Artificial Intelligence’s avid proponents talk about how this technology is revolutionizing the world and becoming the way of the future....

In a recent NOVA documentary, “Zero to Infinity,” host Talithia Williams explains the origins of zero and how zero has affected our approach to the mathematical concept of infinity. Prior to its introduction, people around the world contented themselves with just counting the things they had . Why, it was thought, would people bother to count the countless things they did not have. That would be a waste of time and energy. Asian Indians fully developed the concept of zero a

Last year the New York Times Magazine ran an article entitled, “White Noise,” about dissenters using blank signs or sheets of paper as...

Many people believe that Zen Buddhists are pacifists. This view is too simplistic. Zen master Seikō Hirata, late head abbot of Tenryū-ji...

With another new year well under way, many of us cannot help but wonder when – and even whether – the world will return to normal. By...

Zen-related lessons can be found and applied anywhere – even unknowingly. Here’s a surprising example I came across not too long ago. In...

What is real? This isn’t The same question as What exists, or What doesn’t exist. It’s the difference In how we perceive. In how we...

In meditation, one can sit with eyes closed or open. In our practice, we meditate with eyes open and relaxed. (This is much in accord...

In my early days of Zen training, I spent a lot of time in the Dojo kitchen either talking with my first Zen teacher Tanouye Rotaishi or...

In a recent “light” conversation about the nature of existence – not that unusual a topic in a lawyer-Zen-priest household – my husband...

For over a year, almost every Sunday, my teacher Zen master Taiken Yokoyama has been giving talks to a network of students located all...

There’s a common cultural image of enlightenment: Someone struggles up a steep mountain, finally makes it to the top and finds a bearded...

In the West, there’s a common debate about whether the means justifies the ends or the ends justifies the means. Many heated discussions...

One of my early teachers once told me that she believed fearlessness was overcoming fear. Later, Yokoyama Roshi, my current Zen teacher,...

I laughed out loud when I saw this outside a store’s sidewalk chalkboard: ”One day, you’re young and having fun, and the next thing you...

Before awakening The mountain is just the mountain. Awake the mountain Is no longer the mountain. After awakening The mountain once again...

In 2001, when I told a very close friend that I had been ordained as a Buddhist priest, he declared: Why do you want to do that? Buddhism is nihilistic! (Before I could respond to him, though, I wanted to double-check the definition of the word just to make sure I knew what he meant: Though it can encompass a very deep complex historical philosophy, basically, a nihilist believes life is meaningless and that nothing in the world has real existence.) Nihilistic? Really?

(CAN’T) STOP THE THOUGHTS – Part 1 While sitting zazen, Quiet body. Quiet mind. At least That’s what I was hoping for. Not that morning....

THE END. One of The New York Times “Sketchbook” pages featured drawings that depicted different meanings of “The End” depending on the context.* For instance: · The end of a sentence is a pause. · The end of a chapter is a cliffhanger. · The end of a poem is silence. (See illustration.) The last two panels – “The end of one story . . . is the start of another” – roughly describes a Buddhist view of the cycle of birth and death. While Buddhist sects may differ in the speci

A trick of the mind. Little “m”-mind asks Why am I here? What is the meaning of life? But little “m” mind’s answer Is not good enough: It asks the question And answers the question. Zen Mind says: Go deeper. Go deeper. Ask instead – Why are you asking? Ask instead -- Who’s asking? Zen Mind Demands The answer Comes from Within. Go deeper. Go deeper. So sit. Just sit. - Diane Wong Roshi

One evening over dinner my husband was telling me about a story he had heard earlier that day on public radio. He said he found it...

As the clock ticked away the seconds on December 31, edging closer to midnight and bringing us closer to 12:00:01AM on January 1, how...

“There's no place that you can hide No, no, the rhythm is gonna get'cha…” From “Rhythm is Gonna Get You” – songwriters Gloria M. Estefan...

The morning after I decided to become a Zen priest, I went to tell the Archbishop, but all I could get out was, “Last night I made a decision.” He immediately asked me two questions about my decision: “Will it help end world hunger?” and “Will it bring about world peace?” Without any hesitation, I answered “yes” to both, even though at the time I didn’t know exactly how. That was in January 2001. Over the years of training and teaching as a Zen priest, several lessons have