Buddha
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Originally penned in 1233 and revised in 1252 by Eihei Dōgen, The Genjō Kōan: Actualizing the Fundamental Point is considered one of the founding documents of Japanese Zen Buddhism. Written as a prose poem, Dōgen´s words are Zen itself, moving, paradoxical, enlightening and living. For almost one thousand years, Zen practitioners and scholars have written
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“When individuals in our society speak or act out of hatred against a whole group of people based solely on superficial appearance, it is a reflection of the mental state of our whole society. We don’t escape because we are not the ones hating. The challenges of race, sexuality, and gender are the very things
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One of my identities is as a figure skater. For twenty years now, I have been practicing, learning new skills and tricks on the ice. For me, the ice is a source of grace, intimacy, and comradery. I see it as a practice of mindfulness, of Buddha nature, of beingness. On the best days, like
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Jojakkoji Tenryuji Nison-in Hogan-in Giouji Koryuji Horyuji Yakushiji Toshodaiji Todaiji Kohfukuji Daikakuji Ryoanji Byodoin Koshoji Mimuritoji Temple Hopping Selfies red seal books Attest to our attainment Why have we come here? Temple Shots: We All Should be Inoculated Kannon looms over Compassion eternally Our need is endless Humid Kyoto Afternoon Sweat on my brow pours
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Impermanence, that was the word that kept coming to me yesterday and today roaming the temples of Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and a host of smaller temples (already impermanent to my memory.) Angkor Thom, meaning Great City, had a population of over one million in the 1200s, making it the largest city in the world
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Buddha is big here, obviously, super big. So big that the world’s largest Buddha statue is being constructed on a hillside over looking Thimphu. But that is not what I mean about being big. I mean big as imbued in people’s lives at all levels. Officially Buddhist temples and the religious hierarchy are part of
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The mailbox sums up life nicely–Bangkok or other places. That’s kind of the nature of perception. We are here and not somewhere else. Memories, traumas and desires might try to take us away from here and the present, yet all we really have is this moment to experience. Buddha is big here in Bangkok. The
Alan Lessik 