The 12 Steps and Zen Koans

If you belong to a 12 Step Group, at one time you will hear someone say, "Upon working the steps, one day you will see where the Steps are working you!" The same can be said when you meditate with Zen koans ... a koan can pop into your life when you least expect it, giving you a new perspective on matters. Here we are practicing with koans to see how they can deepen our understanding of the 12 Steps in new and unexpected ways.

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Monday, September 15, 2014

Steps 8 and 9: One Leads to the Other

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STEP 8:  Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all. And… STEP 9:  Made direct amends to s...
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Saturday, August 9, 2014

Getting Drenched

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  August --- Potluck Koan:  “This is the stone, drenched in rain, that points the way.” If you recall, “Potluck” here m...
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Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Step 7: Through the torn paper screen

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Step 7:  Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings. Koan: how beautiful through the torn paper screen the Milky Way Issa What is to...
Thursday, June 26, 2014

Remembering the Ancestors

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We all have ancestors or we wouldn’t be here today.  How fortunate this is, that we are sitting in front of a computer screen this very mo...
Saturday, June 14, 2014

Step 6: Step by step ...

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STEP 6: Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character. Koan:  Step by step in the dark—
if your foot’s not we...
Sunday, May 11, 2014

Step 5: It's only for your benefit ...

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Step 5:  "Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs." One day when Dongshan and a...
Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Step Four -- A fire alarm is sounding!

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Step 4:  Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. Koan:  Put out that fire across the river. It takes courage...
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Bill K.
We try to carry the 12 Step message to those who are suffering, "and to practice these principles in all our affairs." In Buddhism, our practice includes the vow to save all beings. Here the practices are melded into one -- bringing freedom into our life.
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