Robert Aitken Roshi (1917-2010)
Guiding teacher for the Zen Center of Denver & other Diamond Sangha centers; respected Roshi, scholar, translator, writer,
lover of birds, fighter of social injustice, beloved by countless students, students' children, and readers around the world.

www.tricycle.com/blog/?p=2166

http://robertaitken.blogspot.com/2010/08/goodbye-dad-grandfather-papa-friend.html

Zen is not about creating positive change in one's life; it's about realizing the miraculous in the imperfect.

Zen is not about a higher self; it's about no-self. Looking up at the night sky, the stars are just this body.

Grasshopper

Grasshopper, a short film which premiered at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival.

Cat Box Dharma

Spirituality and cleaning out the cat box are not two separate things. How could they be? Form is emptiness; emptiness is form.

Practice of the Wild

A trailer for Practice of the Wild, a film on the one, the only, Gary Snyder. Thanks to Paul Lynch at Zen Mirror.

Yuanwu (1063-1135)

I'm reading the letters of Yuanwu, author and compiler of the Blue Cliff Record, one of the seminal koan collections. He's one of those masters whose depth of realization sings on every page, in almost every line:

"Everywhere everything becomes the Great Function, and every single thing flows forth from your own breast. The ancients called this bringing out the family treasure. Once this is attained, it is attained forever. How could it ever be used up?"

Skiing Zarlengo

SKIING ZARLENGO

moose tracks bewitching the breath
black squirrel daggled with powder

no lodgepole but this tree this bough
too many to read but one is enough

Body-Mind Nonduality

A great interview with Gabor Mate, MD.

Great is the matter of birth and death.
Life slips quickly by.
Time waits for no one.
Wake up! Wake up!
Don’t waste a moment!

Not Knowing is Most Intimate

Dizang asked Fayan, "Where are you going?"
Fayan said, "Around on pilgrimage."
Dizang said, "What is the purpose of pilgrimage?"
Fayan said, "I don't know."
Dizang said, "Not knowing is most intimate."

The Book of Serenity, Case 20

Can we abide in not-knowing and still acknowledge fundamental interdependency and interconnectedness--regardless of scientific data and the interpretation of the data?

Arctic sea ice has stabilized over the past three years or so to a point just below the standard deviation of the 1979-2000 average, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center. It also appears that sea levels are not rising at nearly the rates feared, according to NOAA. See graphs below. Good news? Bad news? Ambivalent news?

Even if the sun should rise in the west, the bodhisattva has but one way...

Charlotte Joko Beck

"Life always gives us exactly the teacher we need at every moment. This includes every mosquito, every misfortune, every red light, every traffic jam, every obnoxious supervisor (or employee), every illness, every loss, every moment of joy or depression, every addiction, every piece of garbage, every breath. Every moment is the Guru." --Charlotte Joko Beck

Charlotte Joko Beck (born 1917) is a Zen teacher in the United States and the author of the books Everyday Zen: Love and Work and Nothing Special: Living Zen (from wikipedia)

Our Place in the Cosmos

Another Symphony of Science: Our Place in the Cosmos

Here's a whimsical little interactive piece on Zen from Japan. Be prepared to click on an image to advance the narrative.

Stopping

207 actors freeze, on queue, in one of the more bustling places in the world.