Beginner’s mind is foundational to Zen. How do we approach the world without obscuring it with the stories we tell ourselves? So we may be free to enjoy the world as it really is. The trick is, there is no trick, but this is tricky. Sit back and listen to a story about the Story.

How did evolution build a prison for our minds, and how do we escape it? Zen Buddhism shows us we were never imprisoned in the first place, freeing us by helping us realize we are free.

Who are your other ancestors, what will your descendants be like? We look at the idea of Buddha ancestors and find that our parents and children are a hair’s breadth away, yet will never meet us directly. Come share an offering of future noodles and enjoy the crackle of the finest wrapper you have ever known.

What is less than nothing, but more than everything? Why is this Emptiness the most important no-thing you’ll never meet, but is as close as your breath? Zen Buddhism teaches a life grounded in Emptiness, a full life in this very moment. Believing in nothingness readied for fullness, that is the art.

Compassion for coffee machines runs deep at the Café One Bright Pearl. Zen’s message here is simple, enlightenment is everyday mind. There are a myriad beings with you, and you are one of them. And together … You, in the greater sense, the one bright pearl. Are you open for waffles?

We review the first posts on Blanket Theory and reprise the wild ride including questionable practice, the Blanket Truth, the Dharma Police, deer paths, a mirror graced with dust, a guide to just sitting, and some guy talking to all the animals at a forest pool. Where will the existential detective’s case lead him next? Everywhere, and nowhere. Which is exactly where we need to be.

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.