The Daily Zen Teisho

Sometimes we are given too much to know what to do with it…sometimes we are given so little, we sit bewildered if we are proceeding “correctly.”

Read the Journal while listening

The “worthies of former times” sacrificed to attain their true insights; it involved more than just hearing and parroting a teacher’s words.  They turned their own inner light onto the great matter a…

Ah, to be able to sit and discourse with someone like Muso!   Suddenly everything is crystal clear…the traps we set for ourselves, the spirited way we manage to fool ourselves, and the limited great …

The response is down-to-earth and understandable for any of us.  To stay on track and not get overwhelmed by the illusions that surround us involves a lifetime of commitment.   

Read the Journal w…

Waking up is a great phrase to illustrate realization. In the beginning of practice when we are first learning meditation, and in some schools, the other techniques that have been used over time, it …

Here we have several very different examples of Foyan’s skill as a teacher. The crystal clear teaching poem on sitting meditation juxtaposed with the conversational skill he has in communicating with…

Reading this piece is like standing under a plum tree with blossoms falling all around you, the fragrance enveloping your senses, and feeling connected with much more. Remember the last time the frag…

This is a teaching vast in scope, covering the beginning, middle, and end of practice.  Stunning to see the dates of the writing and to feel a deep connection with something so ancient/contemporary! 

While the tone of Hongzhi’s Practice Instructions is lyrical and evocative, surpassing the ordinary “instructions,” this is a voice rarely heard in a teaching hall and is immediately transporting.

This discussion between sudden enlightenment and gradual cultivation has gone on for centuries.  So we are not alone in our own confusion about these principles.  This is a very clear description of …

Naturally, we have thoughts that come up almost continuously at times. The ability to let them go and make room for an openness that is constantly responsive to the ever-changing is an integral part …

Bodhidharma’s teaching is essentially very sparse and simple: “Behold the mind.”  Doesn’t allow a lot of distracting philosophical points, just brings us back to awareness and turning the attention i…

One of the most famous Zen tales is the story of how an illiterate woodcutter came to inherit the robe and bowl of the 5th Patriarch. After delivering his load of firewood one day, he heard a custome…

Many times we have read or heard the stories of Buddha's life and enlightenment. Returning to his first teaching upon awakening, we come in contact with the ground and source of Buddhism. The root fr…

He is not talking about a philosophy of license, anything goes in the name of the ego; when he refers to a lack of faith in ourselves, it would be easy to misunderstand. Those of us who have grown up…

 For many of us living life “autonomously,” not listening to what others say can feel a bit ungrounded until one has practiced enough to have gained some life experience of cause and effect. Life exp…

Many of us were introduced to meditating by breath counting at first, then moved into simply watching the breath, and then, at some point, even that fell away. There are many techniques used to focus…

Like the tiny green shoots bursting upward seeking the light of Spring, we too stretch to take in the light of the Dharma. If we “understand” too quickly, we can almost assuredly know our understandi…