Koan Conversations

Blue Cliff Record Case 10 Let me begin with a snippet from the few introductory lines that Hsueh Tou calls the pointer: “If on the other han...

And by the way, don’t cry too much over Thích Nhất Hạnh. Dorothy Day said: "Don't call me a saint, I don't want to be dismissed...

  January 18th, 2022 Nobodaddy At this particular moment in the current debate about the Jesus prayer, strained as it is, I come down firmly...

The mind is a terrible thing to waste. Now Phil was dying. Perhaps as long as a year before, he’d reached back for his chair which wasn’t th...

My friend and mentor, Jon Logan gave me some wise and generous advice, advice that Issan would have seconded, “Always start with a joke.” So...

The renowned revolutionary Chinese Master Baizhang Huaihai ( 百丈懷海; Hyakujō Ekai) is perhaps most well known for introducing manual labor to ...

A cautionary tale plus a koan — or two. A friend recently told me about some advice from a Taoist master. I admit that I automatically distr...

Dainin Katagiri Roshi admonishes Issan! This life we live is a life of rejoicing, this body a body of joy which can be used to present offe...

Ala n Wilson Watts (6 January 1915 – 16 November 1973) "Each one of us, not only human beings, but every leaf, every weed, exists in t...