Book Reading/Study Group – Realizing Genjokoan

“To study the Buddha Way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be verified by all things…” – Eihei Dogen Sarasota Zen Center presents a Book Reading/Study Group, facilitated by SZC teacher Will Rauschenberger, that will meet on four consecutive Saturdays, beginning […]

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The day begins

This poem was written May 30 1998.  It was for my future wife, Charlene. We were married on April 8, 2001. It could have been written today and it would be as true now as it was then! The day begins… All of this, life thus far, has prepared me for this…  all has been […]

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Valentines Day

Great love knows nothing about what day it is! Wouldn’t it be best to always celebrate love? To suffer no loss of the beloved one, To never feel the longing, To never feel anger or betrayal, To always be love means to let go of fear, clinging and possession. Wouldn’t it be best to always […]

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The fruit of the wine

Facing mortality, not an easy thing to do. Body falling apart, mind doesn’t understand… My mother struggled to accept her circumstance, sitting in the doctors office. Why doesn’t my body work as it should?, she asks. I could say, but don’t.  After all she is eighty five! Who am I to say? From the deep […]

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Full Circle

Stumbling along as a young man, looking for answers, Gary Snyder appeared and plowed through my consciousness opening the fertile soil of my mind with horse and plow! I knew nothing of Zen or poetry then, only knew that his words were thunderous truth telling. Now on Cold Mountain he appears again! The fertile soil planted […]

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