Essay Archives (pre 2009)
- Category: UNCATEGORIZED
- Jan 15, 2012
- Last Updated on Monday, 16 January 2012 21:13
- Published Date
"Labors of Peace"
by Fa Liang, OHY
Published Aug 30, 2008
This week, right in my own "backyard," a terrible thing happened. A man, fueled by hate, walked into a Unitarian Universalist (UU) church during a children's play and began shooting. Two people are dead and four more are physically injured. Many more are left to bear emotional scars. The alleged... Read more
The Wu! Gate
by Fa Liang, OHY
Published Jul 15, 2008
We can, each of us, experience Wu! -- that emptiness, that relief -- every time we give up our attachment. When we have a job to do, we simply do it - without grumbling, without daydreaming about all the other things we could be doing instead, without any sort of... Read more
The Story of the Wave
by Fa Liang, OHY
Published Jun 15, 2008
Once upon a time, there was a little wave. The wave loved being a wave going up and down and playing all day and night. The wave was surrounded by lots of other waves and it had fun watching them, too. Then one day, the little wave noticed... Read more
Road Construction Ahead!
by Fa Liang, OHY
Published Nov 07, 2007
Forgiveness is a three-dimensional road with its foundation built solidly in the bedrock of our spiritual nature. I wrote previously about forgiving ourselves - recognizing and accepting our own mistakes instead of hiding in their shadows, defending our mistakes as if they weren't mistakes at all. Honesty, integrity, humility and... Read more
Forgiveness
by Fa Liang, OHY
Published Oct 01, 2007
We are all human. If we are honest with ourselves we'll recognize that we all say and do things that cause pain to others as well as to ourselves. It's the feelings within that reflexively lead us to act and speak in hurtful ways. The fear, negativity, and blame... Read more
Do you believe in reincarnation?
by Fa Jian, OHY
Published Jan 21, 2007
The mystery of what, if anything, happens to us after we die continues to be a subject of debate among people of all religions as well as philosophers and religious scholars. With so much interest in the subject, it's no wonder that we have so many theories about what happens... Read more
Non-Discrimination and the Chan Mind
by Chuan Kong, OHY
Published Nov 17, 2004
Discriminating is a fundamental aspect of being human. Everything we do is a choice based on discrimination between one thing or another, or between one thing and a thousand others. The collection of choices we each make is unique to each of us. Sometimes our choices are based on our... Read more
Masters of Maya
by Fa Shen
Published Sep 18, 2004
The tools with which we are born and with which we come to know the world are our five sense organs - our eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin. We often say that our eyes look out upon the world. But what intrigues me is that it isn't so much... Read more
The Language of Humanity
by Yin Cheng, OHY
Published May 15, 2004
I will not speak of the language of men - the language they use to convey their thoughts about the world. I will not even address the infinite varieties of speech, the richness of vocabularies, the fullness of expression. And despite the uniqueness of the language of men - its... Read more
Freedom from Ego's Entanglements
by Yin Cheng, OHY
Published Oct 25, 2003
When we meditate we cannot have a self-serving purpose, True meditation in its many forms will not suffer the ego's presence. There can be no "I will" or "I can" or "I shall." There can be no cleverly concealed aim, a transference from "I" to "it." The material world -... Read more
Merry Whatever
by Yin Yao, OHY
Published Dec 16, 2002
Christmas is a strange season for the American Buddhist. No matter how long you've been on the Path, Christmas still feels like Christmas. And everybody actslike it's Christmas. And some part of you wants it to be Christmas-precepts or no precepts. Jesus was, by anyone's reckoning, a great Bodhisattva. And... Read more
Why I Am Not a Zen Master
by Yin Yao, OHY
Published Nov 30, 2002
Recently my congregation assembled to ask me how an ordinary Zen guy gets to be a Zen Master. "So, Rev," she said, "What's up with the whole 'Zen Master' deal, anyway" Patiently ignoring the single quotes in her voice, I explained that only a Zen Master knows how to become... Read more
Dubious Transactions
by Yin Yao, OHY
Published Nov 09, 2002
Most people don't know it, but Zen guys love Zen knick-knacks. It's not enough to have a simple altar with a Buddha statue, some flowers, incense burner, altar cloth and a nice cushion to sit on. Eventually, we just have to have that geniune brass gong (made in Mexico) which... Read more
Vested Interests
by Yin Yao, OHY
Published Oct 23, 2002
If you've watched the old Kung Fu series on television, you might have the impression that becoming a Zen priest requires passing some kind of test-and you'd be correct. The real test, though, is nothing so exotic as walking on rice paper, hefting a tureen full of red-hot scorpions, or... Read more
Practicing the Ten Benevolences: Goal of Buddhist Behavior
by Fat Wei (Fa Hui)
Published Jul 09, 2002
Dear Friends, after his Enlightenment, Shakyamuni preached Buddhism for forty-nine years. During this time, in more than three hundred meetings of his Sangha, he expounded the Dharma. Sometimes he preached from heaven, sometimes he preached on earth, and sometimes he preached from the silence of the Bo Tree in the... Read more
Among Other Things
by Yin Yao, OHY
Published Jun 12, 2002
Among other things, 9/11 turned me into a news junkie. It's all my fault. From September to May, every day started with a quick look at the Associated Press web site, followed by visits to CNN, the Washington Post, the BBC, and that black sheep of journalism, the Drudge Report.... Read more
A Fork in the Road
by Chuan Kong, OHY
Published May 06, 2002
Isn't it strange how often we're met with the problems of choice? Time and time again we find it necessary to unify our divided mind, to make a definitive decision, a right decision - and woe betide us if we get it wrong!When a choice can result in consequences we... Read more
That Sinking Feeling
by Yin Yao, OHY
Published Jan 31, 2002
Zen teaches us swamp-dwellers to value simplicity, austerity. That must be why karma dictated that I should now live in a hut. My home was built in 1948, at the height of Washington D.C.'s post-WWII housing boom. It's tiny and white, with a little crooked chimney and a little plugged... Read more
Freedom From What?
