I used to be an enthusiastic Zen practitioner, but I’m experiencing a slump. My sitting these days is dull, and my desire to sit has declined significantly. How can I regain my energy for Zen practice? This is a tough problem, and not easy to resolve. It’s also a common problem— nearly everyone runs into…

I love dokusan. But it has taken me some years to get there. I didn’t really understand what it was for, what its purpose or utility was. I feel like I had read somewhere that dokusan gets translated as “an interview with the teacher.” For me, that was immediately frightening. I can’t think of any…

Music communicates in a deep, special way; it’s a whole-body experience. For me, certain songs in particular have caused some “aha” moments over the years, moments of feeling suddenly shot through with deeper understanding and awe. I’m going to share some of my favorites with you. Give your full attention to these songs for a…

I want you to imagine that your significant other just broke up with you. You are sitting on your couch at home, ruminating about all of the “mistakes” that you made leading up to the break up. Considering that one of the biggest predictors of depression and anxiety is a pattern of self-blame and rumination,…

Sitting vs. Smartphone: Throwing Insight Timer, Etc., to the Mat Through my many years of practicing Zen, I’ve struggled to establish a daily sitting routine. I would start off strong, but as the very stresses that brought me back to sitting decreased, so did my motivation to sit. Inevitably, the stresses would return, the sitting…

From the Editor Volume XLII, Number One “Our house is on fire.” With those five short words, young Greta Thunberg articulated the climate crisis in a way nobody had done before. And the devastating fires in Australia provided additional impetus for the RZC to increase its attention to climate activism. For decades, the Center has…