He has some feelings about how this might be done. What about you? After the jump, watch a video-talk from Jundo, and join him in sitting meditation. And don’t forget to share your ideas about how Buddhist holidays could be more family-friendly.

For more from Jundo Cohen, visit Treeleaf Zendo online or see his previous Shambhala SunSpace video-blogs, here.

There’s a flavor of Buddhism for everyone, it seems, especially in the West. There are groups and teachings of all stripes — the monastic and the “out in the world” types, the traditional and the tradition-breaking, and many in between, mixing and matching. The Western Buddhist world comes in ten thousand colors and flavors!

And that can be GOOD, so long as you find the path and teacher(s) right for you. [Click through for more, and to "sit-a-long" with today's video.]

What you have to do, though, is avoid the snake oil, the image-driven jive and hype, the soothing but empty cliches, the charismatic charlatans, the fast food drive-though spirituality. Also, don’t fall into “spiritual materialism” — shopping around in the “Dharma department store” for the fluffy and flashy, for teachers of anything-goes, feel-good philosophies that just say what we want to hear (and not what we need to hear).

Oh, and if you do stumble on a worthwhile practice, be sure not to quit as soon as it becomes a little demanding. Do all that… and you’ll be just fine!

A related talk and “Sit-A-Long” video follows. Note: recording ends soon after the beginning bells; a total sitting time of 20 to 35 minutes is recommended.

Visit Jundo Cohen and Treeleaf Zendo online, here.

“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.

To view all of Jundo and Taigu’s SunSpace posts, click here.

To subscribe to the RSS for the “sit-a-longs,” and be notified of new postings, click here.

Visit Jundo and Taigo’s Treeleaf Zendo online, here.

Maybe most of the folks who sew a Rakusu have never really sewn anything before, yet almost all find it a beautiful experience. It, too, is Zazen.

[Click through for more, and to "sit-a-long" with today's video.]
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Small though it is, we say that the Rakusu is “boundless,” and each stitch by stitch is all of life. We sew the world into that Rakusu, smiles and tears into that Rakusu. It is the Buddha’s Robes.

If you would like more information on Jukai through our Sangha, please look here.

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.

To view all of Jundo and Taigu’s SunSpace posts, click here.

To subscribe to the RSS for the “sit-a-longs,” and be notified of new postings, click here.

What does that mean, and what is it to “undertake the Precepts”?

[Click through for more, and to "sit-a-long" with today's video.]

Well, “to undertake the precepts” means, mostly, to commit to embody the Buddhist Teachings, put them into Practice and make them the foundation of one’s life. Many people are already doing so before they consider Jukai, and so the ceremony stands as a further affirmation of that. One also commits to make, as one can, the Precepts as the guides for one’s life. This too should be something that we do throughout our Practice, and not just limited to any one time or ceremony, and the ceremony itself celebrates and affirms that fact.

If you would like more information on Jukai through our Sangha, please look HERE.

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.

To view all of Jundo and Taigu’s SunSpace posts, click here.

To subscribe to the RSS for the “sit-a-longs,” and be notified of new postings, click here.

Accordingly, in the practice-enlightenment of the buddha way, meeting one thing is mastering it — doing one practice is practicing completely. Here is the place; here the way unfolds. The boundary of realization is not distinct, for the realization comes forth simultaneously with the mastery of buddha-dharma.

We always want to keep track of things and witness what happens. The urge to know, to be aware of, to grasp intellectually is precisely what Dogen sees as being an illusion. We don’t own realization and it cannot be measured or known. No traces are seen, and understanding doesn’t take place before of after practice. [Click through to sit along with today's video.]

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.

To view all of Jundo and Taigu’s SunSpace posts, click here.

To subscribe to the RSS for the “sit-a-longs”, and be notified of new postings, click here.

Kensho (seeing original nature) is necessary and vital to this path. Can such happen in an flash? Yes, but it usually ends up a flash in the pan – unless cultivated slowly, step by step, and made a part of one’s life. Must enlightenment happen in an flash? No, for the Buddha’s Truths can pierce our marrowless marrow slowly, step by step, with steady years of practice. In either case, arriving at “no beginning no end“, or any other destination, is not the end of the trail, nor the beginning. [Click through for more, and to "sit-a-long" with today's video.]

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.

(Here is the interview with Joko Beck mentioned today.)

To view all of Jundo and Taigu’s SunSpace posts, click here.

To subscribe to the RSS for the “sit-a-longs,” and be notified of new postings, click here.

There is no easy way to see a loved one slip away. Yet, can we learn how just to be with someone we love during the time we can, and then be willing to let them go? [Click through for more, and to "sit-a-long" with today's video.]

Can we allow the change? Might we let happy days be happy, sad days be sad… and reject none of it? May we see wholeness in all of life, both in the infancy of youth and the second infancy of growing old? Can we be at peace with it all, even the parts which break our heart?

Buddhist Practice is, at the core, allowing and flowing with change — for all is change. Can we find an abiding peace, equanimity — even joy — dancing all of life’s dance? Can we know peace, equanimity and joy… even as we shed tears?

A sand castle emerges from the sand, which emerges from the sea. It is for a time, then slowly slips back into the sea. There is a beauty throughout, there is the sea throughout.

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.

To view all of Jundo and Taigu’s SunSpace posts, click here.

To subscribe to the RSS for the “sit-a-longs,” and be notified of new postings, click here.

Our family is no exception, reminded as we are of an adopted little girl who was to come to us years ago, but never has. She is just a name to us, a shadow, an empty child’s room that has gathered dust.

[Click through to hear more, and to "sit-a-long" with today's video.]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.

To view all of Jundo and Taigu’s SunSpace posts, click here.

To subscribe to the RSS for the “sit-a-longs,” and be notified of new postings, click here.

Now if a bird or a fish tries to reach the end of its element before moving in it, this bird or this fish will not find its way or its place. When you find your place where you are, practice occurs, actualizing the fundamental point. When you find you way at this moment, practice occurs, actualizing the fundamental point; for the place, the way, is neither large nor small, neither yours nor others’. The place, the way, has not carried over from the past and it is not merely arising now.

There is no need to hurry and nowhere to go. As soon as one practices fully, this place is the whole, full-blown moon. The self changes, everything changes, so movement occurs. But although movement occurs, we never leave this place. The time of practice is not even taking place now. So mindfulness is extra. The time and space that Dogen is talking about are different from the ideas we have about time and space. [Click through to sit along with today's video.]

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.

To view all of Jundo and Taigu’s SunSpace posts, click here.

To subscribe to the RSS for the “sit-a-longs”, and be notified of new postings, click here.