The first collection of koans in our lineage is called the Mumonkan, or Gateless Gate. Mumon himself says “Zen has no gates”? And yet we chant “Omnipresent Dharma Gates I Vow to Experience.” How can something be both a gate and no gate at all? How do we experience a gateless gate?

In Zen, we practice working with our minds and the joys and pain of our experience. Sometimes difficult. Sometimes easy. Sometimes neither difficult nor easy — we simply take care of what is needed. All three are completely true. Can we hold all three in our awareness at the same time?

When the mind is such, circumstances also are such

There’s no real and no unreal

Giving no mind to existence

And holding not to nonexistence

You’re neither saint nor sage, just

An ordinary man who has settled his affairs

- Layman Pang

(There are a handful of the interruptions in this video due to technical difficulties with the wifi during recording. Our apologies.)