Friday, September 5, 2025

'Nothing' is Empty


Nothing is Empty

Everything is empty

Form, feelings, perceptions, impulses, consciousness are empty

Suffering, origination, stopping, path are empty

Enlightenment is empty

Delusion is empty

Emptiness is empty

All concepts are empty.


One of ZM Seung Sahn’s students once asked whether a female can be enlightened—apparently there had been some consternation about that at one point—the best a woman could hope for was rebirth as a male. He said no. Then he went on to explain that “woman” can’t be enlightened. “Man” can’t be enlightened. Don’t make man, don’t make woman. 


Let’s say you rent a new apartment or move into a new house. The previous Tennant’s furniture, paintings, lawnmower, all gone. You feel very satisfied, very hopeful. You may say to yourself, “How wonderful, it’s totally empty.” It’s open, and full of potential, and that you think of as a good thing. But let’s say you come home after a night out sometime, and you see your house has been burgled, totally cleaned out, even your lawnmower. You may think of the house being empty in that case I not so good.


DT Suzuki said that all conditioned phenomena is characterized by emptiness. That’s a clever way of saying that if you can see, hear, taste, touch, smell, or think it, it’s empty. Emptiness is conditioned by other factors, not the least of which is our thinking.


It just means they’re all dependent upon something else, that there impermanent, always changing. Our feeling about them changes. Our perception of them changes. If we use our senses to perceive an object and form some sort of consciousness about them, they’re empty. No eyes, no ears, etc. until no realm of mind consciousness as the Heart Sutra says.  That realm of mind consciousness is the thinking dependent upon the sensory perception of an object.


Don’t make anything. Don’t make concepts about nothing, everything, empty, gender, or awakening, and help all beings. That is awakened action.

Tuesday, August 19, 2025

"Be Your Own Refuge"


Jonson Won Yung Miller gives the Dharma talk about how much or how little, and under what circumstances should we have and use a Zen teacher.

Tuesday, July 29, 2025

"The Yoga of Zazen"


All the forms are interconnected--some to center, some to de-center. The physical sensations, both subtle and obvious are all part of our practice. They may not get talked about very much in Western forms of practice, but the physical and mental aspects are inextricably linked.


Robert Koho Epstein gave the talk on July 23, 2025.

Monday, June 30, 2025

Sunday, February 23, 2025

The Hummingbird


Saving/Helping all beings doesn't require grand gestures. It's as simple as doing what you can, paying attention to situation, relationship, and function. Cure cancer? Wonderful, if you can do it. Hold a door open for somebody? Wonderful, if you can do it. It shouldn't take a raging forest fire for us to realize there are opportunities to uphold our Bodhisattva vow, if only we pay attention.

Cheolmin Prajna gives the Dharma talk on February 19, 2025.