Christopher Keevil
@christopherkeevil.bsky.social
Zen practitioner. A daily Zen poem or insight. Interested in connecting with others in #Zen, #Buddha, #Meditation, #Spirituality, and related topics.
#Sangha website: www.gardenoaksangha.org
#Book:
https://www.findingzenintheordinary.com
#Book:
https://www.findingzenintheordinary.com
Heading to Huntsville, Alabama today for a four-day Zen retreat at the Green Mountain Zen Center hosted by my good friend Gary Beard, with the teaching led by our teacher, George Bowman.
www.gmzc.us
www.gmzc.us
Green Mountain Zen Center – Zen Buddhist Community in Huntsville
www.gmzc.us
November 6, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Heading to Huntsville, Alabama today for a four-day Zen retreat at the Green Mountain Zen Center hosted by my good friend Gary Beard, with the teaching led by our teacher, George Bowman.
www.gmzc.us
www.gmzc.us
Being with what is
Is the whole of Zen practice
With the breath
With the body
With emotions
With the passing of thoughts
Cut the gap
Between who I am
And my idea of who I am
Cut the gap
Between my situation
And my opinion about
My situation
Thus love and understanding
Opens
Is the whole of Zen practice
With the breath
With the body
With emotions
With the passing of thoughts
Cut the gap
Between who I am
And my idea of who I am
Cut the gap
Between my situation
And my opinion about
My situation
Thus love and understanding
Opens
October 31, 2025 at 12:03 PM
Being with what is
Is the whole of Zen practice
With the breath
With the body
With emotions
With the passing of thoughts
Cut the gap
Between who I am
And my idea of who I am
Cut the gap
Between my situation
And my opinion about
My situation
Thus love and understanding
Opens
Is the whole of Zen practice
With the breath
With the body
With emotions
With the passing of thoughts
Cut the gap
Between who I am
And my idea of who I am
Cut the gap
Between my situation
And my opinion about
My situation
Thus love and understanding
Opens
Sky high
Clouds
Under my feet
Magic carpet
Of activity
Whisking through
Days and decades
Still now
So still
The smallest
And the most grand
The particular
The absolute
Intertwined
Only
A certain set
Of years
Until this body
Crumbles and dissolves
What then to do
With today
Clouds
Under my feet
Magic carpet
Of activity
Whisking through
Days and decades
Still now
So still
The smallest
And the most grand
The particular
The absolute
Intertwined
Only
A certain set
Of years
Until this body
Crumbles and dissolves
What then to do
With today
October 27, 2025 at 11:15 AM
Sky high
Clouds
Under my feet
Magic carpet
Of activity
Whisking through
Days and decades
Still now
So still
The smallest
And the most grand
The particular
The absolute
Intertwined
Only
A certain set
Of years
Until this body
Crumbles and dissolves
What then to do
With today
Clouds
Under my feet
Magic carpet
Of activity
Whisking through
Days and decades
Still now
So still
The smallest
And the most grand
The particular
The absolute
Intertwined
Only
A certain set
Of years
Until this body
Crumbles and dissolves
What then to do
With today
Zen
The way of love and understanding
🙏
The way of love and understanding
🙏
October 22, 2025 at 11:19 AM
Zen
The way of love and understanding
🙏
The way of love and understanding
🙏
Early in the morning
After meditating
All night long
He touched the Earth
And gazing
At the Morning Star
Said
I and all beings
Are awakened
Simultaneously
The roll
Of his thunder
Reaches us
Even today
Great gratitude
For his offering
🙏 #Zen
After meditating
All night long
He touched the Earth
And gazing
At the Morning Star
Said
I and all beings
Are awakened
Simultaneously
The roll
Of his thunder
Reaches us
Even today
Great gratitude
For his offering
🙏 #Zen
October 21, 2025 at 11:25 AM
Early in the morning
After meditating
All night long
He touched the Earth
And gazing
At the Morning Star
Said
I and all beings
Are awakened
Simultaneously
The roll
Of his thunder
Reaches us
Even today
Great gratitude
For his offering
🙏 #Zen
After meditating
All night long
He touched the Earth
And gazing
At the Morning Star
Said
I and all beings
Are awakened
Simultaneously
The roll
Of his thunder
Reaches us
Even today
Great gratitude
For his offering
🙏 #Zen
How did that orb
Glorious, mysterious
Get such beauty
Painting the hemlock
Beyond my window
With nighttime colors
Soaring wide
In this precious moment
This gift of
The whole cosmos
With its kind embrace
Brings me here
Profound thankfulness
For being alive
Amid such riches
Glorious, mysterious
Get such beauty
Painting the hemlock
Beyond my window
With nighttime colors
Soaring wide
