AZC Weekly talks

How Zen masters approach death and how their dying can act as their final teaching. Shortly before his death, Master Mazu (Ma) and his attendant had this famous exchange, recorded in the Blue Cliff Record: Blue Cliff Record, Case 3 Great Master Ma was unwell. The temple superintendent asked him, “Teacher, how has your venerable health been in recent days?” The Great Master said, “Sun Face Buddha,...

In this teisho Roshi Amala Wrightson explores anxiety and panic. What about Greta Thunberg's "I want you to panic"? Is there anything beneficial about panic? What are the roots of fear, anxiety and panic? Sources: Light Comes Through by Dzigar Kongtrul, Shambhala 2008; Pan and the Nightmare by James Hillman and Wilhelm Roscher, Spring 2007 Automated transcript https://otter.ai/u/BMNJNP8bGLfqYkdPMH...

In this teisho Roshi Amala Wrightson explores Buddhist approaches to anxiety and panic. Cutting through our deepest attachments and directly experiencing our inter-being with all phenomena is an antidote to our fears. Sources: Light Comes Through by Dzigar Kongtrul, Shambhala 2008 Automated transcript https://otter.ai/u/_UeqhXuKPaEmU6VjZwMrmCSVwpU

In this teisho Roshi Amala Wrightson explores four constructive ways of working with panic attacks and acute anxiety so as to avoid falling further into the "fear-adrenalin-fear" vicious cycle. Sources: How I stopped my panic attacks by Yongey Mingyur Rimpoche in Lion's Roar January 28, 2022 and "I'm extremely controversial": The psychologist rethinking human emotion, by David Shariatmadari in The...

Ceremony of Aid for Ukraine, conducted at the Auckland Zen Centre by Roshi Amala Wrightson.

Roshi Amala Wrightson shares some thoughts on practising with Parkinson's Disease, a neuro-degenerative disorder, and not getting caught up in our notions of "wellness", which always come with "illness"attached. Text(s): article "The only way I know of alleviating suffering" by Darlene Cohen, in Being Bodies eds Lenore Friedman and Susan Moon 1997. Automated transcript https://otter.ai/u/Ske7QXLte...

In this teisho Roshi takes up a koan from The Blue Cliff Record: "Everyone has their own light" (Hekiganroku # 86). Here is the case: Ummon said, "Everybody has their own light. Though when you try to see it, you cannot, everything is darkness. What is everybody's light?" Later he answered himself saying, "The temple storeroom, the tower gateway". He also said, "A precious thing isn't as good as n...

The last of seven talks given by Roshi Amala Wrightson at the 2022 Auckland Zen Centre summer sesshin. In this teisho Roshi takes up a koan from The Blue Cliff Record: "The Hands and Eyes of the Bodhisattva of Great Compassion" (Hekiganroku # 89). How do we act with wisdom and compassion? Is it possible to grasp the truth 100 per cent? Automated transcript https://otter.ai/u/hFqPDZEkMk6QJXpipmyiSz...

The sixth of seven talks given by Roshi Amala Wrightson at the 2022 Auckland Zen Centre summer sesshin. In this teisho Roshi takes up a koan from The Gateless Gate (Mumonkan # 23). Myo, an ex-general, is stopped in his tracks by the 6th Ancestor, Huineng. What does he realise? Automated transcript https://otter.ai/u/sIqPid-iOweSisAHiAKCbuNB0hc

The fifth of seven talks given by Roshi Amala Wrightson at the 2022 Auckland Zen Centre summer sesshin. The inner critic and its disappearance in the face of unconditional love. Sources: Zen Bow article by Wes Borden, Summer 2018 and The Five Invitations by Frank Ostaseski Automated transcript https://otter.ai/u/JEuFooEDCqRUya7RlBIEXCr18iA

The fourth of seven talks given by Roshi Amala Wrightson at the 2022 Auckland Zen Centre summer sesshin. Tangen-roshi's vow to become like a chair. Sources: Awaken to the True Self, https://www.rzc.org/news/awaken-to-the-true-self/ Automated transcript https://otter.ai/u/Eena83iPhtMxX51ZvDDuNUF_wZw

The third in a series of seven talks given by Roshi Amala Wrightson during the 2022 Auckland Zen Centre summer sesshin. Karma is not a predetermined mold, "rather, by virtue of one's own efforts, it is possible to move, even just a step, closer to one's aim." Sources: Awaken to the True Self: https://www.rzc.org/news/awaken-to-the-true-self/ Automated transcript https://otter.ai/u/5vjHiGyiDjKUeSQj...

