If you remember nothing else, always remember this one great secret of spiritual practice: we don’t have to feel any particular way. We don’t have to have special experiences, nor do we have to be any particular way. With whatever arises, whether it’s pleasing or not, try to remember that all we can do is experience and work with whatever our life is right now. No matter what life is and no matter how we feel about it, all that matters in practice is whether we can honestly acknowledge what is going on, and then stay present with the physical experience of that moment.

– Ezra Bayda

Practice Meetings

Tuesday Nov 13, 8:30am
Friday Nov 16, 7:00pm

This Week’s Reading

Thich Nhat Hanh, Old Path While Cloud, Chapter 20, “The Deer”.

This Week’s Koan

Gateless Gate #4: “A Beardless Foreigner”

Wakun complained when he saw a picture of the bearded Bodhidharma:

“Why hasn’t that fellow a beard?”

Mumon’s Verse

Practice Meetings

Tuesday Nov 6, 8:30am
Friday Nov 9, 7:00pm

This Week’s Reading

Thich Nhat Hanh, Old Path While Cloud, Chapter 19, “Tangerine of Mindfulness”.

This Week’s Koan

Gateless Gate #8: “Keichu’s Wheel”

Getsuan said to this students:

“Keichu, the first wheel-maker of China, made two wheels of fifty spokes each. Now, suppose you removed the nave [hub] uniting the spokes. What would become of the wheel? And had Keichu done this could he be called the master wheel-maker?”

Mumon’s Verse

Practice Meetings

Tuesday Oct 30, 8:30am
Friday Nov 2, 7:00pm

This Week’s Reading

Thich Nhat Hanh, Old Path While Cloud, Chapter 18, “The Morning Star Has Risen”.

This Week’s Koan

Book of Serenity #28: “Gokoku’s Three Disgraces”

A monk asked Gokoku, “How about when a crane perches on a withered pine tree?”

Gokoku said, “It is a disgrace when seen from the ground.”

The monk asked, “What about when every drop of water is frozen at once?”

Gokoku said, “It’s a disgrace after the sun has risen.”

The monk asked, “At the time of the Esho Persecution [1], where did the good Guardian Deities [2] of the Dharma go?”

Gokoku said, “It is a disgrace for the two of them on both sides of the temple gate.”

[1]: Buddhism was suppressed by order of Emperor Bu (about 840).

[2]: Nio-figures representing the two Deva kings on each side of the main gate of a Buddhist temple. They are considered to be protectors of the Dharma.

Practice Meetings

Tuesday Oct 23, 8:30am
Friday Oct 26, 7:00pm

This Week’s Reading

Thich Nhat Hanh, Old Path While Cloud, Chapter 17, “Pippalla Leaf”.

This Week’s Koan

Gateless Gate #45: “Who is he?”

To Tozan, Master Hoen the Fifth Patriarch said,

“Shakyamuni and Maitreya Boddhisattva, both are His slaves. Well, tell me: Who is He?”

Mumon’s Comments:

Should you be able to clearly realize who he is, it would be as if you met your own father at the crossroads, as you do not have to ask your own father who he is.

Mumon’s Verse:

Practice Meetings

Tuesday Oct 16, 8:30am
Friday Oct 19, 7:00pm

This Week’s Reading

Thich Nhat Hanh, Old Path While Cloud, Chapter 16, “Was Yasodhara Sleeping”.

This Week’s Koan

Gateless Gate #38: “Goso’s Water Buffalo”

Goso asked, “A water buffalo goes out of his ‘enclosure.’ The head, the horns, and the four legs go through, but why doesn’t the tail, too?”

Mumon’s Comments:

If you can open your one eye (to the question) and say an awakening word, you will be able to repay the Four Obligations and help the Three Bhava being saved. If you still have not gotten it, take a close look on the tail and awake yourself.

Mumon’s Verse:

Practice Meetings

Tuesday Oct 9, 8:30am
Friday Oct 12, 7:00pm

This Week’s Reading

Thich Nhat Hanh, Old Path While Cloud, Chapter 15, “Forest Ascetic”.

This Week’s Koan

Gateless Gate #36: “Goso’s No Words, No Silence”

Goso said,

“When you meet a Man of the Way on the road, greet him not with words, nor with silence. Tell me, how will you greet him?”

