Left to right, Madelon, Lee
Staying Home–What’s the Point? — a talk by Madelon Bolling (April 6, 2020)
This talk was given during Windblown Plum. In these strange and confusing days when we have to isolate ourselves to stay healthy and alive, many have lost a sense of fitting in, of belonging. We cannot visit friends and neighbors in person, cannot experience the usual give-and-take with others the way we always have. Amid our loneliness, the question arises: so who am I? Why am I here? I’m no good to anybody just knocking around the house this way. “Staying safe”– what’s the point? This week I was charmed into reading Dogen’s chapter on...
read moreLike There Is No Tomorrow, A Talk By Madelon Bolling (February 9, 2020)
Case 32, Shaseki-shu [Collection of Stone and Sand]: A lord asked Takuan Soho, a Zen teacher, to suggest how he might pass the time. He felt his days very long attending his office and sitting stiffly to receive the homage of others. Takuan wrote eight Chinese characters and gave them to the man: Not twice this day Inch time foot gem. The translator explains: This day will not come again. Each minute is worth a priceless gem. PSC Not twice this day. It’s a new year—a good year to experience seeing clearly, you might say, 20/20. Last year...
read more“No Body” Breaks a Toe A Talk by Leland Shields, January 12, 2020
A nun was walking along a path, chanting the Heart Sutra. She accidentally kicked a stone, broke her toe and shouted out in pain. As she did so, the line in the Heart Sutra came to mind, “no body.” With this, body and mind dropped away. The related passage from the Heart Sutra is this one: Therefore in emptiness there is no form, no sensation, perception, mental reaction, consciousness; no eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind, no color, sound, scent, taste, touch, thought; no seeing and so on to no thinking; no ignorance and also no ending of...
read moreThe Indestructible Dharma-body, a Talk by Madelon Bolling (October 13, 2019)
Blue Cliff Record, Case 82: A monk asked Ta-lung, “The body of form and color perishes. What is the indestructible Dharma-body?” Ta-lung said, “The mountain flowers bloom like brocade; the river between the hills runs blue as indigo.” The body of form and color perishes. Asking why is a complete waste of energy. There is nothing to be done about it. Going to my sitting spot in the morning for a half-hour or so makes total sense, though I cannot say why. Seems to be the only thing to do at the moment. Like the first touch of morning light on...
read moreReaching with Effort – Being with No Effort – A Talk by Leland Shields
Lin-Chi was sleeping in the [Monks] Hall. Huang-po came in, and seeing him struck the front plank [of the sitting platform] with his staff. Lin-chi lifted his head, and seeing it was Huang-po, went back to sleep. Huang-po again struck the front plank, and went to the upper part of the Hall. Seeing the head monk sitting in meditation, he said: “That youngster down in the lower part of the Hall is sitting in meditation; what’re you doing here, cooking up wild fancies!” “What’s this old man up to?” said the head monk. Huang-po struck the front...
read moreHazy Moon – A Talk by Madelon Bolling
July 14, 2019 Case #6 of the Denkoroku is the story of the sixth patriarch in India, named Micchaka. Keizan’s closing verse to this story goes like this: Though we find clear waters raging to the vast blue sky in autumn; How can it compare with the hazy moon on a spring night? Most people want to have it pure white, But sweep as you will, you cannot empty the mind. (Aitken & Yamada translation) “Clear waters” here refers to purity. And in this translation, the third line is Most people want to have it pure white. Pure white is a...
read moreCart without Wheels – A Talk by Leland Shields
July 13, 2019 Hsi-chung Builds Carts The priest Yueh-an said to a monk, Hsi-chung made a hundred carts. If you take off both wheels and the axle, what would be vividly apparent? Wu-men’s comment: If you realize this directly, your eye is like a shooting star and your act is like snatching a bolt of lightning. Where the wheel revolves Even a master cannot follow it; The four cardinal half points, above, below, North, south, east west. (Case 8, The Gateless Barrier, Robert Aitken, p 60) I thank Larry for bringing this koan came to my attention...
read moreEvery day is a good day – a talk by Leland Shields
Blue Cliff Record, Case 6 Yun Men said, “I don’t ask you about before the fifteenth day; try to say something about after the fifteenth day.” Yun Men himself answered for everyone, “Every day is a good day.” Verse: He throws away one, picks up seven. Above, below, and in the four directions, there is no comparison. Placidly walking along, he treads down the sound of the flowing stream; His relaxed gaze decries the tracks of flying birds. The grasses grow thick, The mists overhang. ‘Round Suhuti’s cliff, the flowers make a mess; I snap my...
read moreOn Emptiness and Daily Life – a talk by Madelon Bolling
January 13, 2019 It is said that the world is empty, the world is empty, lord. In what respect is it said that the world is empty?” The Buddha replied, “Insofar as it is empty of a self or of anything pertaining to a self: Thus it is said, Ānanda, that the world is empty. –Sunna Sutra of the Pali canon Thank you for making the time, effort and sacrifice it took to join us here today to face the Great Matter together at the beginning of this new year, 2019. A new year reminds us to consider beginning again, getting a fresh take on...
read moreFree Me from My Fetters – a talk by Leland Shields (October 14, 2018)
There are some koans that grabbed me and never loosened their grip. Today I’d like to share one that I long remembered without recalling its source, so I recently sought it out once again. The closest I could find was this, from Transmission of the Light: The thirty first patriarch (China’s Fourth Patriarch), Zen Master Dayi (Daoxin), bowed to the Great Master Jianzhi and said, “I beg the priest in his great compassion to give me teaching of liberation.” The Patriarch replied, “Who is binding you?” The master said, “No one is binding me.” The...
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