Buddhist Temple of Toledo Podcast

Jay Rinsen Chikyo Weik gives a talk and leads a discussion at the Toledo Zen Center on April 2, 2008. "What does it mean to be mindful of the body? This is always the entry gate.... Breath is part of the body awareness, cultivating the practice of being awake to this one breath. In many, many lineages of Buddhist practice, not just Zen, the beginning thing you do is sit down and work with the brea...

Jay Rinsen Chikyo Weik gives a talk and leads a discussion at the Toledo Zen Center on March 26, 2008. "The pure nature exists in the midst of delusions. With correct practice alone, remove the obstacles. If people in this world practice the Way, there is nothing whatsoever to hinder them. If they always make clear the guilt within themselves, then they will accord with the Way." —Hui Neng For mor...

Jay Rinsen Chikyo Weik gives a talk and leads a discussion at the Toledo Zen Center on March 19, 2008. "Within the dark home of the passions, the sun of wisdom must at all times shine. Erroneous thoughts come because of the passions; when correct thoughts come the passions are cast aside. Use neither the erroneous nor the correct, and with purity you will attain to complete nirvana." -Hui Neng For...

Jay Rinsen Chikyo Weik leads a retreat workshop at the Toledo Zen Center on March 16, 2008. "Successive thoughts do not stop; prior thoughts, present thoughts, and future thoughts follow one after the other without cessation. If one instant of thought is cut off, the Dharma body separates from the physical body, and in the midst of successive thoughts there will be no place for attachment to anyth...

Jay Rinsen Chikyo Weik leads a retreat workshop at the Toledo Zen Center on March 16, 2008. "Good friends, how then are meditation and wisdom alike? They are like the lamp and the light it gives forth. If there is a lamp, there is light; if there is no lamp, there is no light. The lamp is the substance of light; the light is the function of the lamp. Thus, although they have two names, in substanc...

Jay Chikyo Rinsen Weik leads a retreat workshop at the Toledo Zen Center on March 16, 2008. "Oftentimes in spiritual teaching, there is a great attempt to deny any kind of shadow, or any kind of difficulty, and it's important to acknowledge it.... It makes the teachings more alive and full and complete and real, but also real honest and very direct. The historical context has a direct influence on...

Jay Rinsen Chikyo Weik presents a talk and leads a discussion at the Toledo Zen Center on March 12, 2008. "The tiny is the same as the large, once boundaries are forgotten." -Relying on Mind, Seng-ts'an This talk works with some of the differences between Taoist teachings and those of Zen. For more information about the Toledo Zen Center, please visit toledozen.org . The Toledo Zen Center is a mem...

Jay Rinsen Chikyo Weik presents a talk and leads a discussion at the Toledo Zen Center on March 5, 2008. "The wise have nothing to do, while the unwise tie themselves in knots." -Relying on Mind, Seng-ts'an This talk works with some of the similarities of Taoist teachings with those of Zen. For more information about the Toledo Zen Center, please visit toledozen.org . The Toledo Zen Center is a me...

Jay Rinsen Chikyo Weik presents a talk and leads a discussion at the Toledo Zen Center on February 27th, 2008. "The Supreme Way by nature is all embracing. Not easy, not difficult. But quibbling and hesitating, the more you hurry the slower you go. Holding on to things wrecks your balance, inevitably throwing you off course. But let everything go, be genuine, and the essence won't leave or stay. A...

Jay Chikyo Weik presents a retreat workshop at the Toledo Zen Center on February 17th, 2008. "There is no need to seek the truth - just put a stop to your opinions! Dualistic constructs don't endure, so take care not to pursue them. As soon as positive and negative arise, the mind is lost in confusion. The two exist because of the one, but don't cling to oneness either..." For more information abo...

Jay Chikyo Weik presents a retreat workshop at the Toledo Zen Center on February 17th, 2008. "Mind has the totality of space: nothing lacking, nothing extra. It's just selecting and rejecting that make it seem otherwise. Don't pursue worldly concerns, don't dwell passively in emptiness; in the peace of absolute identity, confusion vanishes by itself. Suppressing activity to reach stillness just cr...

Jay Chikyo Weik presents a retreat workshop at the Toledo Zen Center on February 17th, 2008. "The Supreme Way is not difficult; it just precludes picking and choosing. Without yearning or loathing, the Way is perfectly apparent, while even a hairbreadth difference separates heaven and earth. To see the Way with your own eyes, quit agreeing and disagreeing. The battling of likes and dislikes - that...

