The Zen Studies Podcast

Every few weeks or so, I get an email from a listener who feels they need a Zen teacher. Some people have asked whether I might be able to function as a teacher for them long distance. I'm never sure what to say… I mean, what does it mean for someone to "have" a Zen or Buddhist teacher? Do you really need a teacher? I'm going to explore these questions in this episode, and I imagine you won't be s...

In this episode I continue our study of 13 th -century Zen master Dogen's essay, "Bodaisatta Shishobo," or what I'm calling the "Four Ways Bodhisattvas Embrace Living Beings." I cover "beneficial action," which means to use skillful means to benefit beings without discriminating among them, considering their near and distant future, and to do so selflessly.

Real happiness is unconditional, and is achieved by releasing our suffering. Even though things are rarely how we would like them to be - within, or in our personal lives, or in the greater world - we have the potential to let go of our resistance, grief, or anger, and feel more relaxed, at ease, grateful, and enthusiastic. In this sense, working towards real happiness is far from selfish; it make...

In my enthusiastic endorsement of shikantaza or, "just sitting," I may have given the impression I think a real Zen student would only sit shikantaza, and there's no place in Zen for paying attention to, learning from, and working with your thoughts and feelings in meditation. I think it's fine to use multiple types of meditation in your practice, and there's no reason you shouldn't devote some or...

So sorry... no time to produce a new episode for you this week, but there's still something for you to listen to! I'll be giving the Dharma Talk at San Francisco Zen Center this Saturday, Sept 14th. Livestream the talk at 10:15am Pacific, or watch it later, or download it as a podcast. Visit http://sfzc.org/teachings/video/live-streaming-media , or simply search online for "San Francisco Zen Cente...

I continue study of 13th-century Zen master Dogen's essay, Bodaisatta Shishobo, "Four Ways Bodhisattvas Embrace Living Beings." In Episode 105 I gave an overview of the essay and defined the bodhisattva's four "embracing actions:" practicing nongreed, loving words, beneficial action, and "being in the same boat" as other beings. In Episode 106 I took us through the part of the essay on nongreed, o...

If we're lucky, our practices of meditation and mindfulness give us some sense of spaciousness, stillness, and silence. What about when we engage in activities more complicated and demanding than potentially calming manual tasks like weeding the garden, sweeping, or washing the dishes? Zen master Dogen teaches us a better way to practice in the midst of activity: maintaining joyful mind, nurturing...

We do not have retreat from appreciation of conditional or material things in order to live an enlightened life. However, we must diligently turn the lens of practice onto all of our relationships to things and to beings. Learning to see and accept the impermanence of all things and yet to "enjoy them incredibly" is a wonderful practice opportunity.

Of course, traditional Buddhism doesn't say anything about mass shootings per se , but it does present teachings on human nature, behavior, and choices. In this episode I discuss the Buddhist of view of how and why people do horrible things, pointing out how Buddhism is realistic but also optimistic, and how a Buddhist view can help relieve some of our fear and despair.

The "Five Skandhas," or aggregates, are the five aspects of a human being: Form, the body; Feelings, our positive, negative, or neutral reactions to stimuli; Perception, the basic process of labeling or identifying things; Consciousness, awareness of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, touch, and thoughts; and Mental Fabrications, all of our active processes of mind. The Five Skandhas aren't so much a...

Buddhism includes values of Right Action and Right Livelihood, generosity, goodwill, and compassion, and Mahayana Buddhists vow to free all beings from suffering. It's not easy to enact these values and aspirations in the modern world, which is so complex we find ourselves complicit in causes of suffering simply by participating in society, or by neglecting to stand up for change. How do we find a...

In the last episode I introduced an essay by Zen master Dogen called Bodaisatta-Shishobo, or the Four Ways Bodhisattvas Embrace Living Beings. I briefly defined the bodhisattva's four embracing actions: Giving, kind speech, beneficial action, and "sharing the same aim." Then I started working through Dogen's essay line by line. In this episode I finish the section of the Shishobo on giving.

Given the many stressful and sad things happening in the world right now, I thought I'd spend a couple episodes on an inspiring essay by 13th century Zen master Dogen called "Bodaisatta-Shishobo," or the "Four Ways Bodhisattvas Embrace Living Beings." The bodhisattva's four embracing actions are giving, kind speech, beneficial action, and sharing the same aim. In this episode I'll briefly introduc...

