Author Archives: Keith Shingo Parr

‘Changing My Mind’ by Jo O’Riordan and Keith Parr

Here are two short pieces on the theme of ‘Changing My Mind’, the first by Jo Doshin O’Riordan and the second from Keith Shingo Parr, who is currently on Sesshin at Yokoji Zen Mountain Centre: “I found it hard to decipher exactly what David Loy means. Saying that the world changes when one’s mind changes sounds […]

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Ringsfield was a pain!

Sitting with aches and pains and occasional discomfort is a normal part of Zen practice, something I would just sit with, incorporating it into my practice. A raging toothache however, was for me an altogether different situation. It began the second day we arrived at Ringsfield Hall, the beautiful rural setting of the Suffolk sesshin. […]

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On the practice and making a Rakusu

I’ve had a pattern for a Rakusu for many years now; for as many years as I have been practising (on and off). I‘ve made a more determined effort to commit to this practice ever since my father passed away just over two years ago. He was someone who appreciated his life on a moment to moment basis. I never heard him complain about his life, and he’d had some pretty tough times growing up in Liverpool during the Second World War. He had no Zen training, and yet he was always appreciative of his life, a cup of tea, turning on a tap and having instant hot water; I remember him commenting on such simple acts and I would be puzzled; now I smile at such memories. He was always satisfied and contented with simple pleasures and always seemed to go with the flow of his life. I learned a lot from my dad.

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