In this precious moment
This gift of
The whole cosmos
With its kind embrace
Brings me here
Profound thankfulness
For being alive
Amid such riches
October 9, 2025 at 9:27 AM
How did that orb
Glorious, mysterious
Get such beauty
Painting the hemlock
Beyond my window
With nighttime colors
Soaring wide
In this precious moment
This gift of
The whole cosmos
With its kind embrace
Brings me here
Profound thankfulness
For being alive
Amid such riches
Glorious, mysterious
Get such beauty
Painting the hemlock
Beyond my window
With nighttime colors
Soaring wide
In this precious moment
This gift of
The whole cosmos
With its kind embrace
Brings me here
Profound thankfulness
For being alive
Amid such riches
So see this fleeting world
A star at dawn
A bubble in a stream
A flash of lightning
In a summer cloud
A flickering lamp
A phantom and a dream
—The Diamond Sutra
A star at dawn
A bubble in a stream
A flash of lightning
In a summer cloud
A flickering lamp
A phantom and a dream
—The Diamond Sutra
October 7, 2025 at 10:32 AM
So see this fleeting world
A star at dawn
A bubble in a stream
A flash of lightning
In a summer cloud
A flickering lamp
A phantom and a dream
—The Diamond Sutra
A star at dawn
A bubble in a stream
A flash of lightning
In a summer cloud
A flickering lamp
A phantom and a dream
—The Diamond Sutra
I’ve often wondered if the Buddha illuminated the path to awakening 2500 years ago why it’s still so hard for us humans to wake up.
With all that time, why didn’t the human race figure it out?
I’m interested in your response to this question.
#Zen 🙏
With all that time, why didn’t the human race figure it out?
I’m interested in your response to this question.
#Zen 🙏
October 6, 2025 at 2:31 PM
I’ve often wondered if the Buddha illuminated the path to awakening 2500 years ago why it’s still so hard for us humans to wake up.
With all that time, why didn’t the human race figure it out?
I’m interested in your response to this question.
#Zen 🙏
With all that time, why didn’t the human race figure it out?
I’m interested in your response to this question.
#Zen 🙏
The many beings are numberless
I vow to save them
Greed, hatred, and ignorance rise endlessly
I vow to abandon them
Dharma gates are countless
I vow to awake to them
Buddha’s way is unsurpassed
I vow to embody it fully
🙏 #Zen
I vow to save them
Greed, hatred, and ignorance rise endlessly
I vow to abandon them
Dharma gates are countless
I vow to awake to them
Buddha’s way is unsurpassed
I vow to embody it fully
🙏 #Zen
September 28, 2025 at 11:09 AM
The many beings are numberless
I vow to save them
Greed, hatred, and ignorance rise endlessly
I vow to abandon them
Dharma gates are countless
I vow to awake to them
Buddha’s way is unsurpassed
I vow to embody it fully
🙏 #Zen
I vow to save them
Greed, hatred, and ignorance rise endlessly
I vow to abandon them
Dharma gates are countless
I vow to awake to them
Buddha’s way is unsurpassed
I vow to embody it fully
🙏 #Zen
Jiko
Whole self
How to live
All in
Engaged
Invested
Open-hearted
Exchanging self
For other
You are me
I am you
Enacting from within
Aware of all
🙏 #Zen
Whole self
How to live
All in
Engaged
Invested
Open-hearted
Exchanging self
For other
You are me
I am you
Enacting from within
Aware of all
🙏 #Zen
September 26, 2025 at 12:21 PM
Jiko
Whole self
How to live
All in
Engaged
Invested
Open-hearted
Exchanging self
For other
You are me
I am you
Enacting from within
Aware of all
🙏 #Zen
Whole self
How to live
All in
Engaged
Invested
Open-hearted
Exchanging self
For other
You are me
I am you
Enacting from within
Aware of all
🙏 #Zen
What is it
Really
A cat
Stalking in the grass
A nest of herons
A water buffalo
Coming up for air
Thunderheads
Approach
And I am drenched
Clean
Until
The next time
My chain is pulled
The sun
Also rises
Really
A cat
Stalking in the grass
A nest of herons
A water buffalo
Coming up for air
Thunderheads
Approach
And I am drenched
Clean
Until
The next time
My chain is pulled
The sun
Also rises
September 23, 2025 at 5:36 PM
What is it
Really
A cat
Stalking in the grass
A nest of herons
A water buffalo
Coming up for air
Thunderheads
Approach
And I am drenched
Clean
Until
The next time
My chain is pulled
The sun
Also rises
Really
A cat
Stalking in the grass
A nest of herons
A water buffalo
Coming up for air
Thunderheads
Approach
And I am drenched
Clean
Until
The next time
My chain is pulled
The sun
Also rises
When teaching Zen, say less. There’s no need to convince anyone of anything. We have the practice, and a deep lineage tradition. Come from your heart, and your direct experience. The rest will take care of itself.
