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Vacuum Cleaner (Heart Sutra 3)
Michael Stone continues discussing The Heart Sutra — form and emptiness, the Buddha’s troubles, making families in Toronto, bathing in Japan. What is underneath language in sitting practice is self-acceptance. Avalokiteshvara and Shariputra are both in you. Waves are the
Why Other People Suck (Heart Sutra 2)
Michael Stone discusses The Heart Sutra during a 12-day intensive at Centre of Gravity in Toronto. Emptiness is not place or process. Mistaking emptiness is like catching a snake from the wrong end. Moving out of stories in order to
Seeing the Background (Heart Sutra 1)
Beginner’s mind threatens the part of us that wants to control experience. Knowing before knowing. Hakuin: “Wisdom is not separate from you. It’s like beads rolling on a tray: sudden, ready, uninhibited.” We all want to be more comfortable, and
I’m Dying, What Can I Do For You? (Notes on Dying 2)
The mind makes snapshots and creates categories, our patterns contain the world keeping us small and separate, mindfulness is the new Tylenol, dying as generosity, perhaps practice means simply catching up to what you actually feel, instead of living in
Throw Up and Bow (Beginner’s Mind 6)
How do we bow? Everything becomes your teacher. Throwing up dualistic ideas. Teachers are heavy, students are feathers. The pain of panic wakes you up to what hasn’t grown up. Sincerity. The sense of something else gets in the way
How to Sit is How to Act (Beginner’s Mind 5)
Michael discusses Shunryū Suzuki’s book, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind. People who practice Zen are always asking: what is this all about? Whatever you do, Buddha is in that activity. Becoming the breath. Hitting the pillow. Occupy the wall. Suck your
Mountains & Rivers, Part 7
Don’t ignore what your life actually is… Practice tattoos us. Life stains us. Your life carves your face all the time. Michael reads section 17 of Dōgen’s essay, Mountains & Rivers. Every action you do carves your life. So, how
Mountains & Rivers, Part 6
Water has its own integrity, like you. Every event is interconnected and empty, and yet, everything has its own integrity. You can’t say exactly what a river is, and yet, it’s not the same as every river.
Betrayal, Awakening, and Living in a Burning House
Roshi Pat Enkyo O’Hara talks about the Lotus Sutra and the parable of the burning house. Even in the world of the dharma we can get caught up with playthings and forget that we’re living in a burning house. It
Mountains & Rivers, Part 5: A Love Letter to Meditators
Can we express with language what is most true for us? Maybe all philosophy is heading towards poetry. Michael Stone tells a story about finding the nectar of compassion in the centre of practice.
Mountains & Rivers, Part 4
How do we use words to say something meaningful about our lives? This is what Dōgen tries to do. There is no outside or inside. There is just this. Being is the ongoingness of this. This is all our lives
Pranayama
Pranayama is a practice of settling your attention on your breath. As attention becomes balanced, so too does the nervous system. Michael and guest teacher, Grant Hutchinson, teach the ways yogic breathing returns the nervous system to “factory settings.” Topics
About the Community Library
Michael was a great archivist and the Community Library was—and continues to be—a labour of love. Everything in the Community Library is available for free. Anyone, anywhere can have instant access to material that will help them deepen their practice and contribute to a culture of compassion and collaboration.
Libraries are places where we gather alone together. They are known to be places of refuge for seekers, as well as those who are marginalized. This library is no different. It helps us nourish our beautiful, international community without walls. Now, it will also help keep Michael’s legacy alive.