Monthly Archives: December 2010

Breakfast practice

Posted on December 29, 2010 by gretchen

Perhaps in a few more lifetimes I’ll reach the point where I can cook breakfast and stir the pot in front of me without also stirring the pot of ideas in my head.  Some people say that practice and enlightenment … Continue reading →

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She’s making a list

Posted on December 28, 2010 by gretchen

This just in from Rob Brezsny: AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): “The third-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the majority,” said author A.A. Milne. “The second-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the minority. … Continue reading →

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grapefruit identity

Posted on December 27, 2010 by gretchen

My current obsession is grapefruit.  Its tart, juicy goodness calls my name, morning and night.  My habit is to peel the grapefruit like an orange, and eat it section by section. One  evening I started in on half a fruit … Continue reading →

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about Jerome

Posted on December 26, 2010 by gretchen

Long time Zen Center resident Jerome Peterson died at the age of 82 on December 12th.  He was one of the first American Zen students in San Francisco; in 1962 he showed up at the original Sokoji temple where Suzuki … Continue reading →

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the lost shingi

Posted on December 26, 2010 by gretchen

Users of the small kitchen at the San Francisco Zen Center may recognize this story, which made its debut on the refrigerator there.  I had been assigned to clean the small kitchen refrigerator as a house job, and the story … Continue reading →

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the backward step

Posted on December 12, 2010 by gretchen

One day in 1981 I stood on a bluff at Patrick’s Point State Park in Trinidad, California.  My back was to the edge of the bluff and a rock-climbing harness and rope firmly attached me to a secure point on … Continue reading →

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