I wanted to write a bit about intuition. And through that explain how becoming what is happening right now is a way to live in a much more connected way. Why are some people more intuitive than others? How can we be more intuitive in our daily lives? And how can a certain orientation to…
Engaging with Our Own Process: Finding Our True Home
Each of us has our own personal unique way of practicing and engaging in our internal process. We all have our own style of discovering our entryway into truly experiencing reality. In this blog post I am attempting to shed light and give permission to anyone feeling a bit lost in his/her internal world. It…
Excerpts from a Paper : The Koan of SourcePoint.
Originally posted on January 11, 2018 AT SOGENJI SERVING ZENZAI WITH SHODO HARADA ROSHI, C. 2005 Below are a few excerpts from a paper I am writing about how doing traditional Japanese monastic koan work relates to my current life doing SourcePoint Therapy. I will publish the entire article once it is formally published in…
Practical Tips: Does It Have a Direction?
I’ve been in a few workshops again recently, and it is very common to have one or two people having really intense internal issues. The workshops often bring these issues out more intensely than in our normal life. And this is a real gift. Often the language used to describe working with this type…
Zen as Primordial Dance Training
Zen for me was like encountering some carnal primordial dance training. The whole life was a choreographed dance. We came to the training, confused, awkward, couldn’t get ourselves going in one direction. We were scattered, lost. And then we’d see someone wash their bowls, and it was like the world turned to flame. To…
Musings on Sourcepoint: Birth of the Heart Sutra
O Shariputra, form does not differ from emptiness, emptiness does not differ from form. That which is form is emptiness, that which is emptiness form. The same is true of feelings, perceptions, impulses, consciousness. From Prajna Paramita Hridaya Sutra (The Heart Sutra) Where does energy end and form begin? What are these bodies? Why do…
Leading and Following: How Densu Taught Me How to Be with People
When I became Densu, I learned to lead the chants during the morning ceremonies. But I did not know that it would teach me how to be with people. This post is a bit about that process. I think it will be helpful for young monks and hopefully for people who have no interest in…
Bob Dylan, Folk Songs, Koans, and the Transmission of Art
Today I was listening to Bob Dylan’s lecture to the Nobel foundation (it is a requirement for all winners to give a lecture), hearing him talk about his formative time as an artist, playing music in small venues and on the streets to tiny crowds. That time shaped his artistic vision, and I was struck…
Breaking Through: Sublime and Natural
Lately, quite a few zen practitioners have asked me about breakthrough. Is it real? Is it possible? Does anyone really break through? What does it mean? I am writing this post to inspire those who have heard about breakthrough and find it mysterious and seemingly impossible. I am here to put my two cents in….
Tips for wild energy
I have been in lots of workshops lately involving energy work, and in every workshop there are a couple of people going through some intense energetic issues. There are many forms that these issues take. From shaking, to headaches, ears ringing, incredible anxiousness, or spontaneous uncontrollable movements. I usually try to assure them that things…