— Guidance on teaching from my teacher Bo Mun
#Zen 🙏
— Guidance on teaching from my teacher Bo Mun
#Zen 🙏
September 22, 2025 at 12:31 PM
When teaching Zen, say less. There’s no need to convince anyone of anything. We have the practice, and a deep lineage tradition. Come from your heart, and your direct experience. The rest will take care of itself.
— Guidance on teaching from my teacher Bo Mun
#Zen 🙏
— Guidance on teaching from my teacher Bo Mun
#Zen 🙏
“Exchange self and other”
“We’re in this together”
“It’s a deep democracy”
“There’s no need to force feed the Christmas goose”
“Trust emergence”
—Sayings of my teacher Zen Master Bo Mun
#Zen 🙏🪷🧘♂️
“We’re in this together”
“It’s a deep democracy”
“There’s no need to force feed the Christmas goose”
“Trust emergence”
—Sayings of my teacher Zen Master Bo Mun
#Zen 🙏🪷🧘♂️
September 20, 2025 at 11:44 AM
“Exchange self and other”
“We’re in this together”
“It’s a deep democracy”
“There’s no need to force feed the Christmas goose”
“Trust emergence”
—Sayings of my teacher Zen Master Bo Mun
#Zen 🙏🪷🧘♂️
“We’re in this together”
“It’s a deep democracy”
“There’s no need to force feed the Christmas goose”
“Trust emergence”
—Sayings of my teacher Zen Master Bo Mun
#Zen 🙏🪷🧘♂️
My teacher’s teacher would say, “Just don’t make anything.”
Dogen says, “Refraining from.”
Rather than observing oneself from the outside, we jump wholly into life
Just this. Moment by moment.
🙏 #Zen
Dogen says, “Refraining from.”
Rather than observing oneself from the outside, we jump wholly into life
Just this. Moment by moment.
🙏 #Zen
September 19, 2025 at 12:10 PM
My teacher’s teacher would say, “Just don’t make anything.”
Dogen says, “Refraining from.”
Rather than observing oneself from the outside, we jump wholly into life
Just this. Moment by moment.
🙏 #Zen
Dogen says, “Refraining from.”
Rather than observing oneself from the outside, we jump wholly into life
Just this. Moment by moment.
🙏 #Zen
Impermanence
Is happening
Everywhere
In everything
Thoughts
Come and go
Food is
Digested
Sound
Light
And even matter
Are merely vibrations
How
To live
In this wild
Impermanence?
I too
Am a process
A host of vibrations
Nothing fixed
Soaring
Tumbling
Through
Life
🙏 #Zen
Is happening
Everywhere
In everything
Thoughts
Come and go
Food is
Digested
Sound
Light
And even matter
Are merely vibrations
How
To live
In this wild
Impermanence?
I too
Am a process
A host of vibrations
Nothing fixed
Soaring
Tumbling
Through
Life
🙏 #Zen
September 18, 2025 at 12:37 PM
Impermanence
Is happening
Everywhere
In everything
Thoughts
Come and go
Food is
Digested
Sound
Light
And even matter
Are merely vibrations
How
To live
In this wild
Impermanence?
