The Daily Zen Teisho

To say too much about Taoism can interfere with another's own direct experience of intuitive understanding. Having read this piece many times in the past, I see how often it takes multiple readings to reveal deeper insights. Read the Journal while listening

Shosan was born into a warrior family in 1579 and lived through one of the most war-torn times of Japanese history. At age 12, he was adopted by a member of a seventy-man horse troop and thus began his life as a samurai. Read the Journal while listening

Reading this piece reminds me of listening to a piece of classical music. Each movement transitions so skillfully into the next that we are barely aware that we have just entered a new room filled with new tempos and phrasing, all skillfully balanced around the theme of zazen as the bedrock of our lives. Read the Journal while listening

Some pieces are overwhelming as we try to absorb the depth communicated. Ma-tsu is delivering a sermon to monks who, just like us, have been practicing for various numbers of years. Read the Journal while listening

There are numerous sutras, teachings of the Masters, and enlightenment stories in the history of Buddhism and Zen. There are times when we read these writings and feel a million miles away from enlightenment, Nirvana, or equanimity. Read the Journal while listening

Dropping gaining mind in practice is a huge step; in the beginning, we are all awonder at these marvelous “results” of meditation and when they might appear. Read the Journal while listening

I've built a grass hut where there's nothing of value. After eating, I relax and enjoy a nap. When the hut was completed, fresh weeds appeared. Now it's been lived in-covered by weeds. The person in the hut lives here calmly, Not stuck to inside, outside, or in-between. Read the Journal while listening

For those of us who have read the stories of Zen masters' lives, Bankei's enlightenment story is among the more powerful ones. His dedication is inspiring, and his insights shared from that ground give us a rich perspective on his deceptively simple-sounding teaching. Read the Journal while listening

This translation comes from the Tun-huang documents discovered in Cave 17 sometime around 1900. While we don't usually explore where these translations actually come from, this story deserves some attention. Read the Journal while listening

At times we feel like we are “successfully” walking with a foot in both worlds where illusion and reality seem balanced. Similar to walking a balance beam, we adjust our heart/mind and respond to what is happening within and without with a sense of naturalness. Read the Journal while listening

Most of what we have read or heard about sitting meditation has come from contemporary vehicles for Buddhism. This lovely piece, King of Samadhis, helps communicate the direct teaching of sitting meditation expounded hundreds of years ago to monks in Dogen's assembly. Read the Journal while listening

Many of us are familiar with the first part of the Platform Sutra, recounting the story of Huineng's life and how he obtained the robe and bowl after arriving at the monastery as a commoner. Read the Journal while listening

All of us have been known to complicate our lives and our practice at times. We overthink problems, over-dwell on emotional states from time to time, and try to quantify where we are in practice. To simply sit without the complications, the trappings of practice, even something this simple, can be challenging for us. Read the Journal while listening

Time to return to the beginning with Spring/Fall around the corner.  Many of you have asked for more instruction on beginning meditation. Read the Journal while listening

Dogen speaks clearly about the mind that seeks the way and how to maintain the intensity of practice over time. We couldn't ask for a world of more distraction than the one we currently inhabit. Read the Journal while listening

There are always layers of understanding and misunderstanding in practice. It is similar to a snake shedding its skin; at one stage that is the only protection it has; then, at some point it is time to expand and let go of that empty skin that no longer serves. Read the Journal while listening

In the beginning, I was seeking that one essential point to connect with, to focus on, which would allow me a foundation that didn't clutter up the mind with too many concepts or formulas, or rules. Read the Journal while listening

There's room in practice for many kinds of students; at some stage in practice, we have been them all.  Everything is in a constant state of change, including us, and anything we think we understand about zazen is to be discarded to make room for even vaster insights. Read the Journal while listening

Death, the great equalizer, has a way of bringing life into a different kind of focus. Ikkyu's skeletons share teachings from their point of view, which is accessible to those of us who remember we too will be those skeletons, and in fact carry them with us daily. Read the Journal while listening

Sometimes less is more. There is no technique discussed other than contemplating the mind. We might translate this into turning the light of awareness inward, or leave it open to experience and discovery. Read the Journal while listening

Ikkyu's skeletons teach in rich and evocative koan-like poems. Any one of them can be read alone, and in fact, each one deserves quiet contemplation rather than a single reading. Powerful in imagery and content, these skeletons have much to share. Read the Journal while listening

Mugai Nyodai, known also as Chiyono, was one of the first Japanese women to receive transmission in Zen. Read the Journal while listening

This is a time to return to the roots of practice. With new people coming into Daily Zen every month, it is fitting now for a piece like this. Sheng-yen skillfully paints a history of how Buddhism traveled from India to other parts of the East, and the transformation that became known as Zen today. Read the Journal while listening

Mugai Nyodai, known also as Chiyono, was one of the first Japanese women to receive transmission in Zen..  While she is well known through her founding of many women's Zen monasteries, she is relatively unknown to those of us in the West who are more familiar with the Patriarchs of Zen, like Hui-neng or Bodhidharma. Read the Journal while listening

