Yom Kippur
At the center of my teaching in my role as President of Integration Charter Schools was, “Learn from your mistakes.” We were committed to...
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IN THE BARDO
Aimless Meandering
Last week, we talked about the joys of stability. Aimless meandering seems to be the opposite. There’s a lot of joy in aimless meandering...
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...
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Ken Byalin
- 3 days ago
- 6 min
Yom Kippur
At the center of my teaching in my role as President of Integration Charter Schools was, “Learn from your mistakes.” We were committed to...
20 views3 comments
Ken Byalin
- Sep 15
- 6 min
Aimless Meandering
Last week, we talked about the joys of stability. Aimless meandering seems to be the opposite. There’s a lot of joy in aimless meandering...
50 views0 comments
Ken Byalin
- Sep 7
- 6 min
Stability
Every year as 9/11 approaches, I realize that we have been sitting together a long time, a group that has become very stable. We sat...
49 views0 comments
Ken Byalin
- Sep 1
- 6 min
Painted Flowers
What’s real? Roshi Bernie Glassman takes up this question in the “Prologue” to his book, Instructions to the Cook. Zen people love to say...
37 views1 comment
Ken Byalin
- Aug 24
- 4 min
The Kitchen Sink
What do you do when you know have to do something and you don’t know what to do? I learned this lesson working as a therapist with...
59 views0 comments
Ken Byalin
- Aug 12
- 6 min
You Listen, God
“Sit still and listen.” Listen to the voice of the Universe. Listen to the voice of God. What am I doing talking about God? Roshi Anna...
72 views0 comments
Ken Byalin
- Aug 5
- 5 min
Appreciating Aitken
Robert Aitken Roshi died on August 5, 2010, at the age of 93. He was among the most important of the early American Zen Teachers. At Zen...
20 views0 comments
Ken Byalin
- Jul 21
- 6 min
Beginning Zazen
Zen is meditation, quite literally. The Sanskrit word for meditation, “Dhyana”, became “Chan” in Chinese and then “Zen” in Japanese....
36 views0 comments
Ken Byalin
- Jul 10
- 5 min
Zazen Works
After 30 years, I was finally sitting every day. Already, in just a few months, Zen practice was making a difference. My life was...
71 views0 comments
Ken Byalin
- Jul 5
- 7 min
Cowardice and Courage
I have been slowly reading my friend Nancy Mujo Baker’s new book, Opening to Oneness.[1] I say slowly because it takes me two or three...
15 views0 comments
Ken Byalin
- Jul 5
- 5 min
To Profit or Not To Profit
I was rereading Bernie Glassman’s Instructions to the Cook, in anticipation of leading a seminar on it for the Zen Peacemakers. (You can...
82 views0 comments
Ken Byalin
- Jun 29
- 3 min
Oh, Billy.
In Zen funerals, we talk directly to the departed. Happily, my friend Bill Wingate was able to read this blog over breakfast a month...
103 views1 comment
Ken Byalin
- Jun 23
- 5 min
My Multifaith Journey Continues
The multifaith journey is not without bumps. When Bernie left Yonkers, energy for the multifaith House of One People dissipated, although...
18 views0 comments
Ken Byalin
- Jun 23
- 7 min
Older Brother Bob
Roshi Robert Kennedy. S.J., always introduced me as his Dharma brother, Dharma brothers because Roshi Bernie Glassman was both of our...
51 views0 comments
Ken Byalin
- Jun 14
- 6 min
You Can Call Me “Roshi”
“You can call me ‘Roshi.’” It surprised me when I heard myself say those words. I had never taken readily to the status symbols of Zen. I...
33 views0 comments
Ken Byalin
- May 24
- 4 min
Tetsuji Prelude: Blown Away
I took Jukai with Bernie, although the pathway to that place was convoluted. I had been blown away when Bernie had accepted me as a...
26 views0 comments
Ken Byalin
- May 24
- 6 min
Jukai – Prelude and Fugue
The Prelude – Taking Refuge I first heard of Jukai sometime after arriving at the Zen Center of New York. I understood that it was the...
31 views0 comments
Ken Byalin
- May 15
- 6 min
Who are you?
Prelude: Bodhidharma The first case in the Blue Cliff Record tells a longish story of Bodhidharma’s arrival in China and his meeting with...
75 views0 comments
Ken Byalin
- May 10
- 4 min
Boobilah
If you asked me why I do koan study with my students, I would have a different answer now than I would have had a year ago. For years,...
48 views0 comments
Ken Byalin
- May 1
- 4 min
Please Take Care of Bernie
I have been slowly reading my friend Nancy Mujo Baker’s new book, Opening to Oneness. I say slowly because it takes me two or three days...
38 views0 comments
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