Archives by date

You are browsing the site archives by date.

The Zen Gospel of Prosperity

One of the main things that originally attracted me to Zen is the fact that Zen does not proselytize. On the contrary, rather than trying to get as many people as possible to come to join their groups, the Zen Masters of old routinely told people who tried to enter their practice spaces to go […]

No Answer?

Next week (on Tues. Oct. 27, 2015) I’ll be in Cincinnati, Ohio as part of a presentation about the music of John Cage. In order to prepare me to talk about Cage’s relationship with Zen Buddhism, the director of the event sent me a book called Where the Heart Beats: John Cage, Zen Buddhism and […]

Angel City Zen Center: Let's Make It Happen!

Angel City Zen Center: Let’s Make It Happen!

Whenever people outside of Los Angeles hear that I want to open a Zen Center in LA they respond by saying things like, “There must be a million Zen places in LA! Why would you want to start another one?” Curiously enough that is not the case. There is no place in LA right now […]

Perception, Consciousness and Self

Here’s a question I got by email: “Is it fair to say that perception is consciousness? If the I is just the I reaction to stimulus then without perception there is no I.” This is one of those questions people in my line of work often get. We try our best to answer them. But […]

Guns, Anger and Zen

On August 7, 2011 a deranged asshole with a gun killed eight members of the family of a close friend of mine, including her 11 year-old nephew. Like most such perpetrators in America, he had acquired the gun easily, cheaply, and legally. I have been appalled by the pathetic state of our gun laws since […]