Firefly Hall and Firefly

One of the delights of receiving the name Keido (firefly hall) is that it's also a shout-out to my favorite television show of all time, tragically canceled in 2003, but cherished in my heart forever. Here's a video showing that Firefly fans are still active, and standing up for all kinds of good things, including, in this instance, free speech on university campuses. (Thanks, James!)

Everything is Okay

Truly, everything is okay. If this does not seem true to you, please click on this link:

http://make-everything-ok.com/

Lucky

The beautiful smiles of our Rohatsu sesshin participants. We are all so truly lucky to practice together!

Every Day is a Fine Day

We just finished our Rohatsu Sesshin, a moving and deep experience, full of insight and opening. One of my students came home to find this video in her email box. Please enjoy this visual Dharma talk!

no night no setting no rising

I'm just back from teaching a training/retreat in Sweden. I was lucky to be there at midsummer (solstice), and to finally experience the midnight sun, which I'd heard about all my life. Being from a lower latitude, this timeless realm of light all day and all night never ceased to enchant me. This photo was taken at 11 pm, during the long dusk to dawn period lasting from 10:30 pm until around 2:30 am, when the sun rises brightly and wakes all of us sleeping southerners.

the power of words

Dharma for all Ages

In a few moments, we'll be starting our three week ango at Boundless Way Temple. Just in case you can't come and practice with us, here's some dharma teaching to inspire you:

family portrait

A memory of summer in the bleak mid-winter -- when we are awake, all beings are one family.

This week marks the 19th anniversary of the Sunday Night Sitting Group, which has grown up to be the Worcester Zen Center, Boundless Way Temple. The second Buddha from the right was 5 years old at the time. The Sunday Night Group met at 8:20 PM so that our smallest Buddha could settle down for the night at 8 with a song and story. But she often came downstairs to sit with us, falling asleep in someone's lap in her pj's.

pelican at sunset

I have just returned home, in the early hours of the morning, from a teaching/vacation trip to Costa Rica. There is some good fortune in this life, and sometimes we need to remind ourselves that everything we need is right here, patiently, insentiently, waiting for us. The pelican diving for fish knows this. The waves know this. The sky knows this. Every once in a while, we know it too.

encounter on a New Year's Day walk

"When buddhas are truly buddhas they don't need to perceive they are buddhas; they are enlightened buddhas and they continue actualizing buddha."

-- from Genjokoan, by Eihei Dogen, translated by Shohaku Okumura

Okumura's definition of "genjokoan" is "to answer the question from true reality through the practice of our everyday activity." (From Realizing Genjokoan, Wisdom Publications, 2010.) The word buddha, of course, means "one who is awake."

When we look at everyday reality with the eyes of awakening, buddhas appear everywhere.

(photo by Myozen, rock and snow sculpture by Dae An.)