Disrobing
Michael O’Keefe wrote a beautiful piece on disrobing for Tricycle . Zen monks get their robes during Tokudo, the first step on the path...
top of page
BLOG
IN THE BARDO
Householder Zen
I find myself a proponent of householder Zen as the way of practice of American Zen. “Very self-serving of me,” you might say. And of...
The Flower and the Smile
Transmission of the Dharma, the passing of the teaching mantel to the next generation, is at the heart of Zen. It is one of our origin...
Oh, Dirk.
In Zen funerals, we talk directly to the departed. I am at a loss for words. I am hoping that words will come. I am picturing you....
Bringing to the Societal Table Those Who Have Been Excluded
This has been the expression of my vow since I found the words in Bernie’s Instructions to the Cook. “Bringing to the societal table...
Visionary Leadership
This has to be the Zen practice. I love the story of the Golden City which the Buddha tells in the Lotus Sutra. It has inspired me. It is...
Magic
Catching the magic is sometimes not so easy. Stumbling into the magic of success is not something to be taken for granted. It has always...
What is Social Action?
The selflessness of social action is not self-neglect just as self-care is not self-neglect. There are four phrases that come to mind,...
No.
What is my “No!” When do I shout it? Do I really shout? “No!” Jesse and Theresa Peterford first met at ICS. Theresa, star teacher, chief...
Infinite Onion
Delusions are inexhaustible, I vow to transform them. When I was doing koan practice with Jishu, very briefly in the last year of her...
Infinite Circle
We were serving special needs students at double the district rate. As we have built our schools, I have been guided by, anchored in an...
Mother's Day 2020
Zen’s relationship to mothers has always seemed a bit strange. Mother’s Day, 2020 is also the twenty-fifth anniversary of Maezumi Roshi’s...
Zen Budgeting Through the COVID-19 Pandemic
No one likes budget cuts. They are always painful. This was shaping up to be our most painful budget. Business people say when they are...
The Zen of Budgeting
Coming Soon, a case study in Zen Budgeting: Budgeting through the Covid-19 Pandemic. I am too grandmotherly. The Gateless Gate is the...
Oh, Richard
At a Zen funeral, we talk directly to the person who has left us. Oh, Richard, thinking of you, I smile. We had so much more to do. So...
ARCHIVES
Search
Ken Byalin
- 10 hours ago
- 4 min
Disrobing
Michael O’Keefe wrote a beautiful piece on disrobing for Tricycle . Zen monks get their robes during Tokudo, the first step on the path...
20 views0 comments
Ken Byalin
- Sep 10
- 5 min
Householder Zen
I find myself a proponent of householder Zen as the way of practice of American Zen. “Very self-serving of me,” you might say. And of...
3 views0 comments
Ken Byalin
- Sep 4
- 4 min
The Flower and the Smile
Transmission of the Dharma, the passing of the teaching mantel to the next generation, is at the heart of Zen. It is one of our origin...
32 views1 comment
Ken Byalin
- Aug 27
- 4 min
Rescinding
One of my Dharma brothers has apparently rescinded a transmission because his successor’s sexual conduct offended him or because his...
41 views0 comments
Ken Byalin
- Aug 20
- 5 min
The Unpublished Buddha
Life is interesting. When we went back to the surgeon, I wasn’t sure what to expect. It was possible he would say I was done, but my...
26 views0 comments
Ken Byalin
- Aug 13
- 5 min
Growing Old
This is my first experiment with the I Ching way of koan study. I had this idea a few weeks ago. I’m just getting around to trying it....
70 views0 comments
Ken Byalin
- Aug 6
- 5 min
Fear of Finishing
I am at a point where Zen Imperfections needs one more clean-up, and it will then be ready to go out in search of a publisher. I can feel...
5 views0 comments
Ken Byalin
- Jul 30
- 5 min
Dragon Taming
It must have been early in my days with Roshi Bob Kennedy, at one of my early sesshins with him at St. Ignatius in Manhasset, that I had...
32 views0 comments
Ken Byalin
- Jul 22
- 5 min
A New Koan Practice?
When I was working with the I Ching, I often had the experience of the Sage answering not the question which I had consciously posed and...
26 views3 comments
Ken Byalin
- Jul 9
- 4 min
My Jishu Koan
During the pandemic isolation, Roshis Paco Lugovina, Chris Panos, and I kept busy by putting together The Bernie Koans. We reached out to...
29 views0 comments
Ken Byalin
- Jul 1
- 5 min
My Inner Max
Before Bernie and Martin Buber, I had my Max Weber practice. In July, 2000, I’d left Morrigan’s second birthday party early to fly to...
26 views0 comments
Ken Byalin
- Jun 28
- 6 min
I am a Patient
It’s the first few weeks of summer. I’ve missed the entire spring and most of the winter. It wasn’t so long ago that I was blogging, “I...
53 views2 comments
Ken Byalin
- Jun 28
- 4 min
Dokusan and Daisan
The Japanese have two words for the interview with the teacher, daisan and dokusan. In many traditions, “dokusan” is reserved for...
30 views0 comments
Ken Byalin
- Jun 14
- 4 min
I Am Ken
“I am Ken, and my practice is counting my breath.” For years, I said these words when I entered the dokusan room, first with Kyudo...
32 views0 comments
Ken Byalin
- Jun 11
- 5 min
Peacemaking
A bunch of thoughts began emerging this morning prompted by the discussion in the Southern Europe Peacemaker group which Barbara...
25 views0 comments
Ken Byalin
- Jun 3
- 4 min
Nostalgia
The recent student protests on campuses across the country have broken through my news barrier. Wave after wave of nostalgia rolls over...
28 views0 comments
Ken Byalin
- May 6
- 5 min
Zen and Psychotherapy
In the room the women come and go Talking of Michelangelo. -- T. S. Eliot, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock To practice Zen is to...
15 views0 comments
Ken Byalin
- May 6
- 5 min
Let It Be
Let It Be was released on May 8, 1970. That’s crazy, 54 years ago. It still sounds so fresh. When I find myself in times of trouble...
30 views1 comment
Ken Byalin
- Apr 19
- 4 min
Bodhidharma and the Emperor
I keep coming back to Bodhidharma and the emperor, to the experience of the endlessness of koan study. Deeper and deeper and deeper...
24 views0 comments
Ken Byalin
- Apr 19
- 4 min
The Promised Land
I largely avoid the news. When I think about it, I feel guilty. I think I should be embodying Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva (Guanyin in...
42 views0 comments
bottom of page