Plymouth Zen

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.

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.

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.

Hard Training

craig — Sun, 07 Jun 2026 10:29:34 +0000

This is it: hard training. We’ve all heard about the “hard training” in Zen. Those classic photographs of Japanese monks walking barefoot in the snow are what we think of first. The bottom line, though, what hard training really means, is that every idea we have ever had or ever will have ultimately betrays us. Hard training has nothing to do with how many bows you do, how many days you fast, or how many kong-ans you pass. It means there is no point of reference, no place to stay, no lasting thing, no eyes, no ears, no nose, no tongue, no body, and no mind. Zen Master Dok Sahn put it this way after his enlightenment: “Even though one masters profound philosophies, it is like placing a single strand of hair in the great sky. Even if one gains all the essential knowledge in the world, it is like throwing a drop of water into a deep ravine.”

There isn’t anything anyone can give us, hard or easy — which is precisely what makes it hard.

How to come so close to the bone you are the bone?

How to stay like this?

How to let go of that when you can’t, and just move on to the next thing, never looking back?

For ten thousand years.

– Jane Dobisz, from her book “One Hundred Days of Solitude”

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This Monday, June 8, we are fortunate to welcome Master Dharma Teacher Kwan Haeng Sunim to Plymouth. Kwan Haeng Sunim will be giving a dharma talk and answering questions during our time together. Kwan Haeng resides at the Providence Zen Center and has been practicing since 1986. He is currently the Abbot and Guiding Teacher at the Providence Zen Center. We will have some light refreshments after the talk. Bring your own mug for tea if you want to reduce the use of disposable cups.

Join Kwan Haeng Sunim and others for dinner on Monday evening before the Dharma Talk. We will be meeting at 5:30 PM at Bangkok Thai Cuisine, 10 Court St, near the corner of North Street. No need to RSVP, just show up.

Tollbooth Bodhisattva

Greg Pehrson — Sun, 31 May 2026 11:26:19 +0000

One afternoon, Zen Master Seung Sahn and several of his students were driving down Route I-95, from Providence, Rhode Island to New York City…At one point they stopped at a toll booth. The driver handed the tollbooth operator some money and was waiting for his change. One of the students said to her through the open window, “Nice day, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” she replied. “But, my goodness, where did all this wind come from?” After she gave them her change, the car drove off.

The car was quiet for several miles. Then Zen Master Seung Sahn turned to his students and said, “That was no ordinary woman at the tollbooth. That was Kwan Seum Bosal [the Bodhisattva of compassion] asking you a great question: ‘Where did all this wind come from?’ What a wonderful kong-an! You must always be alert to the teaching that comes your way, all the time. Let go of your mind and then you can see what’s actually in front of you. So I ask you, where did all this wind come from?”

No one could answer.

“OK, I’ll give you a hint. Zen Master Man Gong wrote a poem that will help you:

Everything is born by following the wind;

Everything dies by following the wind.

When you find out where the wind comes from,

There is no life, no death.

When you have an answer ‘like-this,’

You see nature through spiritual eyes.”

-from “Wanting Enlightenment is a Big Mistake,” by Zen Master Seung Sahn

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This Monday, June 1, we will have our regular practice of chanting, sitting, and walking practice followed by a short Zen reading.

Save the date! Next Monday, June 8th, we will hold a Dharma Talk during our regular practice time with Kwan Haeng Sunim, Abbot and Co-Guiding Teacher of the Providence Zen Center.

Meditation Retreat! Cape Cod Zen Center will hold a one-day retreat with Guiding Teacher Terry Cronin, JDPSN this coming Saturday, June 6 in West Barnstable. Registration and more information here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/one-day-zen-meditation-retreat-june-6-tickets-1986991984514?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=ebdsshcopyurl

Practice is Cancelled This Week

Greg Pehrson — Sun, 24 May 2026 11:29:10 +0000

Friends, there will be no practice this week, either Monday or Tuesday. Wishing you a safe and relaxing holiday and see you next week.

Buddhist tradition tells of a time, centuries before the common era, when five hundred monks set out to find a quiet clearing in the forest where they could devote themselves fully to meditation without distraction. The grove they choose, though, was already home to tree spirits who wanted the forest for themselves. The tree spirits hoped the monks would leave after a few nights. When they didn’t, the spirits hatched a plan to frighten them away by haunting the grove with eerie cries and ghostly visions. Terrified, the monks fled back to their teacher—the Buddha—for guidance.

“The forest is full of demons,” they said. “We can’t stay there!”

“Go back,” the Buddha told them. “But this time, take some armor to protect you.”

“What kind of armor will protect us from ghosts?”

“Loving-kindness,” said the Buddha.

