Waking at daybreak, my sisters and I, dancing with delight, would run to the Christmas tree and tear open our presents. It was the pinnacle of our year – the tinsel and the fake holly – the nativity play at school, the Christmas carols we sang to our neighbours with all those words about joy, goodwill, peace and generosity. The
On my office wall hangs a scroll which inspires me each day, and which was given to me by my teacher Paul. The calligraphy says, ‘Every day is a good day’, a famous phrase of Yun-men. There is an enso below the calligraphy. This could be the fullness of the sun of every day; it could be the completeness of
In 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 zendo
In ‘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 Annandale
‘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 at the SZC Annandale zendo.
‘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, was the first teisho of
Suchness 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 to realise the end of
This 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 today’sworld by responding from our
The 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 5 skandhas / aggregates –
The Buddha’s Way is unsurpassed, I vow to embody it fully. Indeed, the Buddha’s Way is only realised, made real, in and as this human body. Some of our sutras reference the four classic meditation postures. In the Metta Sutta:Whether standing or walking, seated or lying down – free from drowsiness, one should sustain this recollection(that is, of loving kindness).
