How 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, Case 108 – ‘Vimalakirti, The
This 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 conference finished, and all the
The priest Ruiyan called “Master!” to himself every day and answered himself“Yes!”Then he would say “Be aware!” and reply “Yes!”“Don’t be deceived by others!”“No, no!”Peter delves into the profound meaning behind this seemingly simple practice of Ruiyan Shiyan, moving beyond interpretations of self-affirmation or mere remembrance. Connecting it to Ruiyan’s earlier encounter with Master Yantou, Peter highlights the challenge of
Join Peter for a talk exploring Zhaozhou’s famous koan, “The Cypress Tree in the Courtyard.” Found in the Wumenguan and Book of Serenity, this koan, often presented in a shorter form, offers profound insights when viewed within its broader dialogue. Peter will delve into the context provided by the Record of Zhaozhou, examining how this seemingly simple response to the
In this guided meditation Will gives instructions on how to work with the koan ‘who is hearing?’. ‘Who is hearing’ is one of the primary koans taken up by students of Zen under the supervision of a Zen teacher. This practice instruction wasgiven by apprentice teacher Will Moon during the Autumn sesshin of 2025 at Kodoji.
Will 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 day’ Gateless Barrier, case 30:
The first teisho of Diamond Sangha sesshin traditionally focuses on the koan ‘mu’, a primary koan – a koan that opens the way –even though it is a gateless barrier.Mumon’s commentary on this case is a rare case of hearing how to work with a koan – which translates as ‘a matter to be resolved”. This teisho was given by
Ta-mei asked Ma-tsu, “What is Buddha?” Ma-tsu said, “This very mind is Buddha.” In this talk, Peter takes up the well-known case 30 of the Mumonkan. Shibayama Roshi said that “This very mind is Buddha’ is a very important philosophical saying which concisely depicts the essence of zen” yet any philosophical expositions on “This very mind is Buddha”, whether from Ma-tsu, Bodhidharma or
A monk says to Jingqing, “I am pecking from the inside, I beg you master, please peck from the outside”. Jingqing says, “But will you be alive?” This quote appears in the Blue Cliff Record, Case 16. The monk then says, “I am vigorously working this way, if I were not alive, I would be laughed at”. Jingqing responds, “You