Most western convert Buddhist communities have had the luxury of regarding "activism" for social or environmental justice as an optional or supplemental activity some people take up because they have the time, kind of like a hobby. The truth is, many of us are so busy it's difficult to imagine finding time for activism regarding the climate emergency. However, we may not have a choice – at least n...

Theravadin and Vipassana Buddhists tend to be familiar with the Pali Canon, particularly the suttas, or discourses of the Buddha. Other Buddhists don't tend to spend as much time exploring Pali texts. When we aim to do so, it can be a difficult to know where to start - given the printed versions of the suttas end up being about five times the size of the Christian bible! In the interest of encoura...

Buddhist practice can permeate every aspect of our lives. To help practitioners appreciate this outside the full-immersion experience of residential training, I've defined Nine Fields of Zen Practice : Zazen, Dharma Study, Cultivating Insight, Precepts, Opening the Heart, Connecting with the Ineffable, Nyoho, Karma Work, and Bodhisattva Activity. In this episode I cover Nyoho, Karma Work, and Bodh...

From the beginning, it's been clear that the highest rewards of Buddhism are experienced through a fundamental and radical shift in the way you understand the world and your place in it. This shift has been called different things, including awakening, enlightenment, Right View, realization, satori, or kensho ("seeing one's true nature"). I explore "awakening" in Buddhism: What's meant by the term...

Theravadin and Vipassana Buddhists tend to be familiar with the Pali Canon, particularly the suttas, or discourses of the Buddha. Other Buddhists don't tend to spend as much time exploring Pali texts. When we aim to do so, it can be a difficult to know where to start - given the printed versions of the suttas end up being about five times the size of the Christian bible! In the interest of encoura...

Zen practice can permeate every aspect of our lives. To help lay practitioners appreciate this outside the full-immersion experience of residential training, I've defined Nine Fields of Zen Practice: Zazen, Dharma Study, Cultivating Insight, Precepts, Opening the Heart, Connecting with the Ineffable, Nyoho, Karma Work, and Bodhisattva Activity. In this episode I cover Precepts, Opening the Heart,...

Zen practice can permeate every aspect of our lives. To help lay practitioners appreciate this outside the full-immersion experience of residential training, I've defined Nine Fields of Zen Practice : Zazen, Dharma Study, Cultivating Insight, Precepts, Opening the Heart, Connection to the Ineffable, Nyoho, Karma Work, and Bodhisattva Activity.

Theravadin and Vipassana Buddhists tend to be familiar with the Pali Canon, particularly the suttas, or discourses of the Buddha. Other Buddhists don't tend to spend as much time exploring Pali texts. When we aim to do so, it can be a difficult to know where to start - given the printed versions of the suttas end up being about five times the size of the Christian bible! In the interest of encoura...

The core of Buddhist practice is cultivating mindfulness of this moment and responding as best we can to whatever we encounter in the course of our personal, daily lives. However, if we aspire to cease from harm and benefit other beings, this is not enough. We also need to cultivate awareness of, and take responsibility for, the repercussions of our actions throughout space and time – far, far bey...

I challenged myself to write instructions for the practice of zazen that would fit on a letter-sized, tri-fold brochure – 8 ½ by 11 inches, two sided. I figured I'd share it here on the podcast – and if this episode is too short for you, I recommend listening to it twice, because this "pamphlet" really does, to my mind, capture the essence of shikantaza! (At least as I think of it right now). Visi...

In many forms of Buddhism, particularly in Zen, we have the concept of "lineage:" the essential aspects of our collective religious tradition have been passed down through the generations from one real, live person to another, teacher to a student. However, lineage isn't just about preserving a collective tradition, it's a valuable part of our practice – self-attachment and pre-conceived notions g...

The Buddha taught that there are five main "hindrances" we encounter in our spiritual practice: 1) Worldly desire; 2) ill-will; 3) sloth-and-torpor; 4) restlessness-and-worry, and 5) uncertainty (or skeptical doubt). In this 3rd episode of 3, I go into detail about sloth-and-torpor, restlessness-and-worry, and uncertainty, and recommended ways to abandon them.