Zen can offer something very simple, very direct and readily accessible to anyone seeking inner peace, seeking healing in some form, or seeking answers to questions such as ‘Who am I?’ ‘How can I find meaning in my life?’ ‘How can I live in a most authentic way?’
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Helen Cortes narrates The Fundamentals of Zen Practice:
Ruben Habito describes the Fruits of Zen Practice:
One of my favorite Zen kōans is about a monk named Qingshui (pronounced Seizei in Japanese), who asks his teacher, Caoshan, “Master, I am alone and poor. Help me to become prosperous.” Caoshan responds, addressing him: “Venerable Qing!” To this Qingshui replies, saying “Yes, Master.” Thereby Caoshan proclaims, “There! You have just drunk three of the finest cups of wine in all of China, and you say you have not yet moistened your lips?”
A casual reader is tempted to ask, now what in the world is the Zen Master talking about here? What cups of wine? Where can they be found? And that is precisely the kind of question that this kōan is meant to provoke. The Master is telling Qingshui, and also each and everyone of us, “You say you are alone and poor. Don’t you realize that you possess treasures in abundance, right there before your very eyes? Stop for a moment, open your eyes and see!” Read the full story »
Helen Cortes narrates The Fundamentals of Zen Practice:
Ruben Habito describes the Fruits of Zen Practice:
As we enter the 2012th year of the western calendar, which is also the Year of the Dragon in the East Asian cycle, we are made aware from many fronts that we live in troubled …
Buddha Volume 1-Kapilavastu by Osamu Tezuka
Last November of 2010, arriving early on the final night of MKZC’s Tuesday night sit at the Crow Collection, Joni and I wandered upstairs to the sitting/reading room that’s above …
Zazenkai, All-day sit.
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By Lucille Enix
Twenty-five years ago, I fell into a dimension of life I had no concept existed. The event started with a blinding pain in my abdomen. They wheeled me into surgery, and from there …
Taken at the 2011 Rohatsu Sesshin in December 2011. Pictured from left to right: Joe Benenate, Lee Ann Nail, Helen Cortes, Ruben L.F. Habito, Maria Reis-Habito, and Valerie Forstman (Photographer: Paul Welch)
by Ruben Habito
Editor’s Note: This is part of a series of articles on The Ten Ox-Herding Pictures. View all the available articles of the series here.
By way of preparation for this third picture, let me …
