So many holidays center around a meal. In our multi-cultural country, it seems as if a festival is always being celebrated by some group, giving us a chance to enjoy so many different customs and foods. Even Satori, the Buddha’s enlightenment remembrance, really begins some days before with his accepting a bowl of sweet rice and…
Tag: Bright Dawn
The Buddha Has no Voice
by Levi Shinyo Sensei, I’m an avid reader, both fiction or nonfiction. And ever since I was young I’ve had an enormous imagination, one which I’ve been lucky enough to retain in part as I’ve aged. Ever since I was able to read by myself I’ve been able to create vivid movies and scenes in…
invisible cemetery
by Michelle Jouyo Sensei My husband and I love to hike. It is one of our favorite activities, and we enjoy finding new places to explore. Several years ago, we decided to go hiking at a trail called Rock Springs Run inside Park. As we were hiking, we came out of a pine hammock…
Ignorance and Greed
by Morris Seiyo Sensei In the essay, “A Stone,” in Rev. Koyo Kubose’s Everyday Suchness, there is this passage: A wise and alert person is not deceived. Those who are gullible or greedy are easily deceived. When I read this passage, it reminded me of a teaching I once accidentally received as a result of…
Starling
By Marilyn Chiyo I will confess to you that I have a history of difficulty holding my hands together in gassho. To gassho, by putting the palms of both hands together in front of one’s heart, is the highest form of respect symbolizing Oneness. For me, the gesture never felt authentic, like I was…
An Incense Offering
Dharma Glimpse – Rob Kanyo Sensei An incense offering is a very simple thing. It’s a very simple procedure. Approach the incense burner. As you stand a few steps in front of it, bow. Step forward. Take a pinch of granulated incense in your right hand and gently sprinkle it across the smouldering charcoal….
Life Cycle of a Rock
by Ken Kenyo The word “Cycle,” refers to a process that repeats itself. Rocks change their state and composition throughout time. This cycle repeats itself in the vast scales of geologic time. Rocks begin deep in the Earth as a molten liquid material called magma. This magma may be pushed to the Earth’s surface through…
Tall Pines
Pine Trees. By Hasegawa Tohaku. (1539-1610), by Mike Shinyo One day in Germany, I watched some tall pine trees sway in the wind. These trees were very tall and strong. The wind was heavy toward the top of this hill that they stood on. It would seem that these strong trees could stand up to…
Buddhist Traveler
by Toyo Teru I am a traveler of sorts. I have traveled through myself. I have traveled across many pages of books. I have traveled the endless sky as I lay on my back gazing upward at a perfect sky. I have traveled in the memories of yore. I have traveled with many of whom have…
In Solitude
by Mike Manyo Sensei I sit in solitude and silence. That is until our little dog barks or someone cranks up a lawn mower for a little while to cut their grass. I hear the water from a fountain next door as it runs all day. The sun shines then hides behind clouds. It gets…
A Bright Dawn 