Robert Althouse 7/3/24 Robert Althouse 7/3/24

“Falling Cup” by Brad Hunter

The handle of the cup breaks,

Swallows dance impossibly on the air.

A bell is heard in a mysterious distance

Beyond engine and hammer song,

Beneath tire hum and street hysteria.

A cracked brick catches your eye

And the world stops turning.

Just for an instant, thoughts refuse to rise,

Past and future fall off the edges of time.

Guest Author 7/27/23 Guest Author 7/27/23

Monk’s Reflection

I walk through the gate

wrought of iron and complication

Not a saint nearby to claim

my unformed simplicity.

Skye Jigen Lavin 2/13/23 Skye Jigen Lavin 2/13/23

End of First Sesshin: A Samadhi Poem

Skye Jigen Lavin 4/4/20 Skye Jigen Lavin 4/4/20

What is Appropriate Now

Guest Author 3/21/20 Guest Author 3/21/20

Stop!

You have not been listening.

It is hard to listen when you are so busy all the time, hustling to uphold the comforts and conveniences that scaffold your lives.

But the foundation is giving way,

buckling under the weight of your needs and desires.

We will help you.

We will bring the firestorms to your body

We will bring the fever to your body

We will bring the burning, searing, and flooding to your lungs

that you might hear:

We are not well.

Guest Author 1/11/20 Guest Author 1/11/20

Trees

The days will return - -

chlorophyl will again green forest–wide.

The weathered trunk, another eon–

a new river etched in its map–

Robert Althouse 7/3/19 Robert Althouse 7/3/19

Blessing Poem by Roshi Robert Althouse

“We come here together today with deepest respect for our teachers, ancestors and families and sanghas who make our lives possible. We invoke and invite all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas to come and witness this joyous occasion of the opening of this zendo at (name and place and date). Let compassion be born in our hearts today to use our wisdom and skills in the service of freeing others from suffering.

Robert Althouse 3/21/19 Robert Althouse 3/21/19

W.S. Merwin’s Passing

W.S. Merwin has passed away at the age of 91. In the early 90’s when we first started our Zen Center of Hawaii in Kamuela (Waimea) on the Big Island of Hawaii, he came and gave a wonder poetry reading at our Zen Center. He was a formidable poet who had left behind a large and evocative body of work . . .