I would like to thank my original teacher Jana Draka, her teacher ZenKei Blanche Hartman, my current teacher Doug Jacobson, and all the ancestors in my lineage.


I wanted to discuss ZenKei Sangha’s approach to zen as I understand it. First, though, a related story:


Mokusen Hiki was a Zen teacher living at a temple in the province of Tamba. One of his students complained that his wife was very stingy. Mokusen decided to visit the student’s wife. When he met her, he held up a clenched fist in front of her face and asked, “Suppose my fist was always like this. What would you call it?”/s always like this. What then?”
The wife responded, “Another kind of deformity.”
Mokusen said, “If you understand that much, you are a good wife.” Having made his point, he left.
After this encounter, the wife helped her husband more with both saving money and distributing it generously.  


One point of the story that I absorbed is that there should be no clutching to a single view. That said, even this talk should not be used as a firm definition of all we do, just a guide. ZenKei Sangha is a finger pointing at the Moon, a common theme of zen.


Another aspect that I gleaned was the importance of Tolerance. The wife obviously had her own understanding of how to approach finances, but she was able to listen to Mokusen about another path,


With every idea there can be a discussion about the meaning, A lot of sanghas do an excellent job of discussing those possible meanings. ZenKei Sangha is one of the places that allows me to present and explore my ideas.


This talk is the original written words and the generated A.I. voice of one that has been called a Bodhisattva and has taken the Bodhisattva vows. I hope that I have seen you as a being. I hope that I have helped dissolve delusion with these deluded words. I hope that I have opened new learning gates for you. To me, the Buddha's way is unsurpassable, I hope you become what YOU seek.