From a Zen perspective, animals teach profound spiritual and philosophical lessons like living fully in the present moment, unconditional love, natural joy, letting go of past hurts and the wisdom of rest. ​ Through their honest communication and mindful presence, they encourage us to be more patient, compassionate, and to find peace by letting go of over-thinking and focusing on the here and now. In addition, confronting the suffering of animals enables us to develop renunciation, compassion, and Bodhichitta, so that we are ever more strongly motivated to train in all the Buddhist practices that will lead to lasting mental freedom for our sake and for the sake of all beings.

For those touched by awakening, the complexities of existence allow for words to be molded like clay… and so poetry lends itself to the wonderful mysteries of what lies beyond the temporal and transitory…not allowing the reader to fully put their finger on it, for it would just be another case of the finger pointing at the moon. Each time the Dharma is composed into intellectual and coherent vocabulary, it wrangles the reader into a fury of grasping at concepts and the tangible world. Poetry on the other hand, invites curiosity and depth as well as an openness that allows room to breathe.

In 1994, the late American Zen master, Roshi, Bernie Glassman founded the Zen peacemakers; an organization of practitioners and teachers that has grown globally. He also established the Three Tenets of the Zen Peacemakers, a path of practice to relieve the suffering of all beings through contemplative social action. Those three tenets – Not Knowing, Bearing Witness and Compassionate Action are a framework to work towards a more compassionate and enlightened society; a wounded world that appears so divided and in need of healing.

When we begin walking this path, we start the process of taking refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. Then, we may come to the realization that we are ready to take formal refuge as we experience the transformation that naturally happens when we make the genuine commitment to fully embrace this way of being in the world. Let's explore the meaning of the powerful statement and action of taking refuge.

First, the Buddha, and then Dogen Zenji, in their final lessons to us, described eight qualities to guide us as Bodhisattvas in training. These eight are necessary to develop if we are to become true adults and to step past the un-resolved, erratic emotions that continue in the unconscious mind, so that we may actualize the Buddha field in our everyday life.

In Buddhism, the three poisons of greed, anger, and ignorance are regarded as mental, afflictions, that cloud the mind, and are the root cause of our suffering and discontentment. Our conditioned reaction is to see these poisons simply as enemies that must be avoided or eliminated. But, what if we see them as our teachers and the very springboard to insight and awakening?

In Zen we do a lot of bowing. But there is so much more to a bow than just bending. Bowing is a practice of gratitude and non-duality. It is a physical expression of the Buddha's teaching. The dropping away of the ego and its myriad attachments. A bow represents the merging of heart and mind, compassion and wisdom.

These two possibilities are relative and absolute or if you like, awareness and ignorance…the point of speaking about the one reality is to help an individual pull himself out of the one-sided relative reality that 99% of us live in—me and you. Like everything in life, this requires balance, diligence, and effort. Just as a seesaw works best when the two weights are similar, our lives find balance when we live in a way that brings harmony to the world around us. So, awareness has the ability to recognize the stories that keep relative beliefs alive, and in that process absolute reality becomes more and more apparent.

We have largely been conditioned to believe that we need to constantly push ourselves very hard and make strenuous efforts to attain, achieve, or become this or that. We often bring this same mentality to our spiritual practice, believing that we must make strenuous efforts to awaken and realize our true nature. Dogen Zenji described practice as the dharma gate of ease and joy. He emphasized diligent and wholehearted effort, just sitting, not trying to become or attain anything. In Zen, this is often referred to as wise effort or effortless effort. We will examine this dharma gate of ease and joy.

There is a frequently quoted Zen saying - Seven times knocked down, eight times get up - that speaks to a core aspect of practice and training: namely, the cultivation of unflagging perseverance, even in the midst of the most difficult circumstances. The dharma points to the essential nature of great determination on the spiritual path because it recognizes the necessity for deep resolve in our ever changing lives and surroundings.