Rusty Ring

A lifetime sitting with the central tenet of Islam has led me to accept it. You must submit. Islam means submission in Arabic....

"Dying is easy. Practice is hard." (My monastic riff on a hallowed show biz pun .) (Photo of Chàn ancestor Hanshan De...

What is zazen? Just sitting. What is practice? Just doing. What for? For nothing. Just do it. Practice the dharma for...

Some months ago I had a refreshing conversation on Zen ethics with a fellow hermit on Mastodon. We're equally sceptical of quietis...

Dharma. Done. (Photo courtesy of Danny See Chuan Sen and Pixabay.com.)

We in Christian-majority countries are whelmed this time of year in the Nativity. That is, the legend of Christ's birth, with atten...

So I'm reading Adam Savage 's Every Tool's a Hammer , an elaborated meditation on "making", that thing that mak...

After a recent very pleasant afternoon spent in the companionship of a beloved sangha-mate, I've fallen to contemplating the bl...

I hold the word on my tongue, bullshit , so he'll know that I'm serious about this. I'm not just complaining. He needs to me...

Last week a reader posted a provocative question under Everything Doesn't Happen For a Reason : "If one is not seeking to avo...

Zen is all about refuge. To this end, monastery monks daily intone the Three Refuge (or Three Jewel) Chant: I take refuge in Buddha. ...

"Practice is like candy. People like different kinds. But it's just candy. The Dharma is empty." Hsu-tung (Quoted...