Left to right, Madelon, Lee
Today is Mothers Day
Today is Mothers Day . . . for me as for many of us here, this day’s observance is a bittersweet reminder that “all things pass quickly away…” Remembering my mom wakens an urgency to inquire into the Great Matter, into mortality, life and death. Remembering her is a first step into this terrible mystery. Just what is going on here anyway? In Case 47 of the Mumonkan, the priest Doushuai set up three barriers to test his students. One of these barriers begins like this: When you have realized your...
read moreOn Feeling Lost – Madelon Bolling
The koan here is case 1 in Zen Echoes; also found as Case 1 in the Book of Equanimity and Case 92 in the Blue Cliff Record. One day, the World-Honored One ascended the seat. When the great assembly had gathered and settled down, Mañjuśri struck his gavel and said, “Observe deeply the Dharma of the Dharma King; the Dharma of the Dharma King is like this.” The World-Honored One then came down from the seat. In response to this koan, Zen master Miaozong declared: The true teaching has been transmitted in its entirety. The...
read moreEngaging The Bodhisattva Precepts: a talk by Leland Shields on October 8, 2017
It seems civility is violated daily in our public discourse. White supremacists seem newly emboldened as we saw in Charlottesville. Early this year in our own state, respected professor Bret Weinstein objected to a proposed demonstration on the Evergreen State College campus, and received death threats. Also this year, the Dallas News reported that Representative Tony Tinderholt received death threats over his bill to abolish abortion. More recently and while I was writing this talk, yet another senseless mass shooting occurred, this time in...
read moreObserving: A Midsummer Retreat – A talk by Madelon Bolling, (July 9, 2017)
The predecessor of this midsummer retreat was called “Ancient Bones.” They say it was discontinued because fewer and fewer people could attend at all. Even with allowances for our limitations, it had become too arduous for those with ancient bones. I bought pre-paid cremation services for my dad a couple weekends ago and we scattered my brother-in-law’s ashes on the Fourth of July. We’re all of us facing death from the instant we are born. We can’t face away from it since it is part of life itself. Death is seen as an end,...
read morePurify – Already Pure, A Talk by Leland Shields (July 8, 2017)
In Red Pine’s translation of the Platform Sutra, it begins with these words of Hui neng and then those of a narrator within the text: “Good friends, purify your minds by reciting the teaching of Mahaprajnaparamita.” Then the Master stopped speaking, while he purified his own mind. (Red Pine, The Platform Sutra: The Zen Teachings of Hui-neng, 2006, p. 73) This can be a simple introduction, including a moment of Zazen meditation, or chanting one of the Prajnaparamita Sutras silently or out loud. The Prajnaparamita sutras are the Diamond...
read moreZen Practice: What About Thinking? – a talk by Madelon Bolling
Zen Practice: What About Thinking? In Zazen Universally Recommended, Dogen says: Think without thoughts. How do you think without thoughts? Nonthinking. This is the essential art of zazen. I am assuming that at least some here besides me wrestle with this unwieldy thing called thinking? If not, please just enjoy the story. Some years ago there was a gathering here at Dharma Gate where we were invited to ask practice questions. At last! I thought, and I asked how to deal with thoughts when sitting zazen. One of the senior students,...
read moreOn Divisiveness – a talk by Madelon Bolling
On Divisiveness Everywhere the fog has blown away revealing what I have been unwilling to acknowledge. Separateness is fiction. In Dai-O Kokushi’s On Zen, we recite, “There is a reality even prior to Heaven and Earth,” Heaven and Earth being the spiritual and material realms, respectively. But this line affirms that there is a reality, a condition of possibility underlying what we call "spiritual" and what we call "material." Saying this reality is prior means it gives rise both to what we call spiritual...
read moreTwo-Day Zen Retreat with Jack Duffy (November 12,13 , 2016)
Three Treasures Sangha is hosting a two-day retreat with Jack Duffy Roshi at Dharma Gate zendo on November 12-13th. Jack Duffy will give a talk each day and hold dokusan (practice-related interviews). Everyone is welcome even if you haven’t attended a Three Treasures Sangha retreat. If you’re looking for other opportunities to sit Zen with Three Treasures, check out our Calendar. For more information about this or other retreats,...
read moreThe Great Vows Project -A Talk by Larry Keil (June 12, 2016)
I wanted to share with you a project I have been working on for the past couple of months. This project is a rewording of the Great Vows for All. This came about when I was reading the Diamond Sangha newsletter and noticed that some of the teachers were looking at a rewording of the four great vows. I was not particularly taken with some of what they came up with, so wondered what words I might use if I rewrote the vows. This became an engaging task for me–trying to be as faithful as possible to the meaning of the original Chinese...
read moreOne-Day Zen Retreat (Zazenkai) with talk by Larry Keil (June 12th, 2016)
Please join us for a day of sitting and a dharma talk. Larry will talk about the great vows and his personal project of rewording them a bit to resonate more closely with his own experiences. He hopes to keep the talking part short and then have a good discussion with time for whoever wants to contribute their wisdom. Schedule 9:00am Opening, Five Remembrances, Zazen 9:35am Zazen 10:30am Dharma talk by Larry 11:30am Zazen 12:00pm Informal lunch (Soup will be provided. Please bring food to share.No time to pull together food? – Come...
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