by Mushin Crisman | May 17, 2023 | Dharma Discourse
A joke: A person exits a bar and sees an other frantically looking for something under the streetlight. They offer help, saying, “What did you lose?”. The increasingly desperate person says, “My keys!” “Where did you lose them?” “Over there, in the dark!” “Why are you...
by Mushin Crisman | May 9, 2023 | Dharma Discourse
What is trust? What is trust in Zen? The English word ‘trust’ comes from the Old Norse, traust, meaning confidence, protection, support. It’s like a moose crossing a frozen pond. The moose first gently places one hoof on the ice, touching it, testing its strength...
by Mushin Crisman | Apr 30, 2023 | Dharma Discourse
What does “being triggered” mean? In Western popular culture, being triggered is having a pathologic response to present experience caused by memory of prior experience. Provisionally speaking, the process of triggering, either pathologic or non-pathologic, is Zen’s...
by Mushin Crisman | Apr 22, 2023 | Dharma Discourse
Impermanence is one of the core teachings of Buddhism. It is another way of saying nothing is unchanging; every ‘thing’ is changing (really?). However, for the ordinary waking mind, knowing change is a challenge. What ordinary mind mostly knows is difference. When you...
by Mushin Crisman | Apr 17, 2023 | Dharma Discourse
Riders on the Storm People come to Zen centers seeking something. They come as “seeker”s. Often their visit was triggered by trauma, loss, heartbreak. Sometimes just a hollowness, a felt not-wholeness. Life could be, should be more. More than what? More than it is....
