Endless Path Zendo | Roshi Rafe Martin

Recorded 5/30/2026. Wu-men’s commentary to Case 42 of The Gateless Barrier, “Manjusri and the Young Woman in Samadhi” says “The comedy Old Shakya puts on the stage here is a great hodgepodge. Just tell me now; Manjusri is the teacher of the Seven Buddhas – why couldn’t he get the young woman out of her samadhi, when the Bodhisattva of Delusive Wisdom, a beginner, could? If you can firmly grasp thi...

Recorded May 16, 2026. Roshi Rafe Martin reads and comments on Chapter 3 of "A Zen Life of Bodhisattvas."  “Manjushri’s Threes by Threes” — Case # 35 of the Blue Cliff Record —  Manjusri asked Wu Cho, “Where have you just come from?” Wu Cho replied, “The south.” Manjusri said, “ How is southern Buddhism faring?” Wu Cho answered, “The monks of the latter days of the Law have little regard...

Recorded May 9, 2026. Roshi Rafe Martin reads and comments on Chapter 2 of "A Zen Life of Bodhisattvas."  In Japan, the Buddha sits in the Buddha Hall, but Manjusri, Bodhisattva of Wisdom, presides over the zendo where he’s often shown seated on a noble and courageous lion -- symbol of our own enlightened Original Nature. Holding a scroll of prajna wisdom or a lotus in one hand and a swo...

Recorded May 7, 2026 Actualizing Our Gestural Imagination: Telling Stories that Live! A teaching session withaward-winning author and storyteller, Rafe Martin 5/7/2026 Boulder Valley Spell Binders of Boulder, CO. Photo of Rafe Martin, storytelling 1984 -- by Lawson Sachter. Books by Roshi Rafe Martin Talks on YouTube More information at endlesspathzen.org

Recorded May 2, 2026. Twenty-two years ago on March 6th , (it has gone by in the blink of an eye) 2004 my old Zen teacher, Roshi Philip Kapleau ,passed from this life to the next. I had just flown back home to Rochester from where I'd been speaking at a literary conference in Reno, Nevada and was picked up at the airport by an old Dharma friend who told me that Roshi had just died. We drove t...

Recorded April 25, 2026. In this first series of teishos from his book, “A Zen Life of Bodhisattvas,” Roshi Martin explores the nature of Bodhisattvas — the “wisdom beings” so central to the wise and compassionate vision of Mahayana Buddhism, which includes Zen. He also makes it clear that, in Zen tradition, to know who or what bodhisattvas are, we need to know who or what we ourselves truly are....

Recorded April 18, 2026. Today’s teisho is on "Gateless Barrier" Case 38 — “A Buffalo Passes Through the Window.” Wu-tsu said, “It is like a buffalo that passes through a window. Its head, horns, and four legs all pass through. Why can’t its tail pass through as well?” Hakuin comments: "Hard for even the most clear- sighted Zen monks to crack, A Buffalo Passing Through the Window tr...

Recorded April 11, 2026 Hooray! Spring has come. Ice cracks and melts and rivers once again run free. Green grass and buds on trees magically appear. Blue Cliff Record case 36 presents it like this: One day Ch’ang-sha went for a walk in the hills. When he returned to the gate of the monastery the head monk said, “Master, where have you been?” Ch’ang-sha said, “I have come from strolling about in t...

Recorded April 4, 2026. What does the birth of a Buddha really mean? What bearing does it have on our own lives? Is it just ancient history? Is it simply literal — or what? Plus, what are we to make of the rather astonishing legend that, at birth, the newborn baby Buddha raised one hand toward the heavens and pointed the other down to the earth and proclaimed “Above the Heavens, below the heavens,...

Recorded 3/28/2026. The greatest journeys find completion in ordinary things. The teacup, the comfortable old slippers, the wool jacket on the hook by the door. To quote Dorothy, there’s no place like home, where we’re so at ease, a glance at a morning star, a late-night chat with a friend, or a walk in the snow can open ... the Timeless. So — Blue Cliff Record case 42, “Layman P’ang’s Beautiful S...

Recorded March 21, 2026. Zen master Wu-tsu used a popular ghost tale, like a popular movie or novel of his time, to explore the intimate question of Identity: “Who am I?” We move through our days like leaves blown about by an un-known wind. But who is it happening to? Who is doing it? Who is the victim? Who’s in the driver’s seat? Shouldn’t we know? What could be more essential—or practical—than b...

Recorded March 7, 2026. This teisho opens with a brief recounting of the legend of the Bodhisattva of Great Compassion and issues of failure, despair, and compassion in our own times. Then Roshi Martin moves on to the essence of Zen — realizing peace of mind. In the koan of “Bodhidharma and Peace of Mind,” (Gateless Barrier #41) Hui-k’o, climbs up to Bodhidharma’s cave on the mountain seeking peac...

