Teachings on Right Practice by Shunryu Suzuki, as compiled in
Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, read by Peter Coyote:
"Posture", "Breathing",
"Control",
"Mind Weeds",
"The Marrow of Zen",
"Bowing",
"Nothing Special"
posted by Trurl
on Nov 8, 2011 -
16 comments
One day in 1984 character actor
Stephen Tobolowsky (
Groundhog Day, the original, unaired pilot of
Buffy The Vampire Slayer) was walking down the street when
Jonathan Demme pulled up and asked if he wanted to see a movie he was finishing. Tobolowsky accepted: taking his girlfriend
Beth Henley, they went to the
Academy Linwood Dunn Theatre to watch the rough cut of the movie,
Stop Making Sense. The audience in the otherwise empty theatre consisted of
Tobolowsky, Henley, and Demme, along with members of
Talking Heads, including
David Byrne and
Tina Weymouth. Later,
Byrne passed
Tobolowsky on his
bike and asked if he wanted to work on a
new movie. Interest sparked again, and during the ensuing collaboration Tobolowsky shared his past experience of psychic phenomena. Inspired, Byrne went on to write
Radio Head. The song was heard by
Thom Yorke and became the name of his
band. All of this is a true story, based on
puzzling evidence.
[more inside]
posted by Bora Horza Gobuchul
on Jul 17, 2011 -
46 comments
Flash so good it couldn't wait till Friday:
Loops of Zen is a puzzle game where you reconcile all the loose ends so there is no beginning or end. Deceptively simple, yet very relaxing.
[more inside]
posted by schyler523
on Sep 18, 2008 -
47 comments
The other day, I overheard someone marveling at
this story: Impatient jack-ass in Starbucks drive-thru (no, not always synonymous) honks and shouts repeatedly at driver in front of him, a
tai-chi master who decides to "change the consciousness" of the jerk by paying for his coffee. The jerk is so moved, that he pays for the coffee of the person behind him, and this "chain of kindness" winds up lasting all day, with everyone paying for the drink behind him. Nice story, right?
How odd that the
same thing (minus the Jewish zen-master) ccurred almost simultaneously in another part of the country. In this version, the "cheer chain," as the Starbucks employee calls it, was a near-perfect (except for
this guy) example of holiday cheer. I guess pre-caffeinated Starbucks customers must possess a
surprisingly high amount of holiday spirit.
Or maybe it's just the
red cups.
posted by ericbop
on Dec 17, 2007 -
205 comments
"My name is Gudo Wafu Nishijima, a Buddist Monk, who is 86 years old, and recently because of my old age, I finished my Buddhist lectures, which were held at many places for many years, and so I decided to open
Dogen Sangha Blog, to express the Buddhist thought. It might be very short sentences, but I would like to continue it as far as possible almost every day."
The blog of Zen Master
Gudo Wafu Nishijima, founder of
Dongen Sangha Buddhist group. Learn from his video,
How to Practice Zazen, or read some of Nishijima Roshi's
lectures and articles, including the interesting talk,
Zazen, A Better Way of Experiencing Pain.
posted by MetaMonkey
on Feb 25, 2006 -
44 comments
Zen. A nice flash intro. Use the mouse, Grasshopper!
Yes, it shows lack of enlightenment to smite the buzzing fly, but it's the only way you'll get into the site, so overcome your Buddha-nature for once in your life.
posted by languagehat
on Jul 25, 2004 -
16 comments
CSS Zen and the art of
motorcycle website maintainance; a stunning demonstration of what can be accomplished visually through CSS–based design.
posted by riffola
on May 10, 2003 -
36 comments
Ryoan-ji (Temple of the Peaceful Dragon) is possibly the best known of all rock gardens. The entire design consists of fifteen rocks arranged in a large bed of raked gravel, and on the outskirts there are many benches so that visitors may contemplate its meaning and find inner peace. Ryoan-ji inspired the design of the very first mini-zen garden, according to the self-proclaimed
inventor, who also pays homage to Ryoan-ji with
beautiful photographs. For those who might like to try making their own source of inner peace and harmony, not to mention taking up that awkward space on their coffee table, check out the
unabashedly exuberant version by Crafty Chica, who always celebrates her Mexican-American roots with color and verve and quirky charm.
posted by iconomy
on Nov 18, 2002 -
9 comments
Zen Stories to Tell Your Neighbors. "Pick out the stories that sound interesting. Read this hypertext book from 'cover' to 'cover,' or at random, or use the links at the bottom of each story to connect to other stories with similar themes. There's no right or wrong way to do this."
posted by Joey Michaels
on Oct 25, 2002 -
13 comments
surf art! tote the zen of the wave... and sprinkle a bit of
post-colonial critique in to boot!
Does anyone know of other ventures into this field?
posted by mrjoy
on Apr 2, 2001 -
2 comments
We've heard of intelligence and emotional intelligence, but what about spiritual intelligence?
Gary Zukav is spiritually
brilliant. He frequently appears on Oprah, from which I assume (accepting all implicit risks) that his audience consists largely of women. Which is too bad, because men have quite a lot to learn from this man as well, and it would do a world of good (being, unjustly, a man's world) if every man did.
posted by sudama
on Sep 20, 2000 -
39 comments
