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.
Seven sisters forego the option of going to a garden with beautiful flowers and instead set out to visit a charnel ground where dead bodies are strewn. This turns out to be an interesting choice to have made. The Buddhadharma reveals itself in unexpected ways! This teisho, which explores a story from 9th century China,...
Read MoreHow does it look to have "no notions of self to contest?" Who was Vimalakirti? And how does George Clooney make his way into a Dharma talk anyway? Such questions are explored in this teisho by Maggie Gluek, roshi on day 1 of Rohatsu sesshin 2025 at Annandale. This Rinzai koan is from Entangling Vines,...
Read MoreIn Secret Oral Instructions on Practice we hear how to ”maintain the essence" from a 20th century Tibetan Buddhist teacher, Kyabje Künzang Dechen Lingpa. These injunctions resonate with Dogen’s teaching on “zazen-only” and the option of realising it in all our expressions and activities. Each one of us can open the Dharma gate of ease...
Read MoreAs one of Charlotte Joko Beck's Dharma Successors, Geoff Dawson talks about her background, her teachings, and her founding of the Ordinary Mind School. He describes how she transformed Zen teaching in the West, and explains her methods of Working with emotions as practice, and Working with core beliefs. This talk was given by Geoff Dawson of...
Read MoreThis koan is taken from a Chinese sutra published around AD300 and has a fairytale quality. “Long ago, in the land of Teno Tathagata, which is not in our galaxy, a conference was held and many buddhas gathered to attend. Because this conference was for buddhas, bodhisattvas were not qualilfied to participate. Just as the...
Read MoreBefore Ma-tsu became a teacher, he was training at Nan-yueh’s monastery, one of several hundred monks lost in the crowd. A senior monk noticed how diligent he was and mentioned him to Nan-yueh, who found him alone in the zendo and asked, ‘What is your purpose in doing zazen?’ When Ma-tsu replied, “I seek to become...
Read MoreWhen Chao-chou was asked by a young monk, ‘Does the dog have Buddha nature?’ he responded, “Mu” . showing the monk - and us - how to practice, breath by breath - “muuuuuu”. On this first full day of sesshin, I encourage you to enjoy your zazen which Aitken roshi described “as the seated practice...
Read MoreWe can often fall into ideas about getting somewhere in our practice, finding our freedom, always with the idea it is some other place and some other time. This talk explores case 48 of the Gateless Barrier, Kan fangs 'one straight road to nirvana'. That road is always here, right now, before our eyes. This...
Read MoreThis life is a play and we are all the players. In an old story we meet Manjusri, Great Wisdom Bodhisattva as well as the Much Lesser Bodhisattva Delusive Wisdom and A Young Woman Meditating. And in them—as Aitken Roshi points out—we meet dimensions of ourselves. In all of this there’s deep encouragement at hand....
Read MoreThe bodhisattva ideal, where one forgets the self and helps others, is emphasized in Mahayana Buddhism. But bodhisattvas are not just powerful symbolic figures, they are ordinary people who dedicate themselves to the wellbeing of others, to the environment, peace, to social justice. People like you and me. In this talk, Gilly honours three contemporary bodhisattvas and...
Read MoreThis talk centres on Dongshan’s departure from his teacher Yunyan and his awakening crossing a stream shortly after. Peter explores the meaning of “it”—the mysterious totality of transmission, Buddha nature, and the ten thousand things—shown through Dongshan’s famous poem: Just don't seek from others, or you'll be far estranged from self. I now go on...
Read MoreLike branches of a single tree, Yunyan and Daowu exemplify classic dharma harmony as they meet in the temple courtyard, with Yunyan’s daily sweeping becoming the backdrop for a lively Zen encounter. In this talk, Peter explores Yunyan’s long journey to realization, the "who" behind the sweeping, and the many moons of the Way that...
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