Zen meditation is your life in a deep sense, and this is its beginner’s manual, all you need is a wall and a chair. We discuss a minimalist version of zazen, Zen Meditation, intended specifically for beginners looking to quieten their mind. This is Zen Buddhist meditation, but people from other faith (or no faith) backgrounds can adopt the techniques without difficulty. We discuss finding a location, posture adjustments, quieting the mind by watching the breath and return for a reflection on meditation’s importance in our lives. Be welcome, I hope you meet yourself laughing together, and that you return sharing this with all people.

Zen and Disco Elysium meet in the Whirling-in-Rags and Zen meditation gets a thorough exploration. This essay takes an apt but somewhat ill-advised metaphor and runs with it to the heart of Zen Buddhist practice. We discuss how the effects of the Pale (from the game) are reminiscent of stages of zazen, Zen meditation. And while the Pale’s effects are forced and coercive, zazen’s effects are gentle and accommodating, a welcome oasis to the Pale’s consuming mist. We try to trace the journey of practitioners who have gone before us, as far as we can go. Perhaps even beyond? We will return as we were, but we will be changed, and the world alive.

What is perhaps the deepest connection between Buddhism and Christianity? Compassion in Buddhism, grace in Christianity are two sides of a coin we will explore in this post. This interfaith dialogue explores how these grace and compassion are available to all of us. While being free, they still call us to deepen our practice, in ourselves but also amongst our communities and those beyond.

If normative ethics builds cathedrals, is Zen’s approach like a journey along a deer path? We shine a light on ethical behaviour in Zen Buddhism. How can these be compared with each other, or even joined? We consider great compassion as the engine of action and perhaps a bridge to normative ethics. Can Zen ethics skillfully use these approaches as tools or scaffolding? Though Zen ethics can employ rules, it also knows when the situation demands they be put aside. More adaptable than normative ethics, and yet Zen demands serious discipline. Pull the coffee and cake closer, we are going hiking.

A Zen meditation on fig leaves, atomization, and koi. Exploring the illusion of separation and the mystery of oneness.

Coffee, cake, and Zen philosophy meet pop culture in an existential detective story inspired by I Heart Huckabees. What is the Self, and how can an only child have ten thousand siblings? Explore reality’s blanket of interconnectedness—serious questions wrapped in playful paradox, a rickety raft toward freedom.

This is your mind on blankets and ADHD. A dustless mirror that we constantly polish, but then no mirror either? Join us as we learn from the kindness of a teacher that everything is Alright, even though it may not always be so. Rejoice in the dust falling around you.