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IN THE BARDO
To Tell the Truth
How do you tell the truth? How do I tell the truth? I’ve been working on this question a long time. Francine Prose quotes Hemingway’s...
Birthdays
It bothers me that I still can’t remember my mom’s birthdate. I don’t have any childhood memories of her birthdays. What I remember from...
Going Gray
Two years ago, filling out my passport renewal application, likely for the last time, I stumbled on my height. I’ve been getting shorter...
Oh, Dirk.
In Zen funerals, we talk directly to the departed. I am at a loss for words. I am hoping that words will come. I am picturing you....
Bringing to the Societal Table Those Who Have Been Excluded
This has been the expression of my vow since I found the words in Bernie’s Instructions to the Cook. “Bringing to the societal table...
Visionary Leadership
This has to be the Zen practice. I love the story of the Golden City which the Buddha tells in the Lotus Sutra. It has inspired me. It is...
Magic
Catching the magic is sometimes not so easy. Stumbling into the magic of success is not something to be taken for granted. It has always...
What is Social Action?
The selflessness of social action is not self-neglect just as self-care is not self-neglect. There are four phrases that come to mind,...
No.
What is my “No!” When do I shout it? Do I really shout? “No!” Jesse and Theresa Peterford first met at ICS. Theresa, star teacher, chief...
Infinite Onion
Delusions are inexhaustible, I vow to transform them. When I was doing koan practice with Jishu, very briefly in the last year of her...
Infinite Circle
We were serving special needs students at double the district rate. As we have built our schools, I have been guided by, anchored in an...
Mother's Day 2020
Zen’s relationship to mothers has always seemed a bit strange. Mother’s Day, 2020 is also the twenty-fifth anniversary of Maezumi Roshi’s...
Zen Budgeting Through the COVID-19 Pandemic
No one likes budget cuts. They are always painful. This was shaping up to be our most painful budget. Business people say when they are...
The Zen of Budgeting
Coming Soon, a case study in Zen Budgeting: Budgeting through the Covid-19 Pandemic. I am too grandmotherly. The Gateless Gate is the...
Oh, Richard
At a Zen funeral, we talk directly to the person who has left us. Oh, Richard, thinking of you, I smile. We had so much more to do. So...
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Ken Byalin
Aug 28, 20195 min read
Great Schools for Students and Teachers
Like it or not, might it be that schools exist to benefit and serve teachers as well as students? I’ve been reluctant to say this out...
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Ken Byalin
Jun 23, 20194 min read
Our Hedgehog (Again)
Accidentally, we had found our economic engine. Last year, in one of the first blogs, I wrote about Our Hedgehog. Waiting for my...
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Ken Byalin
Jun 10, 20195 min read
Monastery of the Mind
A glimpse of personal peace. When I was in my junior or senior year of high school, I read an article about Carleton College, probably...
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Ken Byalin
May 21, 20195 min read
Succession
I can’t possibly go on forever — transmission of leadership to a group seems more plausible. When I had only just begun to study with...
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Ken Byalin
Mar 20, 20196 min read
The Three Tenets - Not Knowing
In the mid-’90s, I was part of a small group that worked with Roshi Bernie in giving shape to the three tenets of the Zen Peacemaker...
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Ken Byalin
Mar 1, 20193 min read
We Are Bernie's Legacy
My remembrance, presented at a Memorial Service for Roshi Bernie Glassman, at the Greyston Foundation, Yonkers, New York, February 17,...
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Ken Byalin
Feb 8, 20194 min read
Be Unprepared
The teacher’s delusion — we used to hear it repeated all the time — “I have covered all the material. The kids should have passed the...
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Ken Byalin
Jan 19, 20196 min read
My Other Teacher Part 3 - Roshi Robert Kennedy
In many spiritual traditions, students are discouraged by their teachers from exploring other teachers or alternative teachings. Many Zen...
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Ken Byalin
Jan 4, 20195 min read
My Other Teacher Part 2- Jishu
In many spiritual traditions, students are discouraged by their teachers from exploring other teachers or alternative teachings. Many Zen...
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Ken Byalin
Nov 30, 20187 min read
My Other Teacher Part1- Kyudo Roshi
In many spiritual traditions, students are discouraged by their teachers from exploring any other teachers or alternative teachings. In...
10 views0 comments
Ken Byalin
Sep 13, 20186 min read
The Five Buddhist Families - Community
I was first introduced to the Five Buddha Families by my teacher Roshi Bernie Glassman: Buddha (Spirituality), Vajra (Study), Ratna...
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Ken Byalin
Aug 30, 20187 min read
The Five Buddhist Families - Study
I was first introduced to the Five Buddha Families by my teacher Roshi Bernie Glassman: Buddha (Spirituality), Vajra (Study), Ratna...
9 views0 comments
Ken Byalin
Aug 16, 20186 min read
The Five Buddhist Families - Livelihood
I was first introduced to the Five Buddha Families by my teacher Roshi Bernie Glassman: Buddha (Spirituality), Vajra (Study), Ratna...
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Ken Byalin
Aug 2, 20186 min read
The Five Buddhist Families - Spirituality
I was first introduced to the Five Buddha Families by my teacher Roshi Bernie Glassman: Buddha (Spirituality), Vajra (Study), Ratna...
6 views0 comments
Ken Byalin
Jul 5, 20186 min read
It’s All About the People
Finding Your Passion is a three part installment. Check out Part 1 and 2 in previous posts. People create the opportunities for us. They...
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Ken Byalin
Jun 21, 20183 min read
Finding Your Passion - My Story: Part 3
Finding Your Passion is a three part installment. Check out Part 1 and 2 in previous posts. We were hooked on the charter school...
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Ken Byalin
May 31, 20187 min read
Finding Your Passion - My Story: Part 2
Finding Your Passion is a three part installment. Please enjoy Part One below, and check back next week for Part Three! My thirty-five...
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Ken Byalin
May 23, 20185 min read
Finding Your Passion - My Story: Part 1
Finding Your Passion is a three part installment. Please enjoy Part One below, and check back next week for Part Two! In Joseph...
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Ken Byalin
May 9, 20185 min read
Organizational Design
For us to grow as an organization and for me to grow personally, I needed to take on new challenges. I discovered Ray Dalio’s Principles...
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Ken Byalin
Apr 17, 20185 min read
Honoring Bernie Glassman
Bernie Glassman, my Zen teacher, most importantly showed me that I didn’t need to choose between social action and spiritual practice. I...
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