Along with “Cowspiracy” (on Netflix) comes this recent announcement by the WHO about the dangers of foods we frequently eat. Processed meat (and some red meat too such as hamburgers) are put on the top…
Firearms and Christianity brought new problems to Shogun Ieyasu which he solved by separation and division. When he died the Shogunate fell to his son and then eight years later to his grandson, the tyrannical…
In this final section of his paternal experience, Da Shi Yao Xin changes a diaper for the first time and finds in the experience a happy connection to Zen’s ancient monastic practice of using the…
Japan’s first “Separation of Church and State” long cherished by Americans was accomplished by its first Shogun, (“the barbarian suppressing Commander in Chief”) Yoritomo Minamoto who let the Emperor preside over religious matters in Kyoto…
All great movements have a beginning which fulfills a need. Peasants, being given no armor or weapons when they were sent into battle, had to copy the “attack and defend” techniques of birds, insects, and…
Deliverance Day finally arrives for Da Shi Yao Xin. In Part V, A Tiger in the Belgian Forest, he tells us how it feels to suddenly become the dad of an adorable tiger cub, a.k.a.…
Few writers have been so prolific and so eloquent in their love of their country’s traditions as world-class author Yukio Mishima. In Part I of her Commentary on the Hagakure, Ming Zhen Shakya discusses Mishima’s…
The Zen Buddhist Order of Hsu Yun is proud to reprint Ming Zhen Shakya’s series on the Hagakure, an account of Samurai life in seventeenth century Japan. In this introduction to the ten part series,…
In Part 3 of “A Father’s Birth” Yao Xin Shakya follows the directions to the Athonite Church and experiences a revitalization of an old Zen teaching. He wonders how the Christian Blessing will affect his…
“Called or not called, God will be there”, C. G. Jung wrote in front of his house. In “Vespers in the Night”, Master Yao Xin Shakya share some words with an Orthodox priest and realizes…
A simple way of living, distant mountains, homemade wine and the scent of incense become a fine scenario for the mistery of life to unfold. In the “A Father’s Birth”, Master Yao Xin Shakya tell…
