The OzZen Podcast

Outside the worldly winds are raging. Inside is peaceful and calm. Where are you when the winds blow? When we accept life as it is, right now, without complaining or trying to grasp for more, we come to peace and spaciousness. We come to a freedom, where we are more capable of both inner and outer change. Seeing the 8 worldly winds of the human condition, helps access this letting go of resistance...

No longer caught in the self-centred dream. I have given up seeking, Content just to be With whatever this moment brings. This guided meditation is a contemplation on the alternative practice principles. A common error is often to take up practice as a means to an end, we often fall into the trap of thinking we practice in order to obtain enlightenment. This is the activity of the ego-self. Rather...

This guided meditation continues our contemplation on the unity of boundlessness (Buddha) and form (Dharma) and the harmonising of this unity (Sangha).

In this guided meditation I explore the three phases of zen meditation practice. Moving from focusing on an object, through to open awareness and finally objectless meditation (or shikantaza or silent illumination) or what Dogen called “taking the backward step” where all duality between observer and observed dissovlnes completely.

In this talk I focus on the three treasures and the three pure precepts and how an understanding of these precepts are essential to applying the ten grave precepts within the context of the koans of everyday life. The three treasures are the expression of the intrinsic nature or essential nature that the ten grave precepts are expressions of.

We are always in the middle of life. Cultivating awareness of this most basic of facts can help to heal the damage that often arises from judging parts of our selves and our experiences. For example, every human has a desire for pleasantness and a desire to be free from pain. Judging this basic desire can do subtle violence to ourselves, banishing the parts of ourselves that we don't like or want....

In this guided meditation, Jack Wicks, an OzZen facilitator, takes us on a journey through the practice of not-knowing. Not-knowing is a zen approach to seeing our lives more clearly and liberating us from suffering. Not-knowing means seeing through our tendency to believe that our thoughts are always an accurate and helpful description of reality. This practice can help lead us to the realisation...

“When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down 'happy'. They told me I didn't understand the assignment, and I told them they didn't understand life." - John Lennon In this talk we explore the secret of peace and happiness – the peace and happiness of discovering our true na...

In this guided meditation we define psychological suffering as the activity of seeking and resisting. In the first phase of the meditation we pay attention to the different ways we seek to escape from this moment or resist being this moment. In the second phase we explore the two basic practices that resolve this activity – the practice of attention on an object and the practice of resting as awar...

In this guided meditation we go on a tour of the wheel of awareness and distinguish phenomenal consciousness from meta-consciousness. We then explore how we get lost in the normal process of dissociation called, getting caught in thoughts and then demonstrate how the technique of thought labelling is an example of meta-consciousness in action. The more we practice this, we gradually create a shift...

This year we begin a series of way-seeking mind talks. These are traditional to Zen Buddhism. Practitioners give a kind of psychological-spiritual autobiography of how they were drawn by the way-seeking mind to discover “the way” to their true self. I would like to thank Jack for accepting my invitation to give this talk, which I hope inspires more OzZen members and friends to share their own jour...

In this meditation we introduce the process of the epoche – the gradual negation of taken for granted assumptions about self and world which leads us into the shared open field of awareness without identity of any kind.

This talk begins with a discussion of the work of the twentieth century philosopher Edmund Husserl and the practice that he called the epoche (bracketing our beliefs and concepts about self and the world). I then demonstrate the epoche by exploring the text “The Invitation” by the contemporary spiritual teacher know as Mooji.

In this guided meditation we begin with contemplating Dogen’s instructions on Zazen to “Now sit steadfastly and think not-thinking. How do you think not-thinking? Beyond thinking. This is the essential art of Zazen”. We then explore what we need to practice to be before thinking. What is being before thinking. Following the introduction I introduce three core processes that were identified by Fran...

In this talk I explore The Observing Self. I often say to my students, stand as Awareness, and be kind to self and others. Joko Beck said “That which observes cannot be found and cannot be described. If we look for it there is nothing there. Since there is nothing we can know about it, we can almost say it is another dimension” 1989: 123. In the end, we are all a mystery to ourselves. At the core...

Underlying most forms of meditation is the basic act of returning: coming back to a meditation object (e.g., the breath, the body, a koan), drifting away, and then coming back, again and again. In this guided meditation, Rhys Price-Robertson encourages gentle exploration of returning in meditation, not with the idea that there are right or wrong ways to return in practice, but rather with the inte...

Originally formulated by Joko Beck, the practice principles are common to all the different centres of the Ordinary Mind Zen School around the world. In this dialogue we explore our mutual understanding of the practice principles and how we can use them to remind us how to practice, both formally, in our Zazen practice, and informally in our everyday life.

In this guided meditation Andrew takes us on a tour round the practice triangle to demonstrate the experiential shift in the sense of self as we move through these different ways of experiencing self. The first position is “self-as-content” (often known as the ego-self); the second position is the “self-as-process”, which is the beginning of negating our identification with the ego-self as the “ow...

All guided meditations take us on a journey to discover our true self. However, the map is not the territory but some maps can be more helpful than others. In this guided meditation, Andrew once again maps out the territory which points the way to our true self – even through consciousness is in a never ending process of transformation our true self has no beginning or ending.

In this talk Andrew seeks to clarify and de-mystify the traditional pathways of Zen practice. Starting as a seeker and moving to finding a teacher and sangha, formalising a relationship with a teacher and then receiving the precepts. The talk also includes a discussion of the three stages of transmission.

In this guided meditation I explore the nature of taking refuge in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.

In this series of talks, we commence with developing our understanding of the Mahayana teachings about Buddha Nature and Awakening to our True Self. We conclude that although awakening to our True Self is necessary, it is not sufficient. After having awoken to our True Self, we need to do the hard work of integrating the Parts of the personality that are still in exile, carrying the burdens of dev...

In this series of talks, we commence with developing our understanding of the Mahayana teachings about Buddha Nature and Awakening to our True Self. We conclude that although awakening to our True Self is necessary, it is not sufficient. After having awoken to our True Self, we need to do the hard work of integrating the Parts of the personality that are still in exile, carrying the burdens of dev...

In this series of talks, we commence with developing our understanding of the Mahayana teachings about Buddha Nature and Awakening to our True Self. We conclude that although awakening to our True Self is necessary, it is not sufficient. After having awoken to our True Self, we need to do the hard work of integrating the Parts of the personality that are still in exile, carrying the burdens of dev...

In this series of talks, we commence with developing our understanding of the Mahayana teachings about Buddha Nature and Awakening to our True Self. We conclude that although awakening to our True Self is necessary, it is not sufficient. After having awoken to our True Self, we need to do the hard work of integrating the Parts of the personality that are still in exile, carrying the burdens of dev...