Toledo Buddhist

Over the past two days, I've had the great fortune to marry two wonderful couples, Hyeyoung and Bruce, and Ellie and Olman who are pictured here.   What an amazing act of divine foolishness this vow to walk the long path together is.  And how utterly grateful I am for this magnificent foolishness to be expressing in these times that are for so many in our world dark and broken.   In each new generations eyes an utterly unique and precious expression of the great dance of Yin and Yang,  and of the dance beyond Yin and Yang. And for me, what a joy to be able to be a part of the dance in this particular way.   Some in the Buddhist tradition feel that the Dharma has no use for ordained clergy, and I respectfully disagree.  To be sure there have been examples of priestly misconduct, and at times a false sense of entitlement or status, and a corrective is demanded.  But the moments of birth and reaching adulthood and marriage and death are deep and...

This Dharma Talk was recorded during a Zazenkai at the Toledo Zen Center on October 25th, 2009.  Discusses the dark side of religion, Hitler, and Mass-Thinking. The Drinking Gourd Podcasts are made possible by listener donations.  Please visit thedrinkinggourd.org to make a contribution. http://thedrinkinggourd.org/becoming-the-buddha-of-you

"After one look at the peach blossoms, I have arrived directly at the present and have no further doubt." Listen Here Thu, 6 January 2011 Arriving Directly A Dharma Talk and discussion with Rinsen at the Toledo Zen Center on August 12th, 2009. For more information about the Toledo Zen Center, please visit  toledozencenter.org .

This Drinking Gourd podcast was recorded during James Ford Roshi's visit to the Toledo Zen Center on September 16th, 2009.  James Ford Roshi is a guiding teacher of the Boundless Way Zen Sangha.  For information about James Ford Roshi, please visit  http://monkeymindonline.blogspot.com  http://www.thedrinkinggourd.org/james-ford-roshi-s-visit-to-toledo-zen-center

I was talking with some of the sangha after evening practice last night, and we were all still basking in the glow of last weekends sesshin  which as you may be able to deduce from this pic happened in our family's living room this time around - but that's another story... There is something both utterly mysterious and radically dependable in the practice of sesshin, and the rhythm of joining sesshin, re-emerging into the karmic unfoldings of my life's many up's and down's and then plunging back into sesshin again over and over has in many ways been the root of my spiritual path. At once, it is the place of ease and repose, and it is a intentional holding oneself in what truly is the furnace of deep practice - melting us down over and over as David Sensei so perfectly put it. But any form, any way of practice is no guarantee of anything in and of itself - not even my beloved sesshin retreats. The whole thing, it seems to me, turns (or doesn't) on one...