I too
Am a process
A host of vibrations
Nothing fixed
Soaring
Tumbling
Through
Life
🙏 #Zen
Is happening
Everywhere
In everything
Thoughts
Come and go
Food is
Digested
Sound
Light
And even matter
Are merely vibrations
How
To live
In this wild
Impermanence?
I too
Am a process
A host of vibrations
Nothing fixed
Soaring
Tumbling
Through
Life
🙏 #Zen
Enlightenment
Can happen
To anyone
Not that
There is “someone”
Who gets enlightened
We are a process
Like all creation
There is no static being
Entering this process
Wholly and wholeheartedly
Enlightenment is already there
Welcome
Peace and
Joy
🙏 #Zen
Can happen
To anyone
Not that
There is “someone”
Who gets enlightened
We are a process
Like all creation
There is no static being
Entering this process
Wholly and wholeheartedly
Enlightenment is already there
Welcome
Peace and
Joy
🙏 #Zen
September 9, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Enlightenment
Can happen
To anyone
Not that
There is “someone”
Who gets enlightened
We are a process
Like all creation
There is no static being
Entering this process
Wholly and wholeheartedly
Enlightenment is already there
Welcome
Peace and
Joy
🙏 #Zen
Can happen
To anyone
Not that
There is “someone”
Who gets enlightened
We are a process
Like all creation
There is no static being
Entering this process
Wholly and wholeheartedly
Enlightenment is already there
Welcome
Peace and
Joy
🙏 #Zen
What if I could encourage you to see the present moment with great simplicity and clarity. Just this. In truth, it’s what the Buddha was talking about.
🙏 #Zen
🙏 #Zen
September 8, 2025 at 11:50 AM
What if I could encourage you to see the present moment with great simplicity and clarity. Just this. In truth, it’s what the Buddha was talking about.
🙏 #Zen
🙏 #Zen
Offer people the gift of attention. We all yearn to be genuinely noticed, to be held in another’s awareness.
Nonjudgmental present awareness arises in meditation and is a gift we can give to others.
🙏 #Zen
Nonjudgmental present awareness arises in meditation and is a gift we can give to others.
🙏 #Zen
September 6, 2025 at 10:14 PM
Offer people the gift of attention. We all yearn to be genuinely noticed, to be held in another’s awareness.
Nonjudgmental present awareness arises in meditation and is a gift we can give to others.
🙏 #Zen
Nonjudgmental present awareness arises in meditation and is a gift we can give to others.
🙏 #Zen
Offer people the gift of attention. We all yearn to be genuinely noticed, to be held in another’s awareness.
Nonjudgmental present awareness arises in meditation and is a gift we can give to others.
🙏 #Zen
Nonjudgmental present awareness arises in meditation and is a gift we can give to others.
🙏 #Zen
September 6, 2025 at 10:13 PM
Offer people the gift of attention. We all yearn to be genuinely noticed, to be held in another’s awareness.
Nonjudgmental present awareness arises in meditation and is a gift we can give to others.
🙏 #Zen
Nonjudgmental present awareness arises in meditation and is a gift we can give to others.
🙏 #Zen
What is it if nothing seems to have any meaning anymore?
There is meaning in no meaning.
Or, the concept of “meaning” has no intrinsic meaning.
Rather, care for those around me. Admit when I have done wrong. The outcome is not up to me.
🙏 #Zen
There is meaning in no meaning.
Or, the concept of “meaning” has no intrinsic meaning.
Rather, care for those around me. Admit when I have done wrong. The outcome is not up to me.
🙏 #Zen
August 23, 2025 at 1:03 PM
What is it if nothing seems to have any meaning anymore?
There is meaning in no meaning.
Or, the concept of “meaning” has no intrinsic meaning.
Rather, care for those around me. Admit when I have done wrong. The outcome is not up to me.
🙏 #Zen
There is meaning in no meaning.
Or, the concept of “meaning” has no intrinsic meaning.
Rather, care for those around me. Admit when I have done wrong. The outcome is not up to me.
