UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud

Whose idea was this?

It certainly wasn’t mine —

Perhaps it is yours?

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The thread running through this series is the underlying connection, the various links, between Design thinking and Zen, and how…

How to think Design?

Nothing is sep’rate in it —

Nothing excluded!

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During the two years of the Covid-19 pandemic, like most other people I gained some wait and lost some of my vim and vigor. This i…

How to design Zen?

No need to redesign it —

It is already!

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In this segment we will continue to explore the underlying or implied question of Buddhism: What is your worldview, exactly and in detail?…

Perfectly nat’ral,

A sitting tetrahedron —

Equilibrium!

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We will continue our discussion of the influence of Design thinking on worldview, returning to one of my most influential mentors. I want to …

It is laugh or cry —

the tragedy of humans

in hormonal rage.

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This is one I did not want to have to write. But owing to the resurgence of mass shootings — emerging to fill the gap, now that the COVI…

Falling through a curve —

Sum total of all forces…

Zen’s “total function”!

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In this segment we will return our attention back to the more personal sphere of meditation practice. Beyond any considera…

Such a lovely world —

if it weren’t for the people!

Let’s get rid of them.

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In the last segment on Precepts & Putin, I finally got around to asking what all these ethical and political issues have t…

Dharma trumps karma

but it is not an escape —

Consequences come

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Last Sunday we performed an initiation ceremony called “Jukai Tokudo” in Japanese. We had an international visitor and a couple of ot…

Who is this Zen for?

Yes, you can practice alone —

sangha will survive.

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No, this is not the beginning of a bad joke about a priest and a householder entering a bar. Though that certainly has happen…

The Four Spheres are real —

as real as anything else —

but temporary

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We left off with the promise that we would continue examining the can of worms called “anxiety.” To a fish or a bird, as Master …

I may not be done —

my race may be almost run —

not yet... not yet... not...

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In the discussion devoted to Bodhidharma’s four observations in zazen, we mentioned anxiety and serenity as one of the p…

It’s all personal —

but entangled seamlessly

with universal

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This is the last of a quartet of essays on semantic modeling, an approach that emphasizes simultaneity of components in a system and how …

He was the great sage

who said no need for zazen —

if you grasp the truth

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At the beginning of the last section on analysis and systems modeling, I suggested it may be worthwhile to delve a bit more…

It’s not that simple.

But it helps to simplify —

at least in your mind.

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Before leaving the discussion of systems and analysis modeling, and its application to daily life and Zen practice, it may be…

What is a system?

It has inside and outside —

all dharma beings.

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We ended the last section with the suggestion that you consider the design of your Zen practice from a creative perspective, rather …

Discovery now.

Invention follows later —

in Design or Zen.

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One more point about process in general may be worth noting before considering the processes of discovery and invention in particular. Lik…

Process is the thing —

Outcomes only the result —

Some tweaking required

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Matsuoka Roshi’s expression that “You have to work your way through every bone in your body” implies a kind of thoroughgoing…

Method and routine

may be hard to separate —

Work it out in time

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In the last episode of our series on Design thinking and Zen, considering methods and materials, tools and techniques associated wit…

No matter the tool —

Whatever materials —

The method is Zen

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In the last episode we ended by noting that the design of the method of Zen, as well as the equipment used in practicing it, were operati…