Blog
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Wood Smoke
The fall training period continues to unfold here at Yokoji as temperatures drop and the old familiar scent of wood smoke starts to compliment morning and evening zazen. The second Sesshin of the...
October 24, 2012 | Comments: 0 -
The Fall Trainee Line-up
With the Fall Training Period underway, we have a number of new residents, some here just for a month or two and some here for the long haul. Jokai and I went around this morning - camera in my...
September 20, 2012 | Comments: 1 -
End of Summer
One of the things you notice if you live at Yokoji for a while is just how many people come and go through the temple gates. Obviously, we have visitors: day trippers, retreat participants, hikers...
August 16, 2012 | Comments: 0 -
Trenchtown Rocks
At the end of May we launched our summer fundraising campaign, "Build & Maintain: 2012". It is now early July and we have already raised over $10,000 (which was our target) and done the...
July 09, 2012 | Comments: 4 -
Different Hats
Spring Training period is already a distant memory. One delusion I like to practice in training period is that when Interim training period comes along, I will have lots of time to do everything....
June 07, 2012 | Comments: 3 -
Dharma Combat
Kokai's Dharma combat ceremony is coming up this Sunday, May 13th, at 11am. Please come along and support him (try and be in the zendo by 10:45am) and feel free to ask a question during the dharma...
May 11, 2012 | Comments: 0 -
Alive or Dead
The April sesshin is about to finish. People have come and gone and the passing of the 7 days has felt both fast and slow. There is a sense of the infinite contained within the strict regime of...
April 15, 2012 | Comments: 3 -
Working Title
One of the great gifts of a long period of residency at Yokoji, is the chance to experience formal zen training in many different states of being. Joy, anger, fatigue, frustration, boredom,...
March 25, 2012 | Comments: 7 -
One Teaching in Response
If I had to sum up the last couple of weeks in one word, it would be this: snow. A winter up in the mountains is no stranger to the white stuff, but this winter has been pretending for a long...
February 28, 2012 | Comments: 2 -
There and Back Again
It’s a common practice of the British to discuss the weather. That seems an apt starting point for this post as we finally have a shift in temperature. The clouds have rolled in and it’s once...
February 13, 2012 | Comments: 4