meditation

Living & Dying

Paul Maloney, roshi explores the central human concern of dying from the point of view of the Buddha Dharma. Old age, sickness and death were everyday realities for people living in the time of the Historical Buddha, Shakyamuni, and they are realities for people in the third world today. But in our modern Western society, this fact that we are

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The Buddha’s Road to Awakening

Despite being orthodox Buddhism, albeit present in an unorthodox manner, the historical Buddha, Shakyamuni, seldom appears in our koan curriculum. In fact, one can go for years without hearing anything about the Buddha’s life prior to his Awakening. In this talk Paul Maloney, roshi gives a brief overview of the various practices that the Bodhisattva Siddhartha undertook, over several years,

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All Moments are the Time Being

‘The reason you do not clearly understand the time-being is that you think of time only as passing. In essence, all things in the entire world are linked with one another as moments. Because all moments are the time-being, they are your time-being.‘ Dogen Time can measured in seconds, minutes, hours, weeks, months, semesters, years and, more poetically, by the

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Coming home

Gillian Coote, roshi, explores the anguish of Bodhidharma’s student, Huike, standing in the snow, desperate for his mind to be at peace.  When resolved, this is an experience that Zen students have described as ‘coming home’ – body and mind and this moment, perfectly at ease, completely present. This teisho based on Case 41 of the Wumen Kuan was

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Sickness and medicine

Medicine and sickness cure each other, all the earth is medicine, where do you find your self? Gillian Coote, roshi, examines Yun-men’s words about our own sickness and suffering – as individuals, as family members, in relationships at work or in the sangha, and as members of this society and this vast interdependent mahasangha – the sickness of the air,

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Who is this ‘I’?

All the harmful karma ever created by me since of old On account of my beginningless greed, hatred and ignorance Born of my body, speech and thought I now acknowledge openly and fully In the Purification gatha which opens our sutra service the “I” is salient and crucial. Let’s get it straight right away, in the first person, this

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A Blade of Grass

The Buddha points to the ground and declares “Here would be a good place to erect a temple.” In this talk, Jane Andino looks at this case from the Book of Serenity and reflects on what that temple might be for us. She also investigates the traditions of our lay practice. This Dharma talk was given at a zazenkai in September 2018

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No difference

“If there is even a bit of difference, it is the remote distance between heaven and earth.” This is a famous Zen saying that has been used many times by the masters of the past and present, but what does it mean? Difference between what and what? Allan Marett, roshi explores a famous exchange between Fayan and his pilgrimage companion Hiushan

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Not Knowing

Not knowing is central to Zen practice. When Fayan and his companions were on pilgrimage, they ran into a snowstorm and took shelter at the temple of Dizang. Dizang asked him why he was wandering around on pilgrimage (a question that pilgrims frequently encounter) and Fayan replied, “I don’t know.” This story is from the Book of Serenity, Case 20,

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The Koan Mu

Maggie Gluek, roshi, describes how old Chao Chou offers us a key to the gateless barrier, a word that is no word that opens the door to everything. And in which Wu Men with his long comment shines a light on the practice of Zen. Don’t go thinking you’ve heard this all before! This teisho was given on Day 1

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