Kansas Zen Center

In our lives, all around us, people are screaming at us to agree with them.

And people are screaming with us to disagree with other people.

And we're always choosing sides.

Then everyone is trapped.

Koan practice is about getting out of that trap.

We're always being trapped.

So just get out of it,

like the fish who just swims right past the net,

or maybe even through the net.

And it's on the other side,

and it's not in the net.

So, that mind that isn't caught in preconceptions and assumptions.

That's what the middle way is about.

~ Zen Master Judy Roitman 🕉️
📸: Jacob Gasho 🎣

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We never actually see most things in our field of vision,

we only see light reflected from things or sometimes passing through them.

We see the sun itself, or stars, or candle flames directly, because these things emit light,

but the moon and planets and the altar and people we don't really see.

What we see is the sun or another light source reflecting off the things (or sometimes shining through them) that are in our field of vision.

All that we can actually see is light.

Zen Master Stanley Lombardo 💫
📸: Maddie@KZC 🎨
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All conditioned phenomena are like dreams,

illusions,

bubbles,

shadows,

like dew and lightning.

Thus should they be contemplated.

~ The Diamond Sutra 🕉️

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