If we treat the Zen precepts as a set of rules to obey, that's just conformity. Let's use them instead as a tool for busting the hierarchy!

Transcript: https://emptysqua.re/blog/rules-for-hyenas/

What if you knew you had 30 minutes to live? Would you want to be awakened?

In the Blue Cliff Record, Case 32, a monk named Jo asks Master Rinzai, "What is the essence of Buddhism?" In response, Rinzai grabs the monk and slaps him. Why?

In this talk I explain what all this hitting and slapping is about in Zen. There's a lesson in this story, about sustaining our own meditation practice over the long haul.

A monk asked Unmon, "What is Buddha?" Unmon replied, "A dry shit stick." Why? Where is Buddha in this regular, shitty, unsatisfactory experience? I've heard a thousand times that ordinary mind is Buddha. Here, I try to explain how to actually practice this truth.

Running a half marathon, serving a prison term, practicing Zen for a lifetime: I'm trying to learn how people make friends with time, and how to appreciate each moment within an eon.

To focus the mind, you first have to understand and accept the mechanism of mind-wandering.

My father-in-law is a soldier and my mother is a peace activist. On Memorial Day weekend, 2017, I describe how Buddha's Middle Way allows us both to honor veterans and to oppose war.

On the 15th anniversary of 9/11, I describe my difficulties practicing nonviolence in a world full of violence.