Earth Dreams: Zen Buddhism and the Soul of the World

This talk is part of a series of talks exploring the Engaged Buddhist Precepts of Thich Nhat Hanh and the Order of Interbeing. In this talk we explore how to practice with the suffering we encounter …

In the Buddhist tradition we are invited to look into the nature of suffering. To do this we have to be willing to turn towards it. While this may seem obvious—we all have habits + behaviors for avoi…

The path of Zen meditation is a path grounded in love and the deep realization of our shared being, we often call these two aspects of the path—wisdom and compassion.

During this Podcast Episode we me…

Greetings!

I am sending this Podcast Dharma Talk that I recorded last Monday, after viewing the Total Solar Eclipse. Which was spectacular, really beyond words, eerie, beautiful, humbling, I was struc…

We are in the midst of eclipse season. And while it happens twice a year, many of us living in the US are living close to the zone of totality or traveling to a place that falls in the zone of totali…

I always consider it quite a blessing to have found my way to the Spiritual Path. I didn’t always feel this way. I remember early on in practice wishing that I could just be satisfied with the flow o…

We explore the confusion or doubt that can come in when we habits return after having a taste of awakening. We also talk about how the mind will often try to recreate the peak experience, and how to …

Greetings Friends,

In the on-going exploration of the Ox-herding pictures, this podcast episode focuses on Kensho—the Japanese Zen Buddhist word for seeing into our true nature, which is the third of …

The path of Awakening is sometimes referred to as the Great Unbinding and consists of un-learning our deeply conditioned habits of mind and perception in order to truly meet our Selves as we are—

This…

This is the first of a series of talks exploring the Ox-herding pictures, a set of teachings on the Zen path of Awakening. This first stage is foundational and is often called The Search, Arousing th…

I originally started this Substack as a clear way to share my weekly dharma talks. Every Monday at 6P PT / 9P ET I host an online Zen gathering through the Zen Community of Oregon where I am one of t…

KOAN:

Yun Men imparted some words saying, "Everyone has a light; when you look at it, you don't see it and it's dark and dim. What is everybody's light?" 

He himself answered on their behalf, "The kitc…

The path of the paramitas leads to the shore of freedom, of liberation / love.

OM ! Gate, gate, para gate, parasum gate, bodhi svaha

Gone, gone, gone beyond, gone to the other shore–Svaha! Oh what a re…

How do we practice saving a ghost, when that ghost seems to be everywhere?

In the zen buddhist tradition we have the archetype of the hungry ghost—a being who is often depicted as having a large belly…

Offer flowers on a distant mountain to all beings —Dogen Zenji

In this dharma talk we explore the beautiful practice of giving, generosity, on the three levels of experience, Inner, Outer and Secret.

T…

To follow one’s longing. Or even to listen to one’s longing–can be uncomfortable. It can be deeply inconvenient. Painful to feel this desire, this wanting, this longing for completion, wholeness, to …

In order to live our vows, or to live from our life purpose we will encounter challenges. During this talk we explore some common inner challenging voices or parts of us that may get activated as we …

We live our visions for ourselves and the world. If we see that world as a hopeless place, inevitably we will treat it as such.

The Buddhas and Ancestors remind us, that this very land is the place of…

The Dharma empowers us to ask essential questions. This talk is an invitation to question, to really question and to live into these questions.

Often when we think about our life purpose, we makes as…

The question of life purpose is one that comes up throughout our lives.

Maybe you are in a life transition

Maybe you started out pursuing one career because family or societal pressure and now want to…