by Mushin Crisman | Feb 26, 2023 | Dharma Discourse
Sengcan (purportedly) wrote, “The Great Way is not difficult for those who do not pick and choose.” A lot going on here: “Great Way”, “not difficult”, “those who”. But for now, let’s pick and choose the phrase “pick and choose” to investigate. The mind of picking and...
by Mushin Crisman | Feb 21, 2023 | Dharma Discourse
Pedagogy: “the function or work of a teacher; teaching”. Methodology: “a branch of pedagogics dealing with analysis and evaluation of subjects to be taught and the methods of teaching” A Zen Ancestor said, “It’s not that there is no Ch’an (Zen) in China, just that...
by Mushin Crisman | Feb 14, 2023 | Dharma Discourse
Entering the White Forest Sangha Zendo one sees a calligraphy done by Kazuaki Tanahashi Sensei, 行, which he translates as “practice”. It has other meanings: do, act, walk, proceed, even “whatever is done by mouth, body, or mind”. Provisionally speaking, we take it as...
by Mushin Crisman | Feb 6, 2023 | Dharma Discourse
In the latter 20th century, as yoga meditation and East Asian iconography emerged in the mind of Western popular culture, the word mudra entered the Western lexicon. Images of yogis seated in cross-legged postures, hands on knees, palms up with the first (or second,...
by Mushin Crisman | Jan 30, 2023 | Dharma Discourse
Provisionally speaking, Zen is all about contents and context. 21 century physicists, examining the fabric of our universe, pose the question “does anything really exist?” One school of quantum theorists state explicitly that nothing, or rather no thing, exists. This...
