Madison Rinzai Zen - Ryugenji 龍源寺

03/12/2026

We do still have some 2026 omamori, as well as other items. Please take a look, and thank you as always for supporting Korinji!

https://www.korinji.org/shop

03/09/2026

03/08/2026

In the area around one of the Shugendo gyoba (training fields) we have established near Korinji.

03/08/2026

As a reminder, the March 8th meditation class is canceled at the Aikido of Madison Dojo due to an Aikido event there. See you Tuesday evening and next week Sunday!

03/07/2026

Monthly Fine Art & Martial Art Classes at Korinji:
Sado (tea), Sh*ttan & Shabutsu (sacred arts), Battoho (swordsmanship)

https://mailchi.mp/korinji/upcoming-classes

03/07/2026

03/03/2026

Upcoming Spring Events at Korinji:

https://mailchi.mp/korinji/upcoming-spring-events

03/02/2026

SHUGYO  means the deepest possible physical and spiritual training. Join us May 2 & 3, 2026 at Korinji ( www.korinji.org ), a Buddhist monastery on 17 forested acres about 50 miles from Madison, Wisconsin, for a weekend of intensive shugyo focused on profound martial and sp

03/02/2026

New dharma talk released on Korinji's Patreon, our constantly growing online library of Rinzai Zen video, audio, and other resources supporting your home practice. Patreon contributions support our monastery and international community...we are grateful! We invite you to join:

www.patreon.com/korinji

"Desires Are the Dharma"

Desire (attachment/fixation/craving) is - along with aversion (fear/hatred/revulsion) and ignorance (wrong view/cloudiness/dullness) - one of the Three Poisons: the three general expressions of delusion within which we are all habitually enmeshed. It is often mistakenly believed that Buddhist practice is meant to make us desireless. But, in fact, the Buddha spoke of wholesome vs. unwholesome desires, and how to arrive at a true happiness.

In this talk, Meido Roshi counsels us to bring the clarity arising from our practice to bear on those moments when fierce fixation or desire arise. If we do so, we may be able to discern some habitual patterns and life experiences giving rise to such fixations, and to understand how the seemingly desired objects/situations/persons are, in fact, not at the root of the issue at all. This is a kind of therapeutic approach that we can each apply for ourselves.

Looking more deeply, though, we can eventually discern that the root of attachment - and all delusion - lies beyond what therapy can reach. This root is, in fact, intrinsic to our existence. It is our Zen practice, the practice of Buddhadharma, that can ultimately help us to cut the root of the Three Poisons. Grasping the truth of our natureless nature, realizing our boundlessness, we will see how ludicrous it is to compulsively desire or fear anything. Giving rise to great desires like those expressed in the Four Vows, we can arrive at genuine satisfaction. In this way, desire is itself an expression of, and a pathway to, the Dharma.