Buddha | Buddhist | Buddhism

It was a beautiful day here in Minnesota. Sunny. Light winds. Spring time temperatures. The perfect conditions for having encounters with other creatures! Now, I'm not talking aliens. I'm talking wild turkeys and snakes. After parking my bike this morning, I walked behind a construction site near our zen center. Turning the corner, I came nearly face to face with two wild turkeys. Wild turkeys

With palms together, Good Afternoon Everyone, Peace and joy to the world. Would that it were so. Unfortunately, we are fighting on many, many fronts and there is great discord in the world at large. There is fighting in nearly every land and if not fighting, great suffering. Sometimes to consider this truth is enough to make a sane person crazy. We have this month: Hanamatsuri, Passover, and Easter. Each celebrates the hope of liberation. Yet, it is clear to me that this sort of thing is a person by person thing. Groups are so often discordant. Mass liberation is a delusional hope. So, rather than ask for, or to pray for, world peace, I will chose instead to practice peace. Homeless Kodo once said its all about practice. He said its about Zazen. If it is raining and the roof leaks, try to fix it, but if you cannot fix it, move to where there is no drip and practice Zazen. He said religion is not a concept, but a practice. So, we do not believe in world peace, we become world peace. How...

"Suffering is not enough. Life is both dreadful and wonderful...How can I smile when I am filled with so much sorrow? It is natural--you need to smile to your sorrow because you are more than your sorrow." ~Thich Nhat Hanh Technorati Tags: Buddha Buddhist Buddhism Meditation Dharma

In 1932 Max Planck, the father of Quantum theory, said that Science cannot solve the ultimate mystery of nature insofar as we are part of nature and therefore part of the mystery that we are trying to solve. This mystery, to be sure, is quite profound and hyper-subtle. If science is arrogant enough to believe that it is getting closer to solving the mystery of nature, it is severely deluded. Science which depends on sensory consciousness and instruments designed to increase the power of the senses is only increasing the scope and depth of natures mysterynot solving it. As a result, only more questions will arise; certainly not answers which remove the mystery. Solving the mystery of nature is not a job for science. Its job is to create useful and practical fictions which extends to technology and its development. Where science errs is in not realizing that the scaffolding it creates is not the same as what it is placed against. In other words we cannot, through the senses, know the tra...

Team Zen completed the Iron Bunny 5k today in support of ALS disease research. Thanks to Student Kanu and Jiisha Soku Shin for running with me. Be well.

"The source of love is deep in us and we can help others realize a lot of happiness. One word, one action, one thought can reduce another person's suffering and bring that person joy." ~Thich Nhat Hanh Technorati Tags: Buddha Buddhist Buddhism Meditation Dharma

I forgot that I'd created this image to go with my BuddhaRocks Violates the Second Precept post, so here it is today. Waste not, want not, better late than never. Hmm what other trite-ism can I wedge in here to prop up my failing memory? And I actually am going to promise new art with the next post! Yes it's true despite my preoccupation with washing windows and raking up the windfall of at