🙏 #Zen
Realizing
That I am interconnected
With everything else
With everyone else
Anger and frustration
With another
Are anger and frustration
That accrue back to me
Loving kindness
Towards another
Is loving kindness
That accrues back to me
🙏 #Zen
That I am interconnected
With everything else
With everyone else
Anger and frustration
With another
Are anger and frustration
That accrue back to me
Loving kindness
Towards another
Is loving kindness
That accrues back to me
🙏 #Zen
August 17, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Realizing
That I am interconnected
With everything else
With everyone else
Anger and frustration
With another
Are anger and frustration
That accrue back to me
Loving kindness
Towards another
Is loving kindness
That accrues back to me
🙏 #Zen
That I am interconnected
With everything else
With everyone else
Anger and frustration
With another
Are anger and frustration
That accrue back to me
Loving kindness
Towards another
Is loving kindness
That accrues back to me
🙏 #Zen
I do not exist
I do not not exist
Existence is a figment
A fiction of convenience
Every thing is a process
There are no fixed entities
Some things change
Very fast
Some things change
Very slow
A gamelan of cycles
Mysterious and uncertain
But love is here
A prayer
A benediction
I do not not exist
Existence is a figment
A fiction of convenience
Every thing is a process
There are no fixed entities
Some things change
Very fast
Some things change
Very slow
A gamelan of cycles
Mysterious and uncertain
But love is here
A prayer
A benediction
August 15, 2025 at 12:53 PM
I do not exist
I do not not exist
Existence is a figment
A fiction of convenience
Every thing is a process
There are no fixed entities
Some things change
Very fast
Some things change
Very slow
A gamelan of cycles
Mysterious and uncertain
But love is here
A prayer
A benediction
I do not not exist
Existence is a figment
A fiction of convenience
Every thing is a process
There are no fixed entities
Some things change
Very fast
Some things change
Very slow
A gamelan of cycles
Mysterious and uncertain
But love is here
A prayer
A benediction
In sharing the dharma
In a teaching capacity
No need fret
Feel puffed up
Or scared
Let the dharma
Do itself
You are only
A mouthpiece
To invite each of us
To meet our true selves
—From my teacher Bo Mun
In a teaching capacity
No need fret
Feel puffed up
Or scared
Let the dharma
Do itself
You are only
A mouthpiece
To invite each of us
To meet our true selves
—From my teacher Bo Mun
August 14, 2025 at 1:55 PM
In sharing the dharma
In a teaching capacity
No need fret
Feel puffed up
Or scared
Let the dharma
Do itself
You are only
A mouthpiece
To invite each of us
To meet our true selves
—From my teacher Bo Mun
In a teaching capacity
No need fret
Feel puffed up
Or scared
Let the dharma
Do itself
You are only
A mouthpiece
To invite each of us
To meet our true selves
—From my teacher Bo Mun
All blessings
All appreciation
Maha prajna paramita
(Great unexcelled wisdom)
All is one
One is all
One is one
All is all
No words
Can express it
All words
Come from it
This is this
This is only this
Only this is reality
Reality is a concept
Shaking hands
With you!
🙏 ❤️
All appreciation
Maha prajna paramita
(Great unexcelled wisdom)
All is one
One is all
One is one
All is all
No words
Can express it
All words
Come from it
This is this
This is only this
Only this is reality
Reality is a concept
Shaking hands
With you!
🙏 ❤️
August 13, 2025 at 12:08 PM
All blessings
All appreciation
Maha prajna paramita
(Great unexcelled wisdom)
All is one
One is all
One is one
All is all
No words
Can express it
All words
Come from it
This is this
This is only this
Only this is reality
Reality is a concept
Shaking hands
With you!
🙏 ❤️
All appreciation
Maha prajna paramita
(Great unexcelled wisdom)
All is one
One is all
One is one
All is all
No words
Can express it
All words
Come from it
This is this
This is only this
Only this is reality
Reality is a concept
Shaking hands
With you!
🙏 ❤️
A lovely dinner
With a dear friend
Yesterday evening
When there is genuine love
And a true spirit
How can AI touch this
Let me not forget
In the candy shop of technology
Where my true origins are
🙏
With a dear friend
Yesterday evening
When there is genuine love
And a true spirit
How can AI touch this
Let me not forget
In the candy shop of technology
Where my true origins are
🙏
August 8, 2025 at 11:51 AM
A lovely dinner
With a dear friend
Yesterday evening
When there is genuine love
And a true spirit
How can AI touch this
Let me not forget
In the candy shop of technology
Where my true origins are
🙏
With a dear friend
Yesterday evening
When there is genuine love
And a true spirit
How can AI touch this
Let me not forget
In the candy shop of technology
Where my true origins are
🙏