Communication Breakdown(s)
For the past ten years or so, I’ve spent a lot of my time traveling around and visiting Zen centers, meditation groups, and other such organizations all over the world. Some of these are well-established large centers with their very own beautiful buildings. Some are groups who meet in borrowed or rented spaces belonging to […]
Who Was This Buddha Guy?
Last night I went and saw Stephen Batchelor speak at Against The Stream, Noah Levine’s center on Melrose Ave. in Hollywood. He is in the US right now to promote his new book After Buddhism. I haven’t read the new book yet. I just bought it last night (authors always make more money from books […]
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!
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 […]
