I first wrote an earlier version of this blog while on a flight to visit my son and daughter-in-law just before Christmas. On that occasion I decided to speak to the voice of the Forever Unnameable, one of whose names is God, as if I were interviewing Him/Her. Since this voice, like every other, abides [...]
Every voice, the entire range from the positive to the seemingly negative, that is out there in the world is within every one of us. The voice of the Buddha, Universal Consciousness, the great sages — are all within us. Now imagine the worst possible voice out there. We don’t want to acknowledge that it too [...]
True enlightenment only comes after going through Great Doubt, which means questioning everything including one’s own realization, that of one’s teacher, the Buddha, and all the great Ancestors. There is nothing too sacred to be questioned and doubted completely. No stone should be left unturned or blade of grass not looked under. Great Doubt is [...]
2012 has come and gone. Even January 5th, 2013, the day in the so distant future that Michael Fox and the professor visited in the movie “Back to the Future,” is past. Looking to the future now, what is it that is going to make a difference for us on this small Blue Marble, this [...]
I’m not OK, You’re not OK, But that’s OK. It has taken me more than 40 years of Zen practice and a great deal of inner searching and life suffering to be at a place where I can really say this and mean it from the bottom of my heart. When Thomas A. Harris [...]
Genpo Roshi was interviewed last week by Kelly Carlin for a live radio broadcast. Here are some of his thoughts: The past almost two years have been a period of intense self-reflection. I’ve done some teaching, but it’s been really a time when I’ve reflected more than I have since 1972. And I’m even thinking [...]
I would like to make a distinction between the internal father and the biological father. Many people confuse the two, or are not aware that they are two distinct voices. So the one I would like to speak to is the internal father who has been undiscovered or disowned, please. Father: Yes, I am his [...]
In this consciousness work there is a big difference between our internal mother and our biological one. Our biological mother is a unique person with all her personal issues. Our internal mother has none of this, she is completely free from it all and is unconditionally loving. Your biological mother may have had more than [...]
I am the Air that he breathes in and out thousands of times a day, that he takes for granted. Without me he could not live. Without me he would die a quick and painful death. Even when he follows me in and out, rarely does he identify with me and become me. He keeps [...]
The Buddha taught the Middle Way as the fourth of the Four Noble Truths, also known as the Eightfold Path to relieve suffering and attain liberation. The Middle Way is very often misunderstood as a narrow Path between two extremes. This is not the true understanding of the Buddha’s teaching. Actually it is a far [...]
As we move into the new year I want to let you all know where I am now in my journey. I am writing this on the Chinese New Year, the year of the Dragon. I trust it will be a better year for us all and a year of great transformation for the world. [...]
I am using the term Abhidharma here as a way to study the self and drop our identification with the self, in order to live a happier, healthier and more joyful life. I see this as a foundation for a new psychotherapy embracing both Eastern and Western Philosophy and Psychology. The Abhidharma is the known [...]
Maybe it is time for us Zen and Tibetan Buddhists as well as other Mahayana Buddhists to re-look at the Arhat, the Theravada Buddhist ideal archetype who seeks self-realization and complete emancipation. Let’s begin by acknowledging that there is an Arhat as well as a Bodhisattva within us all. In Theravada Buddhism an Arhat is [...]
I have written and spoken often of the two roots of the Big Mind process being my experience and training as a Zen monk and teacher for the past 40 years under the guidance of my own teacher Maezumi Roshi, and the insights of Western psychology, particularly the Voice Dialogue method of Doctors Hal and [...]
“Selling water by the river” is a famous Zen phrase, said to have been spoken by a Zen Master to describe his forty years of teaching. Why would you buy water from someone standing beside the river, when you could just as easily put a cup down and scoop some up for yourself? Furthermore, Zen [...]
Student: Why do you emphasize that ideas, notions, hopes and expectations are the problem? Roshi: The thing we are most attached to, of course, is what I call my self, which includes my ideas, notions and beliefs about who I am. So this “I” and whatever I call Me, My or Mine are the most [...]
Student: In the voice of sanity and disowned sanity, I just realized that it’s so much taken for granted in this practice, at least by me. As you said, it’s always there, but you have to choose it and not just take it for granted because it’s always there. Roshi: That’s right. Well, we know [...]
This is a response to a question from a reader of Genpo Roshi’s most recent post, “Having No Preference”. What I mean when I say to be really free, and the reason why I call it the most difficult thing in our practice, is that in my experience one can have numerous experiences of [...]
Student: We often hear the comment, “Just have no preference and everything will be fine.” It sounds straightforward and yet it seems impossible to practice in today’s world. Can you say more about this? Roshi: There was a time in the 80’s and early 90’s when I saw it this way. Today, more than 20 [...]
Transcend discrimination of opposites Discover total reality And achieve detachment This is true freedom. Shinjingakudo – “Learning through the body and mind” Dogen Zenji (1200-1253) Transcend discrimination of opposites is what I mean by include and embrace the opposites. Discover total reality in Big Heart Zen is what is meant by the Apex. And achieve [...]
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