It sometimes seems like such a mad, mad world: economics, politics, athletics, entertainment, disease, birth, death, natural disaster, cruelty, war, love, distraction, waste, abundance... My own life has all of that in varying doses, shifting unseen moment to moment. There may be laughter or tears or something in between, and then the opposite or something [...]
Retreating to Portugal once again. Three days in Coimbra... far from the hurricane, yet right in the middle of it, the hurricane of every moment. Join us, wherever you are, whenever you can. Come as you are. We'll keep a place for you.
Late, late afternoon here in the city. It's that "moment" of day's light sliding into night's dark. Even as I'm writing that, as the words take form, I'm aware of day/night as convenient labels for the same "thing," which is not a "thing" at all, but rather a constant flux impossible to hold. The simultaneous [...]
In response to a question raised in a reader's comment on the previous entry, I'd like to offer an explanation of what I mean by the word "bodhisattva." Note that these words reflect my experience, and therefore they are not necessarily what a dictionary definition might say. Strictly speaking, the Sanskrit word bodhisattva means enlightenment [...]
I stumbled upon this comment today, and am throwing it out there to see what others might have to say. It touches on so many issues that many of us find ourselves confronting daily - wealth, power and fame, happiness, spirituality, goals, food, clothing, leisure, livelihood, politics... Maybe we can get a discussion going here [...]
One-day retreats (Paris)/retraites d’une journée à Paris 6 Oct. 24 Nov. 19 Jan. 16 Feb. 16 March 16 June (Bloomsday) Weekend retreats: 1-4 Nov. (Portugal) 29-31 March (Portugal) 25-28 April (Gent, Belgium) with Frank de Waele Sensei and Zen Sangha Belgium registration and information: Zen Sangha Belgium 8-12 May (France) 8-10 June (Portugal) Weeklong retreats/retraites [...]
Another marvelous Leonard Cohen concert last night, and this time at the legendary Olympia theater in Paris. Today, it seems like whatever I might write about the experience here would be merely words words words. They would fail to transmit the joy of so much emotion, so much love, so much happiness and sorrow, so [...]
When the moment came to once again start tapping in words here, I was initially held up by some technical difficulties before finally managing to "enter" zenscribe's empty pages. Anxiety gives way to relief: The space, as it were, is still mine!!! Strange notion, but so it goes... And now weeks after the last posting [...]
OK, heading off early tomorrow for the weeklong summer retreat in Portugal. We go there and sit together and delve into the pulling back from usual habits of our daily lives. And yet, our daily lives go on, habits or not, new habits or old... And the retreat goes on, too, whether there for a [...]
The other day, a fellow journalist remarked to me that my "talents" were being "wasted" because I was required to edit a text that consisted of little items about famous "people," the kind of celebrity news that is consumed like popcorn or chocolate or potato chips. I replied that it was indeed possible to see [...]
Le Web carnet de Amy Hollowell Sensei, fondatrice de la Wild Flower Zen Sangha et successeur de Catherine Genno Pagès Roshi dans le lignage Zen Soto de Taizan Maezumi Roshi, fondateur du Centre Zen de Los Angeles.
The Web notebook of Amy Hollowell Sensei, founder of the Wild Flower Zen Sangha and dharma successor of Catherine Genno Pagès Roshi in the Soto Zen lineage of Taizan Maezumi Roshi, founder of the Los Angeles Zen Center.
