by Tamu Hoyo Sensei, My eldest son and I volunteered at the community Organic Garden that one of my local friends championed. We were there to pluck up the thick over growth and prepare a neglected plot for future use. Afterwards we stopped by the grocery store to fill up on reverse osmosis water and…
Tag: Dharma teaching
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…
Peaceful Heart
by Richard Doyo The Peaceful heart…what is so hard about this? Daily, moment to moment we go about killing one another with words, apathy, bullets of course, hurtful thoughts, and the list could on and on. If something, is so good, why is it so difficult to reach? As Buddhist, we must set the example…
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….
Cloud
by Andy Gyoyo Sensei My mother is an artist and sees the world through her unique perspective. She looks at seemingly disparate patterns and challenges us to see what she sees… “See that cloud? What do you see?” Quite frankly, I never see what she sees and often I see no pattern at all so…
Acknowledging Limitation
Niko Byoyo Sensei Recently, our group has been exploring the topic of realizing enlightenment through any means we have. As a group, humans tend towards the dramatic and glamorous so sometimes we think we will get to enlightenment by a grand gesture or event. I have been exploring the concept of enlightenment through acknowledging limitations over…
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…
A Bright Dawn 