The title of this is a question I was asked online about a year ago, and I’ve just stumbled across my answer to it. We touch on the idea of ritual, ceremony and ‘the form’ from time to time in Northampton, especially when people come to their first sit with a service! Usually, I answer […]
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East Barn Zendo exists so that people may come together to practise zazen (meditation) in the Zen Buddhist tradition promulgated by Hakuyu Taizan Maezumi Roshi (1931-1995). For this reason, the zendo (meditation room) has a Buddhist altar as its focus, towards which we bow and chant. Some people are disconcerted by the idea that in […]
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Jeremy Ryokan Sensei was given dharma transmission by Fr Patrick Eastman Kundo Roshi, founder of the Wild Goose Sangha in 2016. In April 2023 Ryokan received Shukke Tokudo from Keizan Roshi and joined Stonewater Zen Sangha. The inner life and the mystery of life fascinated and spoke to Jeremy from his teenage years. It emerged […]
Read more…The Four Noble Truths are said to contain the essence Of Gautama Buddha’s teaching. The truth of suffering, the truth of the origin of suffering, the truth of the cessation of suffering, and the truth of the path to the cessation of suffering which is The Noble Eightfold Path. The truth of suffering seems to […]
Read more…The Four Noble Truths, along with the Eightfold Path and the Middle Way, are contained in the Buddha’s first teaching after his enlightenment. Called “Turning the Wheel of the Dharma”, this talk at Deer Park to his five former ascetic companions formed the basis of his teaching for the next forty-five years, so it is rather important. Nevertheless […]
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Sensei has asked me to write an article so that you all know how I manifest my Zen practice in my daily life. You may see on Facebook and social media that I run a community-based martial arts gym with my partner Adam, we teach children & adults the virtues of Honesty, Compassion, Loyalty, Courage […]
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Here are some reflections from Maurice on his perspective on faith and religion: At the grammar school which I attended from the age of 11 to 18, every day started in the hall with a religious ceremony. We recited the Lord’s Prayer and sang a hymn. Then the head teacher gave a talk on a […]
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Last year at the October Crosby retreat we had a surprise attender on her first retreat. Taka Rothenberg is a delightful Japanese lady in her eighties who made her way to us by train from London. Not only did she know no one, she had never done zazen before and she had booked for the […]
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A reflection by Maurice Shokatsu George ‘A human mind is an unfathomable entity. Nobody knows what it is. Nobody. Consciousness? Awareness? A by-product of the brain? A non-entity? A facet of the imagination? It’s no use consulting the experts. The only expert to manage my mind is me. No-one else. Nothing else. No Buddhas. Only […]
Read more…I have heard and read a lot recently about the analogy of practice as climbing a mountain. At a discussion on a Thursday night someone mentioned that, whilst the summit may seem elusive, they can appreciate how far they have come by looking back at the view behind. This idea of taking stock of how […]
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