Abiding Nowhere

Our name comes from a famous Zen story:

Dajian Huineng (Daikan Eno in Japanese), known as the Sixth Patriarch, is one of the most famous of the ancient Chinese Zen masters. He lived from 638-713 CE. As a young man, he collected firewood and sold it to his neighbors. One day, when he was passing one of his customer’s houses, he overheard someone chanting the Diamond Sutra (one of the earliest recordings of the teachings of the Buddha). According to the story, when he heard the phrase, “Abiding nowhere, awakened mind arises” Huineng was immediately enlightened.

The header photograph was taken on September 10, 2009 at Lake Manasarovar in Western Tibet, during a pilgrimage to Mt. Kailash.