Jay Chikyo Weik presents a talk and leads a discussion at the Toledo Zen Center on February 13th, 2008. "The Ultimate Truth is Beyond words. Doctrines are words, they are not the Way. The Way is wordless. Words are illusions; they are no different from things that appear in your dreams at night..." -Bodhidharma's Bloodstream Sermon. For more information about the Toledo Zen Center, please visit to...

Jay Chikyo Weik presents a talk and leads a discussion at the Toledo Zen Center on January 30th, 2008. "Our Nature is the Mind, and the Mind is our Nature. This nature is the same as the mind of all buddhas. Buddhas of the past and future only transmit this mind. Beyond this mind, there is no Buddha anywhere..." -Bodhidharma's Bloodstream Sermon. For more information about the Toledo Zen Center, p...

Jay Chikyo Weik presents a talk and leads a discussion at the Toledo Zen Center on January 23rd, 2008. "Everything that appears in the three realms comes from the mind, hence the Buddhas of the past and future teach mind to mind, without bothering about definitions." "But if they don't define it, what do they mean by Mind?" "You Ask, That's Your Mind. I Answer, That's My Mind..." -Bodhidharma's Bl...

Jay Chikyo Weik presents a retreat workshop at the Toledo Zen Center on January 20th, 2008. "Entering through practice refers to four all-encompassing practices: the practice of requiting animosity, the practice of accepting one's circumstances. The practice of craving nothing, and the practice of accord with the Dharma." For more information about the Toledo Zen Center, please visit toledozen.org...

Jay Chikyo Weik presents a retreat workshop at the Toledo Zen Center on January 20th, 2008. "Entering through practice refers to four all-encompassing practices: the practice of requiting animosity, the practice of accepting one's circumstances. The practice of craving nothing, and the practice of accord with the Dharma." For more information about the Toledo Zen Center, please visit toledozen.org...

Jay Chikyo Weik presents a retreat workshop at the Toledo Zen Center on January 20th, 2008. This workshop begins with a historical overview of Bodhidharma's time and the teachings ascribed to him as they relate to other spiritual teachings of the day. After this, Chikyo begins working with the text: "There are many avenues for entering the Way, but essentially they all are of two kinds: entering t...

Karen Zuihan Weik offers a talk and leads discussion at the Toledo Zen Center on January 16, 2008. "There once was a beautiful young girl who loved nothing more than to gaze at her reflection in the mirror. Every morning she would get up and look and she was very well pleased with herself. One morning, however, she looked in the mirror, but she didn't see her reflection..." For more information ab...

Karen Zuihan Weik offers a talk and leads discussion at the Toledo Zen Center on January 9, 2008. "Opening the space, what I really want to do is connect with you, connect with your heart. And have all of our hearts connect with one another, and the beauty of this silence, and this breath, and this vast and spacious moment without beginning, and without end. This is where I want to live with you.....

Jay Chikyo Weik presents a talk and leads a discussion at the Toledo Zen Center on December 19, 2007. "The Way is perfect like vast space / where nothing is lacking and nothing is in excess. / Indeed, it is due to our choosing to accept or reject / that we do not see the true nature of things." -Seng T'san, Faith Mind For more information about the Toledo Zen Center, please visit toledozen.org . T...

Jay Chikyo Weik offers a presentation entitled, "Obstacles to Practice," given at the Toledo Zen Center on December 2, 2007. "There are four basic ways that a bodhisattva will guide or help or engage sentient beings to the purpose of helping to relieve suffering. The first one is called Giving, the second one is Kind Speech, the third one is Beneficial Action, and the fourth one is called Identity...

Jay Chikyo Weik offers a presentation entitled, "Obstacles to Practice," given at the Toledo Zen Center on December 2, 2007. "Typically, what are taught as being the primary challenges or the main difficulties have to do with the six realms. In the center of those realms, there are three poisons that are providing the gravity that's holding these beings in these various realms of suffering. What t...

Jay Chikyo Weik offers a presentation entitled, "Obstacles to Practice," given at the Toledo Zen Center on December 2, 2007. "Today, our mission is to talk a little bit about the things that might get in the way of maintaining a spiritual practice; now that we have a sense of what the practice is, what kind of things arise that actually get in the way and obstruct and hinder us in that effort; and...

Jay Chikyo Weik offers a talk and leads discussion at the Toledo Zen Center on November 28, 2007. "For reasons as varied as the people who have them, we have a really hard time letting ourselves be. We find it almost impossible to just not be so aggressive with ourselves.... If you are sitting on that cushion and you have some subtle or overt aggressive gaining agenda... it's just a matter of time...