tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15862793520034080112024-02-21T02:59:15.308-07:00Café ZenO little root of a dreamCafé Zenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15332384800804513129noreply@blogger.comBlogger40125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586279352003408011.post-13230763100625762812010-08-10T08:28:00.005-06:002010-08-11T16:01:58.121-06:00Robert 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=2166http://robertaitken.blogspot.com/2010/08/goodbye-dad-grandfather-papa-friend.htmlCafé Zenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15332384800804513129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586279352003408011.post-75927500470490731072010-08-03T07:07:00.002-06:002010-08-05T16:06:45.890-06:00Zen is not about creating positive change in one's life; it's about realizing the miraculous in the imperfect.Café Zenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15332384800804513129noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586279352003408011.post-70514750402888845132010-08-02T15:26:00.001-06:002010-08-02T15:31:11.832-06:00Zen is not about a higher self; it's about no-self. Looking up at the night sky, the stars are just this body.Café Zenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15332384800804513129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586279352003408011.post-80069467197057221422010-06-24T22:46:00.003-06:002010-06-24T22:53:55.980-06:00Grasshopper Grasshopper, a short film which premiered at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival.Café Zenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15332384800804513129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586279352003408011.post-36216608459290068022010-06-20T17:43:00.001-06:002010-06-20T17:45:08.002-06:00Cat Box Dharma Spirituality and cleaning out the cat box are not two separate things. How could they be? Form is emptiness; emptiness is form.Café Zenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15332384800804513129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586279352003408011.post-24196338618516820682010-05-11T15:59:00.008-06:002010-05-11T16:08:12.301-06:00Practice of the WildA trailer for Practice of the Wild, a film on the one, the only, Gary Snyder. Thanks to Paul Lynch at Zen Mirror.Café Zenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15332384800804513129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586279352003408011.post-89310121621640388262010-05-11T09:26:00.006-06:002010-05-17T17:04:21.592-06:00Yuanwu (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 Café Zenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15332384800804513129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586279352003408011.post-52143204901273662302010-04-01T09:48:00.005-06:002010-04-01T09:55:46.395-06:00Skiing ZarlengoSKIING ZARLENGO moose tracks bewitching the breathblack squirrel daggled with powderno lodgepole but this tree this boughtoo many to read but one is enoughCafé Zenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15332384800804513129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586279352003408011.post-645126074454353292010-03-21T12:25:00.003-06:002010-03-21T12:30:18.575-06:00Body-Mind NondualityA great interview with Gabor Mate, MD.Café Zenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15332384800804513129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586279352003408011.post-87892359812337252882010-02-07T14:22:00.003-07:002010-02-07T22:26:39.902-07:00Great 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!Café Zenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15332384800804513129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586279352003408011.post-78672514667053026552010-02-01T16:10:00.019-07:002010-06-20T17:49:21.901-06:00Not Knowing is Most IntimateDizang 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 20Can we abide in not-knowing and still acknowledge fundamental interdependency and interconnectedness--regardless of scientific data and the interpretation of the data?ArcticCafé Zenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15332384800804513129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586279352003408011.post-73015120089335425102010-01-29T18:05:00.004-07:002010-01-29T18:08:39.809-07:00Charlotte 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 BeckCharlotte Joko Beck (born 1917) is a Zen Café Zenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15332384800804513129noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586279352003408011.post-52100542939931030352010-01-27T11:25:00.004-07:002010-04-01T10:03:33.757-06:00Our Place in the CosmosAnother Symphony of Science: Our Place in the CosmosCafé Zenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15332384800804513129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586279352003408011.post-75648165426549228742010-01-18T09:32:00.005-07:002010-01-18T09:46:30.595-07:00Here's a whimsical little interactive piece on Zen from Japan. Be prepared to click on an image to advance the narrative.Café Zenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15332384800804513129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586279352003408011.post-50244182725588567722010-01-04T11:17:00.008-07:002010-04-01T10:10:22.873-06:00Stopping207 actors freeze, on queue, in one of the more bustling places in the world.Café Zenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15332384800804513129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586279352003408011.post-4706416947523155032009-12-29T12:34:00.012-07:002009-12-30T15:08:06.653-07:00Dharma LogicBecause cross-country skiing exists, there is non-cross-country skiing. Because poetry exists, there is non-poetry. Because breathing in exists, there is breathing out. Because hatred exists, there is compassion. Because greed exists, there is generosity. Because birth exists, there is the unborn. Because death exists, there is no-death. Because