Author Archives: Seidō
Paths for a Lifetime
When I began participating in my local interfaith dialogue group a few years ago, I realized that although I had been a student of Buddhadharma for about 13 years, and had taken a few undergraduate courses in Buddhism in the 1990s, I hadn’t gotten the kind of thorough overview of Buddhist doctrines that one might [...]
Spring Raga
My wife has been out-of-town visiting her extended family since last Thursday. So, I got to enjoy a weekend of wild bachelor hijinks: unwinding with a few micro-brewed beers and PBS on Friday night; a hike in the silent, snow-covered woods on Saturday; On Sunday, a visit to the local Sikh temple. Since my wife [...]
Wondrous Dharma
*This post is dedicated to two people: 1) The late Chan (Zen) scholar John McRae who introduced me to Shohaku Okumura for the first time in 1997. 2) My friend Bryce who reintroduced me to Shohaku in 2004. These two people unintentionally changed my life and I am forever grateful to them. On a Saturday [...]
A Place of Being
I went to some temple deep in the mountains, and in a monk’s room there hung a landscape painting done by a famous artist. It was an exceptional work. However, because it did not properly mesh with the owner and the wall, the painting could not radiate any luster. Since this was in the deep [...]
Uchiyama’s Shōmyō Practice
Some of the contributors and readers here are already aware that in addition to his devotion to zazen, Uchiyama Kōshō (1912-1998) had a kind of shōmyō (chanting) practice; and, as he became older, even a bowing practice. Before becoming a Sōtō Zen priest in his late twenties, Uchiyama had already earned a Masters degree in [...]
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