Texting, Googling, tweeting, flitting from this to that... the internet is literally changing our brains!
"I became aware of changes in my own thinking a couple of years ago," Nicholas Carr, author of the new book, The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to our Brains, told CNN. "... I came to realize [that] I was losing my ability to pay deep attention to one thing over a long period of time. When I'd sit down to read a book, for instance, I was only able to sustain my concentration for a page or two. My mind would begin to crave stimulation and distraction -- it wanted to click on links, jump from page to page, check email, do some Googling..."
Our whole day to day is filled with running from here to there, no time to stop, places to go and things to get done one after another! Zazen is a moment of stillness and wholeness amid all that running around. [Click through for more, and to "sit-a-long" with today's video from Jundo Cohen.]
Today's Sit-A-Long video follows. Remember: recording ends soon after the beginning bells; a sitting time of 20 to 35 minutes is recommended.
Among the preparations for Jukai (Undertaking the Precepts) at our 
What does it mean to commit to the Buddhist path? Each year, our 
Master Dogen wrote:
Is enlightenment "sudden" or "gradual"? It's a centuries-old debate in the Zen world (and in other realms of Buddhist practice, too). Zen's answer has always been "yes" and "yes" - for while the realization of insights may be in instants beyond time, the cultivation and realization (that is, making real) is done via practice instant by instant in life.
A few people have written me recently who have a spouse or loved one with Alzheimer's Disease or a similar condition. There are some people in my own family now struggling. My mother suffered a series of strokes before her passing a few years ago which left her increasing confused, until she could not recognize her children some days.