The second in a series of seven talks given by Roshi Amala Wrightson during the 2022 Auckland Zen Centre summer sesshin. This talk covers training at Bukkoku-ji and the emphasis on inner discipline. Sources: Zen Bow article by Roshi Bodhin Kjolhede, Summer 2018: https://www.rzc.org/news/harada-tangen-roshi/ Automated transcript https://otter.ai/u/xg5fXejE74VUxln2KXBgmeMbuAg

The first in a series of seven talks given by Roshi Amala Wrightson during the 2022 Auckland Zen Centre summer sesshin. Tangen-roshi's close calls with death reinforce his sense of being held and protected by a benevolent universe. Sources: Zen Bow article by Roshi Bodhin Kjolhede, Summer 2018: https://www.rzc.org/news/harada-tangen-roshi/ Automated transcript https://otter.ai/u/Q-ET4mPpMBpQ8GP3K4...

Roshi Amala Wrightson explores Huineng's three antidotes to grasping; no thought, no form, and non-abiding. Main Text: Silent Illumination by Guo Gu. Automated transcript https://otter.ai/u/50dLN5y5B-i48kyIbbIzV0baELs

Roshi Amala Wrightson explores contentment from a Zen perspective. Contentment, usually rather dryly called "non-grasping" in Zen, is an essential attitude in our practice life; an antidote to restlessness and a middle way between attachment and aversion. Main Text(s): Silent Illumination: A Chan Buddhist Path to Natural Awakening by Guo Gu Automated transcript https://otter.ai/u/6Lx_X8osLv5XZThPl...

Wholehearted chanting can be a bridge that connects us with loved ones and with more-than-human realms. It can also take us into a present which contains both past and future, the living and the dead. Sources: Article "Why do we recite sutras?" by Hakuun Yasutani-roshi, and Zen Wisdom, Knowing and Doing by Master Sheng Yen Automated transcript https://otter.ai/u/R-h9EqrVfOhU6vYYlGbqA6Llqzc

Exploring how the self-centred emotion of arrogance (or pride) causes pain in ourselves and others, plus a glimpse of what it feels like to be on the other end of arrogance. Automated transcript https://otter.ai/u/G62yeu0YvzLI9DH2UabB-HRgMXk Text: Light Comes Through by Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche

Who do we trust for our information? How open-minded are we? Can we see beyond the views of the people we disagree with and stay connected? Automated transcript https://otter.ai/u/XzTeGS3N0GbY_WzQ5slHpLLY-_k

Talk given in recognition of Māori Language Week (Te Wiki o te Reo Māori). Some background on our 4 vows translation, Ko ngā Oati e Whā. Beginning to explore key concepts of the Maōri worldview, with a look at whanaungatanga, or right relationship. Text(s): In right relationship -- whanaungatanga by Haylee Kiroi in Climate Aotearoa ed. Helen Clark

In lockdown again, many of the ways that we "get a break from ourselves" are no longer possible. So how do we work with painful habits of thinking and feeling? Automated transcript https://otter.ai/u/g9eity7un76x1QQGlup3GyICboM

How can we engage in our lives without falling into subject/object dualism? How can we hold onto nothing in the very midst of using all our senses? Automated transcript https://otter.ai/u/4XeQRqAdbuBUg-aOjPSQ_aEgGPw

When Yu realises master Linji's "true person of no rank" she leaps beyond convention and societal norms. Text(s): The Hidden Lamp, Stories from Twenty-Five Centuries of Awakened Women, ed. Florence Caplow and Susan Moon Automated transcript https://otter.ai/u/qhM5PQADJaOGJo_pJqDyazNJWYo

The space around our thoughts. Text(s): Not I, Not Other than I, The Life and Teachings of Russel Wlliams ed. Steve Taylor O-Books 2015 Automated transcript https://otter.ai/u/5Wio99bNCEzPoRnqGVhwFaW3di8

"You are not the conditions that make you do things." Text(s): Not I, Not Other than I, The Life and Teachings of Russel Wlliams ed. Steve Taylor O-Books 2015 Automated transcript https://otter.ai/u/WvZbHLiB-G8-YyOKX60zfP1pqhs