'Deadline Zen' Essay in Tiferet Journal
An excerpt from my essay “Deadline Zen” in the summer 2026 issue of Tiferet Journal.
Read MoreA single tree
“some of the friends will never be aware of a single tree they will live in a world without a leaf
where the rain is misfortune”
— W. S. Merwin
I must remember to look again.
Go home
“To meditate means to go home to yourself. Then you know how to take care of the things that are happening inside you, and you know how to take care of the things that happen around you.”
-- Thich Nhat Hanh
Caring for the "self," bearing witness, embracing hope, taking action.
Zen Talk: Light, Darkness and Helen Keller
A talk about the Sandokai, two koans and the story of Helen Keller.
Read MoreArrival and surrender
“Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home.”
—Matsumoto Basho
You have already reached your destination.
What Is It Like?
“What is it like to be you? Just feel how wide consciousness goes out when we’re just here, when it’s not going back and forth all the time. Past, present, future . . . to be here. What is this time like?”
– John Tarrant, Pacific Zen Institute
Then let it go.
Read MoreZen Talk: The Second Arrow
Sometimes physical pain can make it hard to sit in meditation. Read more here.
Read MoreZen Talk: One Thing at a Time
This is a talk I gave about the koan in which Joshu told one of his followers to wash his bowls.
Read More'Being alive is enough'
In an Oct. 11 dharma talk delivered at a day-long retreat at Still Mind Zendo in Manhattan, Sensei Marisa Cespedes quoted Roshi Shunryū Suzuki: "Being alive is enough."
Read MoreAllen Ginsberg's instructions for meditation
The Beat poet Allen Ginsberg’s once explained to a skeptical interviewer how to sit in Zen meditation. It begins and ends with the breath. Like life.
Read MoreLook at the sky
Some advice from Pema Chödrön.
Read MoreYou must be breathing
Reflecting on some Buddhist wisdom found in a BBC series from 1977.
Read MoreZen Talk: The narrators in my head
I gave a version of this talk on July 1, 2025, at Still Mind Zendo, where I am a senior student.
Read MoreZen quote: Poco a poco
“There is a beautiful expression in Spanish, poco a poco, little by little. Our life is always poco a poco, and the way we practice poco a poco is zazen. In each moment, in each little step by step, the Buddhadharma is completely revealed. So little is not little, it is boundless.”
— Bernie Glassman
Read MoreZen Quote: Touch your beard
I cam across this line in Kōun Yamada’s commentary on Case 4 of the Mumonkan.
Read MoreZen Talk: Reflections on the Great Bodhisattva Vows
“Creations are numberless, I vow to free them.” This is the first of the great bodhisattva vows for all. This is the text of a talk I gave about the vows at Still Mind Zendo in April 2025.
Read MoreZen Talk: Noticing, allowing, breathing
Notice. Allow. Breathe. Together these words form a powerful koan. This is the text of a brief talk I gave in December 2024 at Still Mind Zendo on the subject of breathing meditation and the biological phenomenon of habituation.
Read MoreQuotation: Solzhenitsyn on Ideology
“Ideology -- that is what gives evildoing its long-sought justification and gives the evildoer the necessary steadfastness and determination.”
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