fears in Buddhism is fear of illness. In the time of the Buddha, and for most of human history until quite recently, this was a formidable fear indeed. Disease was everywhere. Infants and small children, as well as adults, [...]
