zen
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Beginner’s Mind
Beginner’s Mind Spirit of breath and practice, holy mystery of movement and stillness, grant me the discipline to just sit here, though the old fires still burn in me. Grant me the wisdom to remain plainspoken at the doorstep of the mind’s entanglements. Let me keep a balanced, empty mind. Grant me patience, not only Continue reading
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Basho’s Traveling Companion
On the jade-colored plate, yellow fruit. Between the window and folding screen, a bed, some clothing. In the stillness of the forest, water flowing. On the mountainside, plum blossoms. In the rain and mud, wild horses. From a bowl in the hermit’s shelter, steam rising. In the iron stove, embers glowing. At the edge of Continue reading
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Big Sur
A whale spouted by and I dreamt of the story my life could tell. I remembered many loved and lost, I received the world, had a conversation with the cosmos. A whale spouted by, the vastness deepened. I sat, hands in lap, left over right, palms up, thumbs touching. A whale spouted by, I smelled Continue reading
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Excerpt from The Way of Zen by Alan Watts
From The Way of Zen by Alan Watts ~ “All one’s intentional acts, desires, ideals, stratagems, are in vain. In the whole universe, within and without, there is nothing whereon to lay any hold, and no one to lay any hold on anything. This has been discovered through clear awareness of everything that seems to Continue reading
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A Passage On Writing From Natalie Goldberg
Excerpt from “Thunder and Lightning” by Natalie Goldberg: “I never escaped being a monk! The morning gruel, the frost on the bell, bare feet on frigid floors, all have been mine. Except that my meditation position has been a bent body hovering over a notebook with only my right hand moving across a blank page for Continue reading
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A Passage From Natalie Goldberg’s “Long Quiet Highway”
“There is no one thing to hold on to…” Continue reading
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Nature’s Classroom
The wood at the heart of a tree cannot grow without wind. Once again, nature informs humanity. Continue reading
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Pearl
Walking alone in nature can be sacred, healing and rejuvenating. The motor of your mind gradually stops its whirring and quiets down, like a swarm of locusts moving further into the distance. Constrictions loosen. Stale transforms to Vivifying. You have made some space around yourself, and you are participating in creation. The sights and sounds Continue reading
C.M. Rivers 