-Susan Kaiser Greenland, from “4 Ways to Deepen Your Love” in Lion’s Roar online magazine.

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This Monday and Tuesday, May 25 and 26, practice is cancelled.

Meditation Retreat! Cape Cod Zen Center will hold a one-day retreat with Guiding Teacher Terry Cronin, JDPSN on June 6 in West Barnstable. Registration and more information here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/one-day-zen-meditation-retreat-june-6-tickets-1986991984514?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=ebdsshcopyurl

We All Belong

Greg Pehrson — Sun, 17 May 2026 09:46:10 +0000

The bodhisattva’s aspiration, “May my life be of benefit to all beings,” is a powerful tool for remembering our belonging and widening the circles of our compassion. In resolving to help all suffering beings, the bodhisattva is not assuming a grandiose role or holding some unreachable ideal. If we see ourselves as small and separate individuals trying to take on the world as our responsibility, we set ourselves up for delusion and failure. Rather, our aspiration to be of benefit arises from the radical realization that we all belong to the web of life, and that everything that happens within it affects everything else. Every thought we have, every action we take has an impact for good or for ill.

-from Radical Acceptance by Tara Brach

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This Monday, May 18, our guiding teacher, Terry Cronin, JDPSN will offer an opportunity for one-on-one conversations via Zoom during practice.

To Mother Earth and All Mothers

Greg Pehrson — Sun, 10 May 2026 10:31:54 +0000

Dear Mother, wherever there is soil, water, rock or air, you are there, nourishing me and giving me life. You are present in every cell of my body. My physical body is your physical body, and just as the sun and stars are present in you, they are also present in me. You are not outside of me and I am not outside of you. You are more than just my environment. You are nothing less than myself.

I promise to keep the awareness alive that you are always in me, and I am always in you. I promise to be aware that your health and well-being is my own health and well-being. I know I need to keep this awareness alive in me for us both to be peaceful, happy, healthy, and strong.

Sometimes I forget. Lost in the confusions and worries of daily life, I forget that my body is your body, and sometimes even forget that I have a body at all. Unaware of the presence of my body and the beautiful planet around me and within me, I’m unable to cherish and celebrate the precious gift of life you have given me. Dear Mother, my deep wish is to wake up to the miracle of life. I promise to train myself to be present for myself, my life, and for you in every moment. I know that my true presence is the best gift I can offer to you, the one I love.

-Thich Nhat Hanh

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

In Relationship, With Respect

Greg Pehrson — Sun, 03 May 2026 11:11:51 +0000

The notion of the isolated individual makes us both sad and weak—-sad because it feeds loneliness and a sense that we don’t need to care about anything else and nothing cares about us; weak because our power lies in our connections. Our power is not autonomous because we were never autonomous. Giving up this notion of the individual doesn’t mean that we don’t get to have our own dreams and wild imagination and course through life; instead, it means that we do this in relationship to other people and with respect for all the other beings that we impact and are impacted by.

-Rebecca Solnit, in an interview with Sharon Salzburg and James Shaheen in Tricycle magazine.

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

Just Now Is the Only Time

Greg Pehrson — Sun, 26 Apr 2026 10:23:30 +0000

Nobody guarantees our life. So if there is anything that you think may be useful, just now is the time to use it. In our life, past mind cannot be attained. Present mind cannot be attained. If you say “present,” it is already not present, already gone. If you lose this moment, you can never regain it.

We follow Buddha’s example. Buddha means awakened. If you are going to awaken, tomorrow is too late. One hour from now is also too late. Even one second from now is too late. Just this moment, wake up. I hope each of you will make correct practice in your life and attain this wake-up. Then one more step is most important: use this wake-up to help all beings.

-Zen Master Wu Bong

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This Monday, April 27, we will have our regular practice of chanting, sitting, and walking practice followed by a short Zen reading.

Ocean Mudra

Greg Pehrson — Sun, 19 Apr 2026 12:49:25 +0000

This ocean does not belong to the inside, outside or in-between. It is just I am always expounding the Lotus Sutra. The buddha does not abide in the east, west, south or north. The whole boat is empty; it returns full of moonlight. This return is a true place of settling. Who could call it stagnant water? It is actualized in the ultimate dimension of the buddha dharma. This is called the mudra of water mudra. Let me speak further. It is the mudra of emptiness. It is the mudra of mud.

–Dogen, Treasury of the True Dharma Eye, “Ocean Mudra”, p. 384. Thanks to Roshi Joan Halifax for sharing this teaching.

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Happy Earth Day Week!

This Monday, April 20, our guiding teacher, Terry Cronin, JDPSN will offer an opportunity for one-on-one conversations via Zoom during practice.