Plymouth Zen

First, Empty Your Cup

Greg Pehrson — Tue, 11 Aug 2026 01:58:09 +0000

Nan-in, a Japanese master during the Meiji era (1868-1912), received a university professor who came to inquire about Zen.
Nan-in served tea. He poured his visitor’s cup full, and then kept on pouring.

The professor watched the overflow until he no longer could restrain himself. “It is overfull. No more will go in!”

“Like this cup,” Nan-in said, “you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?”

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This Tuesday, August 11th, we will have our regular practice of chanting, sitting, and walking practice followed by a short Zen reading.
Next Tuesday, August 18th, our guiding teacher, Terry Cronin, JDPSN will offer an opportunity for one-on-one conversations via Zoom during practice.
Free farm stand! Our free farm stand is open for donations, and we have our first veggies. If you or a friend have garden goodies, eggs, honey, flowers or art please feel free to donate, and let people in need know. Call 781-910-2780 for questions or for donation pickups. The location is 90 Palmer Road, Plympton, MA.

Please consider becoming a dues-paying member of the Kwan Um School. $20 per month for seniors and full time students, $30 per month for others. Family memberships are also available. Your membership supports the school and this center; it also provides a wide range of benefits. Please see https://americas.kwanumzen.org/membership/ for details.

Your Heart Is Like a Garden

Greg Pehrson — Sun, 09 Aug 2026 10:05:46 +0000

Say you want to grow tulips. So you look up a gardening manual, and here’s what it tells you:

Start with a healthy bulb. Plant it in the fall, six to eight inches down, pointy side up, and leave it there through the frost. Not spring — the bulb needs twelve or fourteen weeks in the cold and the dark before it will do anything at all. The bulb wants well-drained soil and a sunny spot. Water it once when you plant it, then leave it alone unless the ground goes dry. When the shoots come up, feed them lightly. And put a fence around them, or the rabbits and the deer will take them the week before they bloom.

Do all of that and you’ll get vibrant tulips.

But there is one thing you will never do, and that is make a tulip grow. Because a tulip grows by an act of grace.

You plant the bulb. You work the soil. You bring all the conditions together. And then the tulip does what the tulip does.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a manual for the garden that is your heart?

You have one. Again and again, the Buddha tells us what conditions to establish, what to abandon, and what to cultivate.

-nico hase, “You Can’t Force a Loving Heart To Grow,” in Lion’s Roar. nico is an Insight Meditation teacher with Refuge of Belonging.

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This Tuesday, August 11th, we will have our regular practice of chanting, sitting, and walking practice followed by a short Zen reading.

Free farm stand! Our free farm stand is open for donations, and we have our first veggies. If you or a friend have garden goodies, eggs, honey, flowers or art please feel free to donate, and let people in need know. Call 781-910-2780 for questions or for donation pickups. The location is 90 Palmer Road, Plympton, MA.

A Series of Small Acts

Greg Pehrson — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 09:19:27 +0000

Act without doing;
work without effort.
Think of the small as large
and the few as many.
Confront the difficult
while it is still easy;
accomplish the great task
by a series of small acts.

-Tao Te Ching, translation by Stephen Mitchell

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This Tuesday, August 4th, we will have our regular practice of chanting, sitting, and walking practice followed by a short Zen reading.

Change Comes From Community

Greg Pehrson — Sun, 26 Jul 2026 11:43:55 +0000

The history of social movements and enduring social change is not the work of single individuals but of organized communities living the narrative of connection, of interbeing, of ethical and caring solidarity, and communities dedicated to the well-being of all.

-Roshi Joan Halifax

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This Tuesday, July 28th, we will have our regular practice of chanting, sitting, and walking practice followed by a short Zen reading.

Setting an Intention

Greg Pehrson — Sun, 19 Jul 2026 10:31:49 +0000

When you get up, instead of rushing to get ready for work, you can think about how you want to live your day. Taking a few moments to clarify your aspirations or intentions for the day helps you stay open to whatever is happening and helps you remember that this is a brand-new day, a new beginning, and you can choose to live the day with mindfulness and compassion.

We all have to look into ourselves to identify our deepest desires and aspirations. Our deepest desire is a source of nourishment, giving us the fuel and energy to live. If our deepest desire is to bring joy to the world, to help people suffer less, to help them transform their suffering and being peace into their lives, then that is a kind of nourishment which will give us a lot of energy. If our deepest desire is to take revenge, kill, or destroy, then that is a poison and it will cause us a lot of suffering, and others as well.

-from “Work” by Thich Nhat Hanh

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This Tuesday, July 21th, our guiding teacher, Terry Cronin, JDPSN will offer an opportunity for one-on-one conversations via Zoom during practice.

