Zuisei's Writing
Writing
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Scroll down to see a selection of articles, including those originally published in Tricycle Magazine, Buddhadharma, and Lion’s Roar.
Books by Zuisei
Find Zuisei’s dharma books, Still Running: the Art of Meditation in Motion & Weather Any Storm, at Shambhala Publications. Also available wherever you shop for your books.
Featured Article
Great Determination or How to Be a Mature Human Being
In one of my favorite early sutras, a man called Pukkusati leaves home and goes searching for the Buddha, hoping to become his disciple. One night, he’s taking shelter in a potter’s shed when the Buddha, who’s also traveling, joins him. But having never met the famous teacher, Pukkusati doesn’t recognize his new roommate, which means he’s neither self conscious nor impressed when the Buddha takes out his grass mat and prepares to sit. Pukkusati just follows his lead, and in this way the two of them spend most of the night in meditation.
Afterward, the Buddha is struck by the other man’s presence and practice, so he asks him, “Who’s your teacher?” When Pukkusati says it’s the Buddha, and acknowledges he’s never actually met the man, the real-life Buddha is touched. He decides on the spot to give Pukkusati a teaching and speaks to him, among other things, of the four determinations (also called the four foundations or resolutions): not neglecting wisdom, protecting truth, practicing renunciation, and training for peace. It’s not until the Buddha finishes his discourse that Pukkusati finally realizes who’s before him. Delighted, he immediately asks to receive ordination.
I was thinking about this when a newsletter popped into my inbox. It quoted Tristan Harris, a technology ethicist and the co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology, saying that . . .
(read the full article)
When we pair the three doors of body, speech, and mind with the three sila factors: right speech, right action, right livelihood, we have instructions for good and ethical living
We suffer because we have what we don't want, we want what we don't have, or we have what we can't keep
The practice of contemplating the koan Mu as the vehicle for the realization of our buddha nature
Despite our insistence in finding fault everywhere, life is not but. Intrinsically, life is and
The four bodhisattva vows are impossible—and it’s in this impossibility that their power lies
What did the Buddha mean when he taught: “This is not me, this is not mine, this is not myself”?
We all want to know that we are fundamentally okay, independently of others opinions and judgments
A bodhisattva needs to be both tender and fierce in order to use anger as a pure form of care
Interdependence is not unlike the entanglement of particles that “know” one another’s actions
We sit zazen, not to change the world, but so that the world, with is confusion and conflict, won’t change us
What does it mean to “shelter in place” when the shelter is the Three Treasures of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha?
In the words of Zen master Dogen, shikantaza is the “gate of ease and joy”—an easeful, clear, quiet meditation
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*Banner photo by Johnny Briggs
It’s incredibly rare to have been born human, to have encountered the dharma, and to be able to practice it