This piece of Huang Po's touches elements of practice that seem to turn your mind inside out at first. He seems to raise more questions than answers, and thus helps us return to beginner's mind—that place where we don't know as much and are ready to learn.    Read the Journal while listening

Down to earth and, at the same time, a most expanded view of practice; each line is an invitation to explore.  Read the Journal while listening

We are exhorted to aspire to a paradoxical way of learning/unlearning in Zen; to “think” the unthinkable. Many words are used to help us see the limitations of words, and yet, we keep reading, studying, and aspiring to something we inherently possess. Read the Journal while listening

Uchiyama Roshi begins with a powerful line that stops us right at the very beginning of this reading. To live the reality of true fluidity existing between ourselves and the world is a profound experience in anyone's life and practice. Read the Journal while listening

This collection of letters written to teachers, students, and lay people reveals a side of Yuanwu that is personable and easily understood. He is better known as the author of the famous Blue Cliff Record, which offers challenges to students at all levels of practice. Read the Journal while listening

We live in very different times from those in Japan in the 1300s, but the search for a true teacher or master beckons to students in every century. Bassui's quest began the way it does in any person strong enough to question for themselves. Read the Journal while listening

Perhaps we should begin at the beginning, where Buddhadhasa starts with the fundamental principles in the first chapter of this teaching, because in the above piece, he alludes to the handful of teachings that are all we need, but what are they?  Read the Journal while listening

There is something for everyone in this profound teaching. We don't know who the questioner is, but really it is us. Who hasn't asked these questions in their own time? And how many have had the Fourth Patriarch to hang out with and ask questions to? Read the Journal while listening

Nothing much to grab onto here, not even instructions to meditate!  However, we realize that a Zen master is teaching meditation; how else does one learn to turn the light around and look inside? Read the Journal while listening

Each journal presents a way into a larger perspective, and each piece speaks to us uniquely. There are teachers we easily connect with, and others that demand more of a stretch to understand their style. Read the Journal while listening

It is rare to hear in Zen anyone state exactly what meditation is; there are a lot of questions asked, and a little technique discussed, but originally, students just sat and found out for themselves.  Read the Journal while listening

In Zen, there are many styles of meditation taught through the various schools; each person has to find the approach that strikes a chord within them, one they can spend enough time to realize the fruits of their efforts. Read the Journal While Listening

Fall and Spring are both potent times to evaluate our practice; without judgment, just look to see if there are any adjustments to be made. Read the Journal while listening

As with any translation of a very ancient teaching, and one that was passed on orally rather than written down, we are often stopped wondering what was actually transmitted.  Read the Journal while listening

If the questions seem to flow too precisely and neatly along, it is because this is a format Hui Hai used to communicate these principles. Read the Journal while Listening

This was the last teaching of both the Buddha and Dogen before they died. For Dogen, it was part of his intention to rewrite all his work, and he had completed 11 chapters prior to this new piece.  Read the Journal while listening

The stubborn intellect can be crafty and tends to want “answers” and concepts to hold onto, and naturally, as students, we would appreciate a little help here.  However, our idea of help and a true teacher's is rarely the same.  Read the Journal while listening

Making the Altruistic Vow…serves to focus on our intentions and purpose here and now.  What have we committed to? What better time of year to contemplate this lofty vow than now?   Read the Journal while listening

Constancy – it has a lovely ring to it and actually is similar to one of the paramitas in Buddhism. Seeking the right phrase or word to express any spiritual concept can be challenging. Read the Journal while listening

This piece is profoundly deep and vast in its scope. It's as if all the true essentials of Buddhism and Zen are laid out right before us. Read the Journal while listening

Muso is touching on points we have covered many times over the years.  It is so easy to fool ourselves with our understanding.  Too often, there is confusion in thinking that knowing the meaning of a word equals the experience and manifestation of that principle. Read the Journal while listening

The ability to stay focused on a train of thought, a task that takes days to complete, or a conversation that goes beyond things right in front of us is becoming a lost art in our times.  Read the Journal while listening

The sheer beauty and simplicity of this piece speak for itself. Especially now when the times seem so extreme, and we are overstimulated to react, to be able to pause and remember to practice always returns us to center. Read the Journal while listening

Depending on how long one has practiced, at some point, we all realize the dead end of intellectual understanding.  That doesn't mean there is no value in “words and letters.”  What is criticized above is the substitution of meditation time with what can become the distraction of reading one more teacher's instructions, one more sutra, and how about that new school of Zen? Read the Journal while listening

Most of us have read the story of the Buddha's life and awakening, but few of us have read a first-person account like the one above. Read the Journal while listening

As with many other writings, there are always parts that stop us in our tracks. Is it the translation or my lack of understanding? Read the Journal while listening

Listening to this sermon of Bodhidharma's is similar to swallowing the ocean in one gulp, overwhelming in some places.  As with floating on the water, rather than struggling to stay up, it's best here just to relax and let the teachings flow under, over, and through us.  Read the Journal while listening