Japan has been the home of many revered Zen teachers. Dogen, Bankei, and Eisai have contributed commentaries and practices that have influenced practitioners down to the present time. As far […]
AI is everywhere now; just ask Siri. Artificial intelligence is becoming a key tool in a wide variety of arenas such as industry, medicine, finance, and even spirituality. How can […]
We all know the Buddha was awake. He saw things as they really are and acted accordingly. But was he "woke?" And what does that mean? https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81394028013?pwd=Jy1YqA2I4uVbXD8aNeG9bOUHpJXMCp.1 Meeting ID: 813 […]
In the "Age Of Clicks," our ability to think critically has undergone some serious erosion. Can the mind training of Zen enable us to rebuild the critical thinking skills that […]
"Zen: a direct transmission outside of scriptures, not dependent on words and letters" goes the famous phrase attributed to Bodhidharma. But can we use words and letters as a means […]
The breathtaking language of the Flower Ornament Sutra can help us to experience the total interconnectivity of all things. Venerable Shih Zhongxin will provide us with examples from this transcendent […]
We've looked at the words of classical Western poetry as well as an important Mahayana Sutra, so now it's time to let our hair down. How can contemporary rock 'n […]
The Buddhist tradition presents us with many different styles of garments. Where did they come from? What do they represent, if anything? Venerable Shih Mingxing takes us on a journey […]
Beads are used in just about every iteration of Buddhism. Sometimes they're symbolic, sometimes they're practical, and sometimes they're just decorative. Venerable Shih Mingxing will examine the history of Buddhist […]
In the vast corpus of Buddhist literature there are gems that are sometimes overlooked. Venerable Shih Mingxing will explore some of these seldom-mentioned and yet vital elements of the Buddhist […]
The Buddha was not a Buddhist. Buddhism as we know it today, especially in the West, was formed over two thousand years, not in small part due to the efforts […]
Around the 4th century BCE, the Buddhist monastic community split into two factions. This separation would shape the Buddhist landscape for centuries to come. Venerable Shih Mingxing will examine in […]