After humankind’s trial and error in conquering things, we have come to a dead end.

Our attempt to conquer nature now knows no gain, but only error and extinction. Our attempt to conquer men now meets no merit, but only error and exhaustion.

The winner produces enmity, because in suffering the defeated one lies down.
Being settled beyond victory and defeat, comfortably in peace one lies down.
- The Dhammapada, 201

The one who desires happiness causing others’ suffering
Is not freed from enmity but entangled in the snares of enmity.
- Op.cit., 291

Enmity is never appeased by enmity here,
but by non-enmity. This is the truth forever.
-Op.cit., 5

Human suffering comes from the delusion of independent and eternal ego. There is no such thing as the self-same, self-sovereign self. Our delusion and desire create bubbles of ego and economy in the great sea of eco-system. Bubbles burst but the sea remains.

Self-centeredness ends in wars, the worst, wishful, wasteful…

Authors note: This is probably not the kind of post your used to reading.  This is not the kind of post I ever envisioned writing.  But the muse struck.  Please excuse me, while I honor the muses.  Think of this as a one act, one scene play.  Please don’t take the characters seriously.  I used them to present a problem, not be an answer.  I consider none superior to the other two.

Fundie, Libby, and Abbie are resting on a park bench, musing about the nature of Truth and God.  The conversation is hours old and the three are at that philosophical place where all are making their final claims.  Fundie starts…

Truth must be absolute.  Why do you think they call it the Truth?  God gave me the ability to conceptualize absolute truth and it is absurd to suggest that God’s gift be for nothing.  Plato was right, if absolute truth…

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…

Have you been enjoying the bright beautiful full moon? Western people see a man’s face in the moon, while Eastern people see a hare pounding rice cake. Why? In the East we learn the story of the hare in the moon as children, and we associate it, in the form of bright round rice cakes, with celebrations such as new year’s day. The presence of the hare comes from an ancient Buddhist story from India.

In an early incarnation, the future Buddha was born as a hare, and he freely gave his life out of compassion for a stranger in need. This story was beautifully told in a poem by the 19th-century Zen monk and poet Ryokan. I read his poem to the morning meditation group at our center recently, on the day of the full moon, and I’d like to share my translation of it with you now.

“The Hare in…

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…

On Valentine’s Day, my wife and I saw our first movie in an actual theater since our baby was born. We went with the hype: Slumdog Millionaire. We walked out with the same impression: good, not great. Although it’s always hard to see a movie after 10 Oscar nominations and the praise of virtually every person you know. It’s hard not to walk out a little let down.

But, in keeping with the Oscar season that will finally end on Sunday, one theme from Slumdog continues to leap out at me: the connection between experience and knowledge. Absent formal education, how is it that we come to know anything? As the central character Jamal explains to the authorities how an uneducated, impoverished, very young man could know the answers to a myriad of truly trivial questions that nonetheless make him a millionaire, the film explores the connections we make as human beings between…