So much of our suffering—as individuals and as a society—is caused by fear. In fact, according to Buddhism, fear is at the very root of ego and samsara. Four outstanding Buddhist teachers discuss the vital practice of working with our fears. Starting on the Path of Fear and Fearlessness By Judith Lief It helps to explore how we can work with fear from the point of view of [...]
Is There a Zen Person Around Here?
John Daido Loori comments on koans from Dogen’s Treasury of the True Dharma Eye Japanese master Eihei Dogen is best known for his comprehensive and profound masterwork, the Kana, or Japanese, Shobogenzo. This monumental achievement, a collection of ninety-five discourses and essays composed in Japanese between 1231 and 1253, is a unique expression of the buddhadharma based on [...]
White Plums and Lizard Tails: The story of Maezumi Roshi and his American Lineage
The story of a great Zen teacher—Taizan Maezumi Roshi—and his dharma heirs. Finding innovative ways to express their late teacher’s inspiration, the White Plum sangha is one of the most vital in Western Buddhism. Spring is blossom season in Japan. Drifts of petals like snow decorate the parks and streets. On May 15, 1995, in this season of renewal, venerable Zen master Hakuyu [...]
Maezumi’s Petals
Short teachings by five senior members of the White Plum sangha: Bernie Glassman, Bonnie Myotai Treace, John Daido Loori, Pat Enkyo O’Hara, and Dennis Genpo Merzel. The One and the Many In Zen, there are two ways of describing reality. Basically, one says that reality is all One, that everything is Buddha. The other describes the manyness of reality, its multitude of diverse [...]
On Meditation
The Buddha told us to see the way things are and then let go of our clinging to them. Take this feeling of letting go as your refuge. —Ajahn Chah Only dwelling in the present can make us free. We have to look into our suffering, our craving. And when we see its face we will smile: you cannot make me your prisoner any [...]
Zen’s Radical Conservative: John Daido Loori Roshi
John Daido Loori is an imaginative modernizer yet fierce upholder of the old ways of Zen. John Kain reports from Zen Mountain Monastery in Mt. Tremper, New York. The mind- what can we say of it? Forms, created by rock shadows. -John Daido Loori Roshi When asked how he came to Zen, Daido Roshi pauses, takes off his sage-green fedora and rubs his clean-shaven head. There's a [...]