All Reflections

Before Words is Dohasa's journal of reflections on practice. The name Before Words was inspired by the Korean term hwadu (화두, 話頭) - “head of speech” or “source of spoken words.” It refers to the moment before a single word arises, before the mind divides the world into subject and object, self and other, this and that. It points to the source from which all thought and language flow, the awareness prior to discrimination. In short, it points to our own inherent buddha natu

A dharma talk by Alex Carroll, given to the Seon Meditation Sangha in the United Kingdom on 23 April 2026. Unblocking the Gateless Gate I am not the baker in my household. I am the cook, but I rarely follow recipes. Instead, I cook by instinct and improvise as I go. Baking, however, is a different matter. As much as I admire a well-made loaf of bread, I am really quite terrible at baking. My way of working simply does not translate. My husband, Niels, is the baker. Several ti