the self exists, there is no-self. And when you Café Zenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15332384800804513129noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586279352003408011.post-62666661836415683432009-12-23T07:47:00.021-07:002010-02-04T15:03:15.713-07:00On Devouring and Being DevouredDeep winter nights definitely encourage and evoke inwardness and stillness—a chance to stop and reflect on what's vital. In deep zazen we devour the breath and the breath devours us. There's no separation. The barking of the neighborhood dog devours us. The sound of traffic replaces us. The cell phone in the other room rings in the center of the mind. We light lights and come together in Café Zenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15332384800804513129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586279352003408011.post-43940470165375891472009-12-08T08:36:00.014-07:002009-12-22T05:47:34.029-07:00Buddha's Enlightenment DayThanks to James Ishmael Ford's blog Monkey Mind for this video posted today, the day widely recognized as the anniversary of the Buddha's supreme enlightenment. It's gratifying to see scientists speak in a more holistic way than usual, ie, that our investigation into the nature of the cosmos is, in fact, the cosmos investigating itself, the cosmos being aware of itself. We are made of star stuff,Café Zenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15332384800804513129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586279352003408011.post-60051148555303246932009-11-27T11:09:00.021-07:002009-12-22T05:46:57.573-07:00225 Words or LessThere's something inherently daunting about trying to describe or talk about the Dharma or Zen or just the practice of sitting. Words can't reach it and the Zen adepts of old would often respond or teach non-conceptually by remaining silent, shouting, drawing an enso like the one above, or even hitting disciples who asked questions like: What is Zen? What's the teaching of the Buddha? What's the Café Zenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15332384800804513129noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586279352003408011.post-87060025888554976872009-11-11T07:57:00.063-07:002009-12-10T11:09:02.215-07:00The World Series, Your LifeHenry David Thoreau famously believed that the vast majority of people "lead lives of quiet desperation." Imagine Thoreau saying this today on Larry King Live or on Oprah!. I think he'd probably sound like some condescending dean or like he was getting ready to introduce the Thoreau Personal Empowerment Plan. But surely most people feel at some point that something profound is missing from their Café Zenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15332384800804513129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586279352003408011.post-79738109161586511382009-11-03T15:59:00.013-07:002009-12-10T11:07:04.311-07:00What time is it?If past and future are private/social constructs and the present is ungraspable, how do we understand time? It's so easy to think of time as passing us by or passing quickly but aren't we right here in the river with it, as it?.Nagarjuna (150-250 CE): "Time has no concrete reality.".Robert Aitken Roshi (b. 1917 CE): "Time and no time, substance and the void, existence and nonexistence - these areCafé Zenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15332384800804513129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586279352003408011.post-73229410085423880272009-10-15T06:09:00.028-06:002009-12-30T14:33:58.607-07:00Zen is sometimes equated with philosophy, but the two are very different. The former is "thinking about thinking," according to the Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy, and the latter is a path beyond words and silence. Accordingly, philosophy texts and Zen Buddhist texts differ in at least one fundamental way. Philosophy texts seek to say something new in the usual way while Zen Buddhist texts seek Café Zenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15332384800804513129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586279352003408011.post-30733105685444738792009-10-10T07:46:00.030-06:002009-12-10T11:04:30.584-07:00John Daido Loori Roshi (1931-2009) In 2008 the Denver Zen Center dedicated the June sesshin to John Daido Roshi who had just started aggressive chemotherapy for lung cancer. I happened to be jisha and so called Zen Mountain Monastery to let them know of the dedication. Daido's assistant said that earlier in the day he had joked about people not realizing that the cure was killing him, not the cancer. I never had the privilege of Café Zenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15332384800804513129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586279352003408011.post-73843756348836777412009-09-24T09:42:00.020-06:002009-12-10T10:58:59.567-07:00Everything is cosmic! There's a single frame in a Robert Crumb comic strip (I'll replace Mr. Natural here with it, if and when I find it) with a close-up of a typically bugged-out Crumb character who seems shocked and panicky—sweating profusely, eyes popping—saying, "I...I just realized. Everything is cosmic!" Yes! There's no place more cosmic than right where you are, no activity more cosmic than what you do each Café Zenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15332384800804513129noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1586279352003408011.post-91903764906329098882009-09-02T16:59:00.014-06:002009-11-04T09:29:16.275-07:00Herman Hesse's novella Knulp is a great tale about the wisdom of not-knowing and our obligation to trust and rest in that vast space. It's a story about a man named Knulp (spoiler alert!) who spends his life wandering from town to town, from relationship to relationship, from job to job, never committing, never tying himself to anything or anyone. He's sort of monk-like but without any Café Zenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15332384800804513129noreply@blogger.com1