The OzZen Podcast

In this talk I discuss socially engaged Buddhism and how the paths of personal and social transformation are interdependent. As David Loy states: ‘Engagement in the world is how our individual awakening blossoms, and how contemplative practices such as meditation ground our activism, transforming it into a spiritual path”.

In this meditation we contemplate the question: Why do you sit? Like a Koan there is no right answer. Are we “Performing our vows”? “Renewing our commitment”? “Embodying the practice principles?” What kind of engagement with life is Zazen? The practice of nonseparation? The practice of leaving everything alone? Nonthinking is a kind of letting be – letting thinking be, letting everything be. Forge...

In this lecture/discussion, Sono explains the concept of dependent arising in Buddhism, emphasizing that things only exist conventionally and do not have inherent existence. This idea, also known as emptiness, was clarified as the absence of something rather than the presence of something else. Sono further discussed how this concept relates to the impermanence of all things, as nothing truly exis...

In our Indian Buddhist Philosophy course, we have been discussing various ways of understanding the Buddhist concept of anatman, “no-self” using philosophical analysis. According to this analysis emptiness is defined as the lack of an inherent, independently existing permanent self. Even though we may understand intellectually that the self does not have a permanent, indivisible, and independent e...

From the Buddhist perspective, the understanding and realisation of emptiness is the key to liberation from suffering – because the roots of suffering stem from primordial confusion as to the nature of reality – to be free from suffering we need to eliminate ignorance – to eliminate ignorance is to understand emptiness – hence the realisation of emptiness is the ultimate medicine. In this lecture...

The divine abodes are loving kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity. These are both fruits of a practice of meditation and can be doorways to the deepening of that practice. In this guided meditation we explore the connection between romantic love and loving kindness. Romantic love hints at the universal love we can experience and embody whether or not we are in love romantically with someone or...

This talk explores the benefits of these often tricky challenges and what Buddhism and relational science offer us in dealing with them. Idealised or romantic love is dualistic and relates to the other, Harmonic love relates with the other. Rather than being in love, we become love.

This session focuses on the meaning of Emptiness in the Pali Buddhist sutras and the Abhidharma philosophy school.

Opening To Love, by Jack Wicks by

Awakened awareness is not about special experiences – it is about recognising the simplest form of conscious experience that is available to everyone. Joko called it “Simple Mind”, Shunryu Suzuki called it “Beginners Mind” or we could simply call it awareness of awareness or “Pure Awareness”. We could say that the purpose of meditation, both silent and guided, is the process of dis-identifying fro...

This guided meditation offers a chance to gain clarity around our thoughts and emotions. Taking a few deep breaths, we can name our experiences. Then we gain an opportunity to fully experience them without being overwhelmed by them. We can then move on the investigate them if it feels safe to do so. Remembering to nurture ourselves by coming back to the awareness of the breath.

This session gives an introduction to the Buddha’s first discourse on Turning the Wheel of the Dharma. In this discussion we focus on the four truths or practices.

Yogacara part five by

Sono asked me to talk on Gurdjieff and the zen Buddhist precepts. Gurdjieff didn’t teach on things like the precepts e.g. do not kill, do not steal, do not lie, do not gossip etc. His teaching is about becoming conscious as opposed to the awake-sleep state in which we live almost all the time. Consciousness will, by its very nature include all the “do nots” and will mean a life lived through our t...

In this guided meditation Sono introduces three types of Zazen: Mindfulness of a mental object; Mindfulness of the field of all objects; and Just-Sitting

This session gives an introduction to why it is important to study philosophy and an overview of the course.

In this talk I reflect on the “Voice from the Heart”, why the referendum lost and what has to happen next. It provides a brief historical background to the Voice and it includes some reflections on the One and the Many from a Zen perspective and applies the concept of “spiritual bypassing” at the collective level when a nation denies the truth of its history. It concludes with the following quote...

Our original nature can be described as Awareness or Heart-Mind. This Awareness that we are, which ultimately constitutes our original nature, has a number of essential qualities. As an introduction to this guided meditation, I discuss the four faces of Universal Love. In Buddhism they are called the Four Brahma Viharas (divine dwellings): In the language of the Buddha, these are metta, karuna, mu...

This meditation guides you from the experience of your breath to some old zen parables. The first story is a re-telling of “A Parable” from Zen Flesh, Zen Bones by Paul Reps and Nyogen Senzaki. Two koans are featured, both are from The Gateless Gate by Koun Yamada. These are, Case 30 “Mind is Buddha”, and Case 36 “Meeting a Man Who Has Accomplished the Way”. Influences for this talk are also SN Go...

This talk guides us through a journey of embodying the connections we have with our place here …the earth, the elements, and the beings we share life energy with. Exploring the fundamental Buddhist truths that everything is connected and everything is impermanent. Being present with the emotions that arise and coming to the spaciousness that allows anything to be possible.

This guided meditation was taught by Gurdjieff to his students. Through each round of body sensing we are guided into self-remembering – the “I am” of awareness.

This guided meditation is all about finding or recognising and then stabilising in your essential nature, your inner “treasury”. I have titled the meditation “Appreciate this Life” after the book by the same title by Maezumi Roshi. Even though we cannot “see” our essential nature we can simply be, knowingly, our essential nature. We need to recognize our essential nature in this way. It doesn’t ne...

Joshu(Peter Thompson) founder of the Wombat Sangha in Sydney gives a introduction to the importance of Yoga Nidra practice and how it complements our Zen practice.

ZAZEN YOGA NIDRA This guided meditation integrates zazen and yoga nidra. Both zazen and yoga nidra are gateways into the subjective sense of the body and ultimately the realisation of self as nondual awareness.

Joshu (Peter Thompson) is a founding member of the Sydney Zen Centre and a founder of the Wombat Sangha based in Sydney. In this talk Joshu develops a founding narrative for contemporary Zen practice based upon Evolution. Joshu says, “An important part of the story and mystery of our evolution and being here is the existential reality of alienation and separation and anxiety seemingly caused by th...