Zen Practice-at-home intensive with Jack Duffy (April 10-17, 2021)
Registration is now available for the Zen Practice-at-home intensive with Jack Duffy. Register Schedule for 7-Day Practice @ Home Intensive with Jack Duffy April 10-17, 2021 Saturday, April 10: 6:45pm gather on Zoom 7:00 cautions and zoom ground rules, check-in 7:30 ...
Read MoreZenkai (May 9, 2021) with Madelon Bolling
TTS will hold the May 9, 2021 Zenkai remotely (by Zoom). If you are able, please join all or part of this opportunity for intensive practice with others. 8:15 Samu – cleaning your space or home 8:45 Gathering on Zoom 8:55 Be seated 9:00 (5 Remembrances), Zazen, Kinhin 10:10 (Dai-O Kokushi) Dharma talk (Shiku Seigan Mon)* 10: 45 Zazen, Kinhin (11:15 Interviews available) 12:00 (audio and video on) Break to get food...
Read Morehands and eyes – a talk by Madelon Bolling
The Blue Cliff Record, case 89: Yunyan asked Daowu, “How does the Bodhisattva Guanyin use those many hands and eyes?” Daowu answered, “It is like someone in the middle of the night reaching behind her head for the pillow.” Yunyan said, “I understand.” Daowu asked, “How do you understand it?” Yunyan said, “All over the body are hands and eyes.” Daowu said, “That is very well expressed, but it is only eight-tenths of the answer.” Yunyan said, “How would you say it, Elder Brother?” Daowu said, “Throughout the body are hands and eyes.” “How does the Bodhisattva Guanyin use those many hands and...
Read MoreWhy Does it Come to This? / I Vow to Free – A Talk Given by Lee Shields, October 11, 2020
After the sittings on Friday mornings, the koan that has been shared recently is case 98 from The Record of Tung-shan (Dongshan) that goes like this: One time when the Master was washing his bowls, he saw two birds contending over a frog. A monk who also saw this asked, “Why does it come to that?” The Master replied, “It’s only for your benefit, Acarya.” Before sitting on Wednesday evenings, we have taken up the translations of the first of the Four Infinite vows, also known as the Bodhisattva Vows. The Mountain Lamp version is: All beings beyond number, I vow to free. Aitken Roshi’s...
Read MoreDahui, Swampland Flowers: 9 Enlightenment and Delusion (a talk by Lee Shields, September 7, 2020)
Dahui, Swampland Flowers: 9 Enlightenment and Delusion In the last paragraph of lecture 9 of the Swampland Flowers, Dahui directed us with the following: If you want to cut directly through, don’t entertain doubts about buddhas and ancestral teachers, or doubts about birth and death – just always let go and make your heart empty and open. When things come up, then deal with them according to the occasion. Be like the stillness of the water, like the clarity of a mirror, (so that) whether good or bad, beautiful or ugly approach, you don’t make the slightest move to avoid them. (Then) you will...
Read MoreThis Moment – A Talk by Madelon Bolling – June 14, 2020
A monk asked, “What is the essential meaning of Buddhism?” Mazu said, “What is the meaning of this moment?” (Ferguson, p. 76) Our world has changed so radically that ordinary routines don’t work any more or are not available. Like any other living thing, when the old ways don’t work, we try to meet our needs in new ways. Deprived of overhead light, an upright tree will begin reaching sideways, growing a new shape. We talk a lot about sudden radical change and unpredictability under the current threats of death, destruction, disease, and disorder. We talk about how this maps on to...
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