The Buddha Akshobia on my left bicep:


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Keizan, in the Denkoroku or Transmission of Light, said this ( Read more... )

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This morning I wrote down this (highly unoriginal) haiku:
while squashing
an egg laying roach
Namu Dai Bosa!(*)
Then I had an uneasy feeling that I have already read it somewhere. Indeed, after only a little bit of research, I found these two gems by Kobayashi Issa (1763 - 1827; translation courtesy of David G. Lanoue: Read more... )

I wonder, why do I return to photographing the same themes over and over and over again? Like the JFK causeway and the bridge, during the last Fall, or the dragon teeth, during the last Spring, or the Bob Hall Pier, this Summer.

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(July 1952)

morning service
offering its fragrance
a white lily

(September 1952)

into the twilight zendo
maple leaves
come dancing

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As sealwhiskers noticed, not everything happens for a reason (even though everything that happens gives us a reason to grow up). Similarly, according to Buddhist sources, not everything which happens to us is the result of karma (something that I probably fail to emphasize enough in my Eastern Philosophy classes). Here are two references to very early Pali ( Read more... )

Mumonkan -- The Gateless Gate, Case 18:
A monk asked Tozan, "What is Buddha?"
Tozan answered, "Three pounds of flax!"
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Proof of reincarnation"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uk7biSOzr1k

Click to view

Ikkyu Sojun (1394-1481) is Japanese poet, calligrapher, and Zen priest
(in fact, one of the Great Patriarchs (Daiosho) of Rinzai Zen).
His impact on both Japanese poetry and Zen Buddhism
and understanding of the red thread of passion* is immeasurable ( Read more... )