Recorded February 28, 2026 Wisdom, which helps us make reasonably good life choices, enabling us to live reasonably good lives, can’t be secret or esoteric. It must reside in what is common and ordinary; otherwise, what hope would any of us have of living well? It would be beyond us— special, hidden away, reserved for the few. No. The last word can’t be far off. And, indeed, Zen teachers in ancien...

Recorded February 21, 2026      When you realize the first word      You understand the last word;      The first word or the last word—      “It” is not a word. If it’s not a word, what is it? If it is a word, how might you say it? Sequenced in their proper chronological order, the three Te-shan koans give us a nutshell view of Zen as a journey from brash immaturity to subtle maturity. But what i...

Recorded February 14, 2026. William Blake once signed a guest book with a drawing of a human figure stretched reclining — or flying. Surrounding it were the words, “William Blake who is very much delighted in being in good company. Born 28 Nov. 1757 in London and has died several times since.” Zen Master Hakuin, in Japan in 1749, wrote as a way honoring a student who had recently died: “Turning my...

Recorded February 7, 2025. Te-shan, a noted scholar of the Diamond Sutra, set out to wipe out those nasty “Zen devils” in the South. But, falling into Master Lung-t’an’s Dragon Pond, he found his Face before his parents were born and out at last beyond the pages of his beloved notes and commentaries on the diamonds Sutra, he awoke to the real diamond. Filled with joy, he burned his precious writin...

Recorded January 24, 2026. In this teisho, we move on from the Buddha himself, to see how Zen tradition views the ordinary person’s journey from ignorance to maturity. To show this, Roshi Martin arranges three koans, each drawn from the life of the Chinese Zen master, Te-shan (J. Tokusan, 780–865), in their chronological order—which is not how we find them in our actual koan curriculum. In actual...

Recorded January 17, 2026. In this teisho Roshi Martin reads and comments on Chapter 2 of his latest book, “ Finding Your Buddha Smile: Coming Home (To What Zen is Really All About) .” The legendary-mythic jataka tales, reveal the Buddha’s past life efforts, challenges, triumphs, and mistakes. Let’s look at him now as the fully “Awakened One,” the finished product of that many lifetime effort, and...

Teisho by Roshi Rafe Jnan Martin Endless Path Zendo, 01/10/2026 This teisho opens with a brief talk on the terrible dangers of our present time and the challenging, profoundly helpful path that Zen offers — not of philosophizing, but of tending an ox. Roshi Martin then resumes reading and commenting from his latest book —“ Finding Your Buddha Smile: Coming Home (To What Zen is Really All About). ”...

Recorded January 3, 2026. Roshi Martin reads the Opening, Thanks, and Introduction of his new book -- "Finding Your Buddha Smile: Coming Home (to What Zen is Really All About)." From the Intro: There are lots of ways to be happy, some selfish, some naive, some fleeting, some more lasting. The kind I have in mind is of the more lasting sort, the kind that can only come after troubles, aft...

Recorded 12/20/2025. Roshi Martin reads Chapter 10 of Aitken Roshi's "Taking the Path of Zen" -- "The Ten Grave Precepts" and comments in preparation for Jukai. Jukai is a way of taking our practice seriously, of saying — of vowing that “It’s not simply what I do in the zendo or dokusan room that matters – it’s what I do in and how I live my actual daily life.” We take Juk...

Recorded December 6, 2025. December 8th is the traditional date on the Mahayana (Zen Buddhist) calendar of the Buddha's profound Enlightenment. Sitting beneath the Bodhi Tree after a long night of zazen that capped 6 years of ferocious effort, the previously sheltered ex-prince, Siddhartha Gautama, so deeply troubled by his head-on collision with impermanence, the sheer injustice of it -- fin...

Recorded October 25, 2025. Thoughts, actions, understandings, perceptions, realizations that had once seemed good enough, may in time, no longer be sufficient. We outgrow them. Then ghostlike, they can return and haunt us. But maybe they return, not to block our way, but to give us another chance. If so, their appearance may not be reason for disappointment, but our opportunity to mature further....

Recorded October 18, 2025 Roshi Martin opens with comments on No Kings and its relationship to our vows.  Then, in this 9th and final teisho on the life of Ming Dynasty Zen Teacher Hanshan, Roshi Martin resumes reading and commenting on Hanshan's autobiography which takes us to Hanshan's death in 1623. Referenced:  The Autobiography and Maxims of Master Han Shan, translated by Upasaka Ri...

Recorded October 14, 2025. This teisho was given by Roshi Martin on the fourth day of the 15th annual Jataka Sesshin held at the Vermont Zen Center. ______________________________ The Monkey King jataka is also explored in Endless Path: Awakening Within the Buddhist Imagination: Jataka Tales, Zen Practice, and DailyLife by Rafe Martin Books by Roshi Rafe Martin Talks on YouTube More information at...