Teachings by Dogo, Scottish Zen Buddhist Monk
by Dogo
Thank you, pillows. Thank you, mattress. Thank you, sheets. Thank you, duvets. Thank you, floor. Thank you, ceiling. Thank you, walls. Thank you, windows. Thank you, door. Thank you, electricity. Thank you, water. Thank you, neighbourhood. Thank you, city. Thank you, country.
Continue, with or without words.
#zen #buddhism #gratitude #mindfulness #meditation #animism #dogobarrygraham
by Dogo
When does our journey end? When we realise we were never on a journey.
#zen #buddhism #dukkha #samsara #suffering #palmofthehandteachings #dogobarrygraham
by Dogo
More than ten years ago, I realised I had never seen a good English translation of The Kannon Sutra, a.k.a. Enmei Jukku Kannon Gyo, so I decided to attempt one that was both accurate and easy to chant. This is the result, Romaji followed by English. (Note: in our sangha, we still chant it in Japanese.)
ENMEI JUKKU KANNON GYO
KAN ZE ON NA MU BUTSU YO BUTSU U IN YO BUTSU U EN BUP PO SO EN JO RAKU GA JO CHO NEN KAN ZE ON BO NEN KAN ZE ON NEN NEN JU SHIN KI NEN NEN FU RI SHIN
TEN-LINE LIFE-PROLONGING KANNON SUTRA
Kanzeon Veneration to the Buddha The Buddha is my origin The Buddha and me — no separation The Three Treasures and me — no separation Bliss outside of time, pure freedom from self First morning thought: Kanzeon Last nighttime thought: Kanzeon Thoughts, thoughts arise from the mind Thoughts, thoughts are nothing but the mind
#zen #buddhism #chanting #liturgy #kannonsutra #enmeijukkukannongyo #dogobarrygraham
by Dogo
We are conditioned to live our entire life in the belief that it will be better someday.
#zen #buddhism #dukkha #samsara #suffering #palmofthehandteachings #dogobarrygraham
by Dogo
Our weekly online sangha meetings have been going very well, with — thus far — people in Scotland, Cornwall, Italy, Croatia, France, and various American states doing zazen together. Our little group ranges from newcomers to people who're in their second decade of practicing together. It's been going so well, I think this ought to be the future, or at least a large part of the future, of Zen practice.
Of course, it's good for people who live near one another to practice together in the same physical space. But so much of Buddhist practice in the west has involved flying hundreds, or thousands, of miles to sit together in meditation or visit teachers. I knew an American monk who made an annual flight from the American Southwest to the Netherlands... to sit in a zendo for a week. Not only is this the practice of the affluent (what some of us call The Upper Middle Way), its contribution to global heating is unconscionable.
Some of the ways we've been living during lockdown should be continued when the pandemic is over. Frivolous air travel should not resume. Buddhist practitioners who don't have a local sangha can practice together virtually, and local sanghas can also be part of the international sangha. Jikan, daishin and I plan to open a zendo near Garelochhead in Scotland, where we'll hold sesshin (meditation retreats), and we plan to stream those online. Dokusan can be done by a video phone call.
#zen #buddhism #meditation #onlinezenpractice #mindfulness #virtualzendo #onlinedharma #dogobarrygraham #jitsi
by Dogo
Stone, River, Mountain Zen is a new group blog with writing by me, daishin and Jikan.
by Dogo
Yesterday's online sangha meeting went well. People in various time zones sat zazen together, then I gave a Dharma talk. I was impressed by the video and sound quality of Jitsi (it works better in the app than a browser). So we'll continue to meet on Sundays at 6 pm Scottish (UK) time. If you want to join us, let me know and I'll send you the link and the password.
Note to lurkers: there was at least one person yesterday who left their camera and microphone off. We're a sangha, not a sideshow, so that's unacceptable. From now on, anyone who's not visible will be bumped from the meeting.
#zen #buddhism #meditation #onlinezenpractice #mindfulness #virtualzendo #onlinedharma #dogobarrygraham #jitsi
by Dogo
Enough people have expressed interest in online Zen practice that I've decided to have a weekly sangha meeting by video. Our sangha has students in the US, the UK and Europe, so the meeting will start at 6 pm UK time, which is late morning or early afternoon US time, depending on which state you live in.
We'll begin and end with some chanting. We'll do 25 minutes of zazen (meditation), then I'll give a short Dharma talk and take questions. The whole meeting will last an hour. Please be online and on your cushion ten minutes before the starting time.
Most sanghas have been using Zoom, but it has poor security and it tracks you. So we'll use Jitsi. If you want to join us, let me know and I’ll send you a video link and a password, and a copy of the liturgy.
If you want dokusan, we can also do that by video, using either FaceTime (if you have an Apple device) or Signal. I won’t use Skype, for the same reason I won’t use Zoom.
#zen #buddhism #meditation #onlinezenpractice #mindfulness #virtualzendo #onlinedharma #dogobarrygraham
by Dogo
Most (or, I hope, all) Buddhist sanghas have moved their practice online because of the coronavirus pandemic. This has me thinking about doing interactive online Zen teaching, perhaps having dokusan by video. I'm still pondering, so if that's something you would be interested in, please let me know.
There's also the Zen for Real Life podcast, which currently has four talks by me, and one by Daishin. We'll be adding more soon.
#zen #buddhism #dogobarrygraham #zenpodcast #daishinstephenson #onlinedharma #onlinezen #mindfulness #meditation
by Dogo
In Western culture, we're encouraged to “make our mark.” We're told we should want to be remembered, and that it's bad to be forgotten.
What if, instead, we do the work of trying to make no mark, but instead try to help heal the marks and scars we find? What if we aim to be forgotten, and trust the results of what we do to exist without us?
#zen #buddhism #mindfulness #mediation #ego #humility #dogobarrygraham