by Chuan Heng, OHY
Published Jun 26, 2001
The current controversy about the sculptural presentation of the Ten Commandments displayed in an Alabama Courthouse should concern all religious persons in the United States, regardless of creed. On the surface, the issue is whether the placement of the Ten Commandments in a state courthouse violates the Constitutional guarantee of the... Read more
Lhasa Apsos
by Yin Yao, OHY
Published May 01, 2001
I had a Zen moment this morning. Walking to the train station, I saw a little dog get clipped by a car. There wasn't much to hit: the dog weighed less than a pigeon and looked like it hadn't seen the inside of a house or a feeding bowl in... Read more
Zen and the Dharmakaya Cadillac
by Yin Yao, OHY
Published Apr 02, 2001
Every Buddhist biker knows that "when the student is ready, the master appears." Last week I was the student, and Sensei manifested himself in the form of a 1981 Cadillac Coupe DeVille, white, with Maryland tags and an appetite for Lesser Vehicles.The lesson began about five minutes before I was... Read more
Zen and the Boxer Rebellion
by Yin Yao, OHY
Published Oct 12, 2000
In China at the close of the 19th century, a secret society called the Fists of Righteous Harmony started a movement to expel all foreigners from their homeland. History knows these rebels as the Boxers.But never mind them. This is about underwear. Big underwear. Zen underwear.A while ago, a kind... Read more
The Eighty-Fourth Problem
by Yin Yao, OHY
Published Sep 05, 2000
This essay is about problems - the kind we all share. Big ones and little ones, problems that we cause ourselves and problems that the world inflicts upon us.A man once came to see the Buddha because he heard that the Buddha knew how to solve problems. The man had... Read more
The Song of Courage
by Chuan Heng, OHY
Published Aug 14, 2000
A song's end has a strange bleakness. There's a signal of finality, the end of something beautiful and loved. The dying overtones of the last note cause the heart to skip a few beats as if it's trying to still itself, anticipating sounds the ear will not be hearing. The day... Read more
Get Lost!
by Chuan Kong, OHY
Published Mar 13, 2000
“Get lost!” You can’t seem to get through life without hearing that at least once. The command usually means that you should exit, either literally or metaphorically, and the quicker the better. It’s especially hurtful when the person who says it thinks he means well.“Get lost!” The expression conveys pain,... Read more
A House is not a Home
by Chuan Heng, OHY
Published Oct 05, 1999
I don't know why politics should so often turn out to be the high-priced prostitute of promise, the siren-song of shipwrecks. We listen to a melody and allow ourselves to be lured by it, taken off course until we collide with obstacles we could not see. Our little boat and... Read more
My Teacher, My Self
by Chuan Heng, OHY
Published Jul 14, 1999
"First" has the power of nothing else. It carries the thrill of newness, and nothing that follows it can ever claim such power. For better or worse, we remember our firsts. First love, first car, first time away from home. But of all these, our first... Read more
Upon Awakening in the Morning
by Chuan Kong, OHY
Published Jul 08, 1999
Have you ever wondered how it is that you always wake up in the morning as yourself and not someone else? As you awaken all the incidentals come crowding in: all the things you have to do today; all the places you have to be; what you are expected to... Read more
Bright Lights, Lonely Spot
by Chuan Heng, OHY
Published Mar 26, 1999
The loneliest place in the world is center stage. Though all eyes see into the small spotlight, the pair within the light sees only the vast darkness beyond. The strain of knowing we are being watched while also knowing that we are unable to see those who are watching us... Read more
Lin Ji and the Jazzman
by Chuan Heng, OHY
Published Mar 09, 1999
There is a style of music that is more about truth than beauty. It has steady, intricate rhythms, complicated scales, and chord patterns that appeal to people who can handle truth with or without the presence of beauty. Jazz isn't the most popular style of music, yet every now and... Read more
Lessons from the Dark Side of the Moon
by Chuan Heng, OHY
Published Dec 22, 1998
Sometimes we descend into darkness so gradually that we're unaware of the diminishing light. We don't realize that we can't clearly see where we're going since, as the light grows dimmer and dimmer, our eyes keep adjusting to the loss. People who are watching our descent may shout warnings, but... Read more
Performance Anxiety
by Chuan Heng, OHY
Published Jul 06, 1998
It begins with a fearful thought that shatters your confidence the way a siren shatters the peace of a Sunday Morning. You'd like to think about other things but the wailing sound of pain and loss commands all your attention. No matter how well you've rehearsed what you've planned... Read more