Mumon’s Comments:

If you can answer Goso exactly, it will be extremely heartening. If you cannot answer properly yet, then you must do your best to watch out everything.

Practice Meetings

Tuesday Oct 2, 8:30am
Friday Oct 5, 7:00pm

This Week’s Reading

Thich Nhat Hanh, Old Path While Cloud, Chapter 14, “Crossing the Ganga”.

This Week’s Koan

Gateless Gate #35: “Two Souls”

Goso asked a monk,

“Sei, the Chinese girl, who was separated from her soul. Which was the real Sei?”

Announcement

Retreat! On 2012 Sep 27-30, Zen Teacher Valerie Forstman will be leading a retreat at the Gainesville Retreat Center. More info at the Retreats page.

Practice Meetings

Tuesday Sep 25, 8:30am
Friday Sep 28, 7:00pm

This Week’s Reading

Thich Nhat Hanh, Old Path While Cloud, Chapter 13, “Beginning a Spiritual Practice”.

This Week’s Koan

Gateless Gate #47: “Tosotsu’s Three Barriers”

Master Tosotsu, setting up the three barriers, always tried the pursuer of the Way:

“To search for the Way, the Zen student tries to grasp one’s own nature and be enlightened. Now where is your true nature?”

Secondly,

“Once having grasped one’s own nature, one is free from birth and death. If then, one’s eyeballs have dropped dead, how can one be free from life?”

Thirdly,

“Being free from birth and death, one instantly knows where to go after death, Being dead and the body dispersed into the four elements, where then does one go?”

– Ayya Khema, Be an Island

Announcement

Retreat! On 2012 Sep 27-30, Zen Teacher Valerie Forstman will be leading a retreat at the Gainesville Retreat Center. More info at the Retreats page.

Practice Meetings

Tuesday Sep 18, 8:30am
Friday Sep 21, 7:00pm

This Week’s Reading

Thich Nhat Hanh, Old Path While Cloud, Chapter 12, “Kanthaka”.

This Week’s Koan

Book of Serenity #44: “Koyo’s Suparnin”

A monk asked Master Ho of Koyo,

“The great dragon has emerged from the ocean, calming heaven and earth. How will you treat him when he suddenly appears before you?”

Master Ho said,

“Suparnin [1], the king of birds, absorbs the entire universe. Who can stick his head within him?”

The monk said,

“But how about when he does appear?”

Ho said,

“It is like a falcon catching a pigeon. If you don’t realize it, you will learn the truth through the ‘inspection before the balcony.’ [2]”

The monk said,

“If so, then I’ll fold my hands on my chest and retreat three steps.”

Ho said,

“You black tortoise under the Sumeru altar. [3] Don’t wait to be struck on the forehead again and get hurt.”

[1]: A giant bird that eats even dragons.

[2]: A reference to a story in which Heigenkun Chosho, the brother of the king of Cho and a wealthy landlord with 3,000 dependents, built a grand palace with a balcony that overlooked the main road. One day a crippled person was passing by and one of the concubines saw him and laughed. The crippled person was angered and demanded Heigenkun her head. Heigenkun presented the head of an executed convict as the head of the concubine. His dependents knew of his deception, lost faith in their master and gradually all left him. His fortunes declined, so at last he cut off the head of the concubine and presented it for the crippled person to inspect. After that the dependents returned and his fortunes were restored. The story is an allusion to the fact that you can never hide away the real truth.

[3]: A reference to one of the four carved figures, representing black tortoises, underneath the Sumeru altar (with the Buddha statue). It is used here as a symbol of someone who has lost the freedom of movement.

– Wen Chao, The Clouds Should Know Me By Now

Announcement

Retreat! On 2012 Sep 27-30, Zen Teacher Valerie Forstman will be leading a retreat at the Gainesville Retreat Center. More info at the Retreats page.

Practice Meetings

Tuesday Sep 11, 8:30am
Friday Sep 14, 7:00pm

This Week’s Reading

Thich Nhat Hanh, Old Path While Cloud, Chapter 11, “Moonlight Flute”.

This Week’s Koan

Book of Serenity #100: “Roya’s Mountains and Rivers”

A monk asked Master Kaku of Roya,

“The essential state is pure and clear. How are mountains, rivers and the great earth produced at once?”

Kaku said,

“The essential state is pure and clear. How are mountains, rivers and the great earth produced at once?”