Misunderstanding no-self and emptyness.

In The Lankavatara Sutra the Buddha says something like " Nothing is as it appears nor is it otherwise" It's easy to enter into nihilism if we misunderstand these teachings. I'm know I've spoke a little about this before but I found this blog post by Harvey Daiho Hilbert-roshi that really speaks well to the matter. I liked his analogy of the ocean and the wave I heard it used by others but probably not this well and after all the wave isn't separate from the ocean. I hope you enjoy this post from The Order of Clear Mind Zen.

Not money just help.

I've kept the doors to my home so people in the West valley have a place practice in a group setting. While we've managed to keep a small core group going we haven't picked up any of the new people that have come around, I believe this because a lot of people just aren't that comfortable hanging out in someone's home with a bunch of people sitting around and not talking to each other. If anyone has any ideas about how we can get a more neutral space for our meeting where newcomers may feel more comfortable that's in the NW valley and within a couple miles of the free way I'll love to hear from you.