Thanks For Everything

Greg Pehrson — Sun, 12 Jul 2026 10:32:59 +0000

There was a Japanese Zen nun named Sono who was a very intense and well-respected Buddhist teacher who offered everyone she would meet the same teaching: “Thanks for everything. I have no complaints whatsoever.” No matter what was happening in someone’s life, she would give this simple mantra and would have them repeat it day and night. One day a man came to see her looking to find ease in his heart, and she told him to repeat this mantra every morning, evening, and whenever anything whatsoever happened to him. The dedicated practitioner did as he was instructed for a whole year but came back frustrated because his heart was still not at peace. Nothing in his life had changed, he said. The mantra didn’t work. He looked to Sono for further instructions to move forward, and she immediately said, “Thanks for everything. I have no complaints whatsoever.” When the man heard these words, he burst into laughter and left in peace.

-As told by Craig Richards, Senior Dharma Teacher in the Kwan Um School of Zen. Read Craig’s writings on Zen and life at http://lovemind.substack.com.

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This Tuesday, July 14th, we will have our regular practice of chanting, sitting, and walking practice followed by a short Zen reading.

Beginning This Week, Plymouth Zen Group Only Meets Tuesday Evenings at the Plympton Location

Greg Pehrson — Sun, 05 Jul 2026 09:56:25 +0000

Friends, this week, Plymouth Zen Group begins our new schedule of practice: Tuesday evenings from 7-8:30pm in Plympton, at the Plympton Historical Society, 189 Main Street, Plympton, MA. Enter at the back using the ramp on the left, and go up to the 2nd Floor. Text or call with questions: 781-733-9361. We will no longer be meeting on Monday evenings in Plymouth at the Zion Lutheran Church. We hope that our community members who have been practicing in Plymouth will continue practicing with us in Plympton! Looking forward to a strong unified Sangha.

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Dharma Talk! This Tuesday, July 7th, Senior Dharma Teacher Craig Richards will be giving a Dharma Talk, with an intro talk given by Siobhan Green, Dharma Teacher and Abbess of the Plymouth Zen Group. Tea will follow the talk; you are welcome to bring a snack to share if you like! Please bring your own mug to reduce waste. Read Craig’s writings on Zen and life at http://lovemind.substack.com.

Everything is Relational

Greg Pehrson — Sun, 28 Jun 2026 10:21:00 +0000

Each of us is the flowering of countless causes and conditions. We are made of the breath of forests, the labor of strangers, the sacrifices of ancestors, the teachings of our mentors, and the care of those who loved us. Even our thoughts are not our own. Language, culture, memory, history, and relationship live within us. To understand ourselves deeply is to realize that there is no independently existing self standing apart from the world. This insight lies at the very heart of Buddhist teaching. The Buddha’s realization of dependent co-arising was not merely a philosophical observation. It was a profound revelation about the nature of existence itself. Nothing exists independently. Everything is contingent, relational, and mutually arising.

-from “All Beings, All Beings” by Roshi Joan Halifax

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This Monday, June 29, we will have our regular practice of chanting, sitting, and walking practice followed by a short Zen reading. **This will be our last Monday night practice–starting next week, we will meet on Tuesday evenings in our Plympton location, 189 Main Street, from 7-8:30pm.**

Dharma Talk! On Tuesday, July 7th, Senior Dharma Teacher Craig Richards will be giving a Dharma Talk, with an intro talk given by Siobhan Green, Dharma Teacher and Abbess of the Plymouth Zen Group. Tea will follow the talk; you are welcome to bring a snack to share if you like! Please bring your own mug to reduce waste. Read Craig’s writings on Zen and life at http://lovemind.substack.com.

Plymouth Zen Group Change of Location and Day Begins Next Month

Greg Pehrson — Sun, 21 Jun 2026 09:56:50 +0000

As of the first week of July, the Plymouth Zen Group will only be meeting on Tuesday evenings at the Plympton location: 189 Main Street, Plympton, MA. The hours remain the same: 7-8:30 pm. There will be no more Monday evening practice in Plymouth. We hope you all will come join us to create a strong Sangha. Our practice is about asking “How can I help?” During these times of fear and suffering for so many of us, our practice can be the bone for the change that will come. We practice for others, as much as for ourselves. If you have been wanting to come back to a practice; if you have been needing the sangha; if the lessons of Zen Master Seung Sahn are as important as ever, let the three jewels guide you back. We hope to see you again.

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This Monday, June 22, we will have our regular practice of chanting, sitting, and walking practice followed by a short Zen reading.

Wherever It Is, It Is Bright

Greg Pehrson — Sun, 14 Jun 2026 12:25:20 +0000

Inside it is bright.

Outside it is also bright.

Wherever it is, it is bright.

What is it?

When commenting on this kong-an, [Zen Mater Ko Bong] said:

When gold is in the ground, it is bright. If you put gold into a hot furnace, it is bright. After being in the furnace, gold is still bright. Before it went through the furnace, it could not be made to make anything. Also, when in the furnace it cannot be used. But after it comes out of the furnace, we can use it to make many things: a ring, earrings or a hair pin. What is the furnace [where the gold is refined]? The furnace is the paramitas, giving, morality, patience, practices, meditation and wisdom.

-from “Don’t Know Mind: The Spirit of Korean Zen,” by Richard Shrobe, a guiding teacher in the Kwan Um School Zen.

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This Monday, June 15, our guiding teacher, Terry Cronin, JDPSN will offer an opportunity for one-on-one conversations via Zoom during practice.