Again, again, and again!

When does it stop?

Never, never, and never!

Unless you stop it.

   Soldiers and horses entered Mt. Yun-ju. The master (Yun-ju) sat upright and    motionless.

   The commander,  without bowing, sat facing him and asked, “When does the world    attain peace?”

   The master said, “Waiting for the commander’s mind to become satisfied.”

   The commander then bowed and made him his teacher.

So long as everyone thinks “that’s none of my business,” it never stops. It is the karma of thinking so and acting so. Isn’t it karma of the people here?

   Men of great power, why can’t you lift your legs?

Even though great, one cannot lift even one’s own legs. Why? Because: one is bound by karma.

   Men of great strength, you row so hard! But, your boat is moored.

However hard one may try, one cannot advance. Why? Because: one is bound by ego.

   Seeing a fire…

We at the Missouri Zen Center were recently invited to a college class on Happiness to show why and how to do sitting meditation. It was a beautiful autumn day with bright sunlight shining on yellow, red, and brown leaves. Amazed at the brilliant colors and filled with joy on seeing them, I remembered an 800 year old great gingko tree at Zuioji Temple in Japan, where I practiced under my teachers Tsugen Narasaki and Ikko Narasaki many years ago. Whenever I recall its abundant resplendent yellow leaves in autumn, a Zen phrase comes to mind: The body exposed to golden wind.

I told the students that “just sitting” (shikan-taza, intent sitting) is the direct and practical way to happiness. Anyone can witness this “come and see” way here and now without discrimination of race, religion, gender, generation, age, area, etc. It is good for oneself and others in the beginning, in…

I visited Costa Rica to attend the Fourth Global Alliance Summit for Ministries and Departments of Peace from September 17 through 23. It started with the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and second term president Oscar Arias’ address and ended with that of the Vice Minister of the new Ministry of Justice and Peace.

This country became the third to have a Ministry of Peace after the Solomon Islands and Nepal. The atmosphere and content of the conference with 102 delegates from 21 countries were warm and wonderful. The conference was held in open green space at Quinta del Sol (Call of the Sun).

Costa Rica (Rich Coast) has 5% of the world’s biodiversity in its 0.1% of the planet’s land, and it relinquished capital punishment in 1877 and its military force in 1949. Six percent of its budget goes to education, and its literacy rate is 97.5%. Its ecology and tradition of…

Ooh, baby, do you know what that’s worth?
Ooh heaven is a place on earth
They say in heaven love comes first
We’ll make heaven a place on earth
Ooh heaven is a place on earth

- 80’s pop sensation (and inadvertent theologian) Belinda Carlisle.

So I’m listening to this show on the radio the other day, and people are fighting about Heaven.

Heaven's Rays. Image courtesy of wallpaper-s.org

Go ahead, let that one sink in for a minute.

The panel that was discussing had gotten worked up and heated, all because they disagreed on some of the finer points about what Heaven looked like and what the Bible means when it talks about the new Heaven and new Earth.

Did I mention this was a Christian radio program?

Sigh.

Personally, my vision of Heaven does not include sitting on clouds playing harps or honest to goodness streets of gold - But I’ll be the first to admit that I have no idea…

elusive-bird-of-peace http://farm1.static.flickr.com

It is difficult to have a reasonable discussion on the Palestine-Israel issue. Passions run very high.  I guess as a Muslim I am supposed to offer support for Palestinian suffering and condemnation of Israeli brutality. Whenever events flare up in Palestine (like they have right now), there is a knee jerk response here in USA by Jews and by Muslims in passionate support of their respective co-religionists (and opposing the other). This is not very healthy. Suffering of all civilians is important and this spiraling violence has been going on far too long with no end in sight. We need to step back and take a hard look. Here are a few thoughts.

After over 40 years of violence and turmoil very little seems to have changed. It seems each side only goads the other to ever more depraved acts of violence. Over the years, both sides have committed so…

Merry Christmas to all!

Brigham Young University’s College of Fine Arts and Communication has produced a free online video with an original musical score. The message “expresses the hope that everyone feels love, peace and joy this Christmas”.