You may have come across Yantou in thekoancollections as the student ofDeshanand the good dharma brother ofHsueh-feng.Yantoulived in 9thcentury China at a time of great upheaval.Yantouwas attacked and murdered by bandits as he sat inzazenin his monastery. As he was stabbed, Yantoulet out a great shout which was said to have reverberated for miles around. In 13thcentury Japan, HakuinZenjiwasgreatly troubledby
A monk asked Chao-chou, “Has the dog Buddha nature or not?” Chao-chou said, “Mu.” Will describes how we can interpret his instructions and apply them with today’s language to work with ‘Mu’. It also considers how these instructions can also be applied for students that are not working with koans, including breath counting and shikantaza. This is from Case 1 of
Jane Andino, roshi explores our ignorance of our true nature, and the path of practice through which we can realise for ourselves that hidden jewel of Buddha nature. The talk begins with an excerpt from the commentary on Case 37 of the Book of Serenity where Master Yunan asks, ‘What is your Buddha nature?’ This talk was given at the Zazenkai
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:
