ZenLife Blog
ZLMC Statement on COVID-19 Virus
We are committed to protecting our members and visitors from flu, colds and other viruses. We hold all of you in our hearts as together we prepare to meet the current public health challenge facing our world, COVID-19. In times of increased stress, anxiety and fear, it’s important to calm the body and mind by practicing mindfulness in our daily lives.
Interview with Roshi Eve Myonen Marko
I was born in Israel in an orthodox Jewish family, and came here when I was 7. Both of my parents were Holocaust survivors, and I know that affected me from a very young age. As a small child I was aware of terrible suffering that people could inflict on each other. It’s a dimension of life that has never left me, and even defined me for many years. It was why I was so attracted to Bernie’s vision of Zen and social change.
Bearing Witness to the Oneness of Life by Roshi Bernie Glassman
Dogen Zenji says of the first pure precept, “Ceasing from evil is the abiding place of laws and rules of all buddhas.” This abiding place is the state of non-duality, of not-knowing and non-separation. The Sixth Ancestor of Zen defines zazen as the state of mind in which there is no separation between subject and object—no space between you and me, up and down, right or wrong. So we can also call this precept “Returning to the One.”
Setting Sail in Stormy Waters
We are living through chaotic, unprecedented and unstable times. It can be hard to find your bearings. It seems we may have taken the values of our democracy too much for granted and now they need to be defended. We need to stand not only for core values but for each other.
The Fruits of Your Generosity Come Due
Our New Home Fund Campaign will conclude at the end of this month, April 2019. So now it’s time to say thank you. Thank you to the hundreds of you who supported us with your generous gifts and your kind support. Thank you to all of you who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to make this dream a reality. Thank you to the artists who generously donated your art so that we can now enjoy the beauty of our Sangha together in this new home.
Great Zen Teacher, Roshi Bernie Glassman has Died
Great American Zen teacher Bernie Glassman died on Sunday, November 4th. He is survived by his wife, Roshi Eve Marko, 2 children and 4 grandchildren. Sadness filled my core when I heard the news that day and has lingered since then. Some people are just not supposed to die.
Pathways to Violence
"We live in a world in which distrust and greed and violence masquerade as common sense and in which the pathways of distrust and greed and violence are rapidly becoming self-validating. . ,
Spiritual Practice for Difficult Times
Difficult times are an opportunity to deepen the spiritual path and practice, to dig down and ground yourself in your meditation. Take time to be still, to be quiet and listen.
Hope, Optimism, Cynicism or Engagement
"Hope is not the belief that everything will turn out well. People die. Populations die out. Civilizations die. Planets die. Stars die. Recalling the words of Suzuki Roshi, the boat is going to sink! If we look, we see the evidence of suffering, of injustice, of futility, of desolation, of harm, of ending all around us, and even within us
How to be a Friend Until the End
It’s important in the beginning to remember that we already know how to care. We’ve extended a helping hand hundreds of times in a thousand meaningful and loving ways. Caring is a natural expression of our humanity. We can trust our good hearts to be reliable guides.
Tears and Bundles of Love
After the mass, I thought about the line that caused my tears to spontaneously arise. What were those tears about? They definitely had to do with the heart and beauty. I finally realized the deep abiding love that Our Lady of Guadalupe represents is in each one of us, whether we see it or not.
Saved from Freezing: the Spirituality of Art
I’m in my car, on the highway. I turn off the news reports and the baseball game I’ve been listening to and switch to a Beethoven violin sonata that’s loaded in the CD player. Listening to the music, my mind gradually starts to release, like a hand that had been grasping something tightly and is beginning to let go
Mindfulness Road Map
At the Zen Life and Meditation Center we speak of mindfulness meditation as intentional awareness that is embodied and non-judgmental.
Your Own Heart, There is the Practice Hall
Such work with your heart is spiritual practice. Itʻs about building patience, discipline, courage and love. Itʻs important for waking up. Your own heart, the practice hall.
Blue Pancake
Ummon said, "The world is vast and wide. Why do you put on your robe at the sound of the bell?"
Mindfulness and the Gap
Mindfulness, our practice of meditation, helps us learn to stop, pause, breathe, and pay attention. We learn to swim in the gap. Bask in it if we like palm trees and warm waters,
Mindfulness: Ephemeral Art
I place one flower in the center of the given space - yard, floor, table - and make concentric circles until I have used up my materials. Two feet to twelve feet in diameter for various kinds of celebrations and rites of passage: an eightieth birthday, a wedding, a passing, a remembrance. After I sit with the completed piece, I sweep up the component parts, put them in a woven bag, and release it all into a nearby river, ocean, lake or pond.
Wildflowers Grow Everywhere
Amy mentioned in her talk why she named her zen community Wildflower Zen Sangha. She said that wildflowers grow everywhere - in cracks of cement, in rocks, on mountainsides - everywhere. Theyʻre all different according to their particular environment. She also said , “Our nature, is also wild in the sense that we are not limited by what we think we are. We can free ourselves of these identifications - we can be free. we can be anything…”
My Journey Toward Writing The Arte of Now: Practice of Immediacy in the Art by Nicolee McMahon
My journey toward writing the Arte of Now: Practice of Immediacy in the Arts ® is a weaving of Zen, shamanic training, art, and not knowing. To best exemplify how a few of these threads weave together is when I got lost while camping in the desert with my family several years ago.
Cracked Bell
I'm turing 68 in a few days, and I'm afraid my body is also falling short of the mark. It's so easy to gain weight, and a nerve in my neck and right arm get's easily inflamed making it difficult for me to sit meditation at all.