Below is a selection of the Sydney Zen Centre podcasts published on Soundcloud.
If you are interested in listening to more, click here for access to all of SZC podcasts.
“Where have you been?’ is a common opening phrase from the teacher in many koans. In this talk about case 15, Book of Serenity, ‘Yangshan thrusts his hoe in the ground’, Jane discusses aspects of this koan in relation to the story of the Buddha’s awakening and to our own realisation. We can appreciate the...
Read MoreBodhidharma faced the wall. The Second Ancestor stood in the snow, cut off his arm and said, ‘Your disciple’s mind has no peace as yet. I beg you, Master, please put it to rest.' Mumonkan Case 41: Bodhidharma Pacifies the Mind The words, life and control, cancel each other out - life is just this! Moment...
Read MoreMultitudinous messages coming in from marketers and politicians intensify the sense that the future’s uncertain and potentially disastrous, that though we are all right, it’s the “other” or “others” who are the problem. Our anxiety grows. Our minds already overflow with habits, preconceptions and prejudices, with ideas about self and other, ideas that have me here, and you over there,...
Read MoreIn Dogen’s ‘Instructions to the Tenzo’, he describes Three Minds, a division which provides a framework for all daily tasks. As well as Joyful Mind, Kind Mind, and Great Mind, we study Dogen’s question ‘What is practice?’. This teisho was given by Jane Andino roshi on Day 4 of Winter sesshin 2024 at the Annandale...
Read MoreIn ‘seeing the reflection’ and ‘seeing the portrait’, we find that which we can’t put into words. This teisho looks at Case 98, The Book of Serenity, and also explores the Soto ancestor side of our Zen lineage, Dongshan. This teisho was given by Jane Andino, roshi on day 3 of Winter sesshin 2024 at...
Read More‘No-gate is the gate of liberation; no-mind is the mind of the wayfarer’. These are the words of Hsuan-sha, quoted by Wu-men in his postscript to the Wu-Men Kuan. This talk explores the path of the wayfarer, the path of freedom. This talk was given by Jane Andino, roshi on Day 2 of Winter sesshin...
Read More‘The Great Way has no gate” is the beginning of Wu-Men’s verse from his preface to The Gateless Barrier. This talk explores the Preface and the Postscript of Wu-men’s great work. It also raises the deep questions of 'Why am I at sesshin? What is the Barrier for me?' This talk by Jane Andino, roshi,...
Read MoreSuchness is also referred to as Tathagata another name for the Buddha – the one who is thus gone, thus comes, the one who sees reality as-it-really-is. The teachings of suchness are encapsulated in the much-loved succinct Bahiya Sutta. The Sutta instructs us how to practice just seeing, just hearing, just sensing, just cognising, and thus how...
Read MoreThis teisho explores how being present in the here and now better enables us to cope and to respond in a world with increasing conflict and increasing ecological collapse, where we can feel like we have less and less control and where there feels like great uncertainty. The teisho discusses how to live well in...
Read MoreThe Heart Sutra is the essence of the wisdom teachings of liberation. It is a summary of the Buddha’s awakening experience under the Bodhi Tree. This dharma talk explores and clarify the wonderful yet highly misunderstood teachings of emptiness. Empty of what? Emptiness does not mean annihilation or nihilism or that you do not exist. After investigating all...
Read MoreWill explores our relationship between our problems and our practice, and our attitude to our problems. This teisho draws upon several koan examples that involve problems and our approach to our practice. This includes... The Iron Flute case 33: 'Yueh Shan solves the monk's problem' Blue Cliff Record case 6: 'Every day is a good...
Read MoreThe ocean of inter-being is our true nature. Subhana explores how we can embody the wonder and joy of Indra’s Web of interconnectedness and can enlarge our vision to see our shared world more spaciously and more compassionately. Can you see a cloud in your cup of tea? The present moment is an open field of benefaction. Our...
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