Joseph Family Vineyards

12/11/2020

A mountain lion visited our house just before Thanksgiving. It was scary, exciting and grand.

People go to wild places to search for their true nature. When you do this, where is your true nature? ~ Doushuai’s Three Barriers, The Gateless Barrier, Case 47 When we visited this koan on our Sunday call several weeks ago, two things came alive for me: Though we usually search for wild places o...

04/03/2020

Hsueh Feng taught the assembly, “On South Mountain, there is a turtle-nosed cobra snake. All of you people must watch out carefully!” Chang Ching said, ”In the hall today, there certainly are people who have lost their bodies and their lives.” Hsuan Sha said, “Why make use of South Mountai...

10/04/2019

Pines are straight, and brambles are crooked; cranes are tall, and ducks are short. In the age of ancient emperors, people forget about both government and anarchy. Such peace ~ a hidden dragon in the abyss; Such freedom ~ a soaring bird sheds its tether. Nothing can be done about the Ancestor’s c...

03/30/2018

An outsider asked the World-Honored One, “I do not ask for the spoken; I do not ask for the unspoken.” The World-Honored One was silent.      ~ Gateless Barrier...

06/09/2017

A monk asked a Zen teacher, “When the physical body rots away; what is the hard and fast body of reality?” The teacher said, “The mountain flowers bloom like br...

01/05/2012

Raise a glass of JFV!

We are pitting Cabernet Sauvignon from the famed Cabernet Sauvignon stalwart Napa Valley against Sonoma, its upstart, funkier neighbor to the West. Napa and Sonoma are separated by the Mayacamas Mountains. Does the Napa-Sonoma Cabernet Sauvignon feud rival the epic feud that has rages between East C...