Category: Zen

Posted on

What is God?: A Reflection on Purim and Divinity

What is God? - A Reflection on Purim and Divinity

Understanding the world’s great religions and spiritual traditions is not an academic pursuit. It is a participatory sport! True study of the Way lies not in answering the great questions, but in asking them. Who am I? Where do I come from? Where am I going? Yet after many years of meditation and Zen practice, I have become less interested in the questions: Who is God?, Where is God?”, or Why doesn’t God…?. The question that I have grown to ask and appreciate is: What is God? And how can I live my life in this way? Continue reading “What is God?: A Reflection on Purim and Divinity”

Posted on

Meditation and God: Is There Room for Both?

Meditation and God - Is There Room for Both?

With the Purim holiday coming up, I have been reflecting on the tides and turns of Jewish history against the backdrop of the larger world and great civilizations as celebrated, mourned, and honored in the Jewish Holiday cycle. With this in mind, I thought of the relatively recent contact between Buddhism and Judaism and about the practices and language of meditation and God, wondering, “Is there room for both?” Continue reading “Meditation and God: Is There Room for Both?”

Posted on

Was the Buddha “Engaged”?: The Work of Spirituality, a Buddha, and God Wrestler

Engaged Buddhism: The Work of Spirituality, a Buddha, and God Wrestler

In a recent blog post, I wrote about the intersection of politics and religion, particularly in the Jewish tradition. I received some questions and comments about how this would be similar or different within Buddhism or the various Dharma worlds and was asked to elaborate on my previous post.

These questions have raised an ongoing and challenging one for me: What really is the work of spirituality? What is the work of a Buddha? What is the work of a God Wrestler (one translation of “Israelite”)? Continue reading “Was the Buddha “Engaged”?: The Work of Spirituality, a Buddha, and God Wrestler”

Posted on

What is Prayer?: How Do I Pray? And Can Prayer Be Meaningful?

What is Prayer? How Do I Pray? And Can Prayer be Meaningful?

Over the past few months, I have been reflecting very much about prayer. Especially since beginning Rabbinic study and founding Mindful Judaism, I have been exploring the following questions: What is prayer? How do I pray? And can prayer be meaningful?

There is a Rabbi Jonathan Sacks quote in the introductory essays to the Koren-Sacks siddur (Jewish prayer book) that I absolutely love: Continue reading “What is Prayer?: How Do I Pray? And Can Prayer Be Meaningful?”

Posted on

WANTED: God (Alive Preferred!) – A Call for Jewish Innovation

Wanted: God (Alive Preferred!) - A Call for Jewish Innovation

A question came up in a Jewish email group that I am a part of about how to explore opening synagogues and synagogue life to those who don’t have spouses or children, given that over half of American adults now are single. What an interesting question! And invitation for Jewish innovation and a living, Jewish experience! Continue reading “WANTED: God (Alive Preferred!) – A Call for Jewish Innovation”

Posted on

What is Chanukah “Really”?: Rededicating the Temple and Sanctuary for Today

What is Chanukah Really - Rededicating the Temple and Sanctuary Today

As the nights darken and grow longer and colder, I notice myself growing a bit more introspective. The New Year is soon approaching, and it is a natural period of contemplation and looking back and ahead. This is the time of Chanukah. This is a time of reflection, embracing the dark and light, and a period of rededication. But a rededication to what? Continue reading “What is Chanukah “Really”?: Rededicating the Temple and Sanctuary for Today”

Posted on

Wrestling with God in the 21st Century: Ally or Adversary?

Wrestling with God in the 21st Century - Ally or Adversary?

I often reflect on the place of God in the 21st century. In this postmodern age of hyperrationality absent truth and meaning, it feels as if God is dying. Still, I am not yet ready – and will never be ready – to say Kaddish for God.

Each generation and individual person must struggle passionately with God and self and find our own unique way to do so, because it is not God’s life on the line, but ours.

While we don’t wrestle with emanations of God along the riverbank, like Jacob, we wrestle with the Divine each and every day – in each moment – through accepting our strength and limitation, struggling with our demons and seeing the Divine face in them, embracing life – our life – as it is with all of its complexities, and acting in the most compassionate way we know how.

Continue reading “Wrestling with God in the 21st Century: Ally or Adversary?”

Posted on

Sabbath Rest: Each Breath is a New Sabbath

Sabbath Rest: Each Breath is a New Sabbath

In the Book of Genesis (chapter 1), it is told that upon each day of creation, God looked after all of creation and said, “It is good,” and on the Sabbath day, God sat down, took a breath, returned again to creation, and now said, “It is very good” (Genesis 1:31).

On Shabbat, as on every day, there is nowhere to go, nothing to do, no one to be. “Every day is a good day” (Blue Cliff Record, Case 6). Continue reading “Sabbath Rest: Each Breath is a New Sabbath”

Proudly powered by WordPress