“When you sit zazen, you place yourself on the ground of reality.” Shohaku Okumura Roshi. These words from my teacher offer a radical perspective on what we do when we sit down on the cushion. It’s not about calming ourselves, controlling emotions, or reaching special states of consciousness. No, it’s about reality. It’s not necessarily […]

As spring approaches, the wish to share this space with people becomes stronger. So I’m writing about a bunch of possibilities and encouraging you to join me. Everything is at the farm except the ones identified as elsewhere. I’ve just posted two new work days – March 16 and April 20 – with seasonal work […]

Dear Friends of Mountains and Waters, This is a repeat of last week’s blog post, which seems to have disappeared. Here’s an overview of what’s coming up, and at the end thoughts and a link to Bendell’s work on “Deep Adaptation.” Retreats: Sesshin (Zen meditation retreat): 3-day sesshin at the farm, March 22-24 , June […]

Last night the potluck group listened to Morris Berman on “Why America Failed.” Halfway through I was wondering why I did this. By the end I remembered. But first let me mention this: most of the hour consisted of an overview of what’s wrong. (This talk was pre-Trump, by the way, but you could already […]