An interview with Jon Kabat-Zinn, founder of mindfulness-based stress reduction by Edo Shonin Source: “This is not McMindfulness by any stretch of the imagination” – The Psychologist       

16 Bodhisattva Precepts – by Zoketsu Norman Fischer Source: Everyday Zen :: 8. Precepts The sixteen bodhisattva precepts are a set of vows of ethical conduct taken many times in a Zen practitioner’s life. They derive originally from the vinaya, monastic vows taken on ordination during the Buddha’s time (250 precepts for monks, 348 for […]

The Hidden Aspects of the Five Precepts is an interesting Blog post by Edo Shonin and William Van Gordon. I enjoyed reading their fresh perspective on the five precepts (Buddhist code of ethics).  The five precepts are not formulated as laws or rules, but as training guide lines that lay people undertake voluntarily to facilitate […]

The Platform Sutra contains the autobiographical passages of the most profound figure of Zen literature, the sixth patriach Hui-neng. What I got from reading this Sutra was; Pointing to direct experience or the essence of mind is the central point. In one example the story goes, Hui-neng is happening upon two monks vigorously discussing what was moving […]

To me precepts and linage are alive in one’s experience, not an outward “signing up for” or “belonging to”. The sixteen bodhisattva precepts are a set of vows of ethical conduct taken by a Zen practitioner when he/she is ready to make a commitment to conduct that benefits others, and are taken by both monastic and […]