Hollow Bones Zen Blog

All beings are flowersblossomingIn a blossoming universe.—Soen Nakagawa The text below is from The Walk for Peace February 17, 2026 Today, in our tradition, we…

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new landscapesbut in having new eyes.– Marcel Proust by Monshin Kathy Mitchell Groundhog Day is a…

by Reishin Denise LeongZen River SanghaAppleton, WI “And I truly believe, only when head and heart work in harmony can we attain our true human potential.”…

by Lask Grey Kindred I live at the top of a mountain where springs appear when it rains. Water gathers in the cracks of the…

by Reishin Denise LeongZen River SanghaAppleton, Wisconsin Along this wayGoes no oneThis autumn evening -Basho On a mountain, in the woods overlooking a lake, a fire…

by Monshin Kathy Mitchell Wind and Water ZenWoodruff, Wisconsin I’ve sat with a variety of groups, some secular, others Buddhist. In each, the conversation almost…

by Monshin Kathy Mitchell Wind and Water ZenWoodruff, Wisconsin As I reflect on Jun Po as a teacher, one of the things I am most grateful…

All the time I pray to BuddhaI keep onkilling mosquitoes.-Issa Summertime! Such abundance, and aliveness! Beyond words. And yet, and yet… we are blessed with…

Many thoughts arise as the start of sesshin at DBZ gets closer – one of my favorites being a beautiful tale, where acts of kindness…

If you are reading this now, you can thank Jun Po Denis Kelly Roshi (1942-2021), founder of Hollow Bones Zen. In the decades of his Zen practice…

Awakening with the EarthThat magic moment… when we once again see a small bud begin to form on a tree branch. A green blade of…

Every December, I share Barbara Crooker’s poem “Solstice” in a dharma talk. She speaks of the despair after 9/11, a despair that remains 23 years…

This is part of a series on the HBZ lineage. Read Part One & Part Two. On April 14, 1942, Denis Kelly began an extraordinary…

A look at some of the modern founders of our tradition.

Many synergistic steps, truly reflecting the interconnection, interpenetration, and interdependency we understand to be part of Zen took place to bring us HBZ today. These steps also included the faithful contributions of many others, including many women, who played a crucial role in facilitating the unfolding. This series of blogs will tell their story.