Dharma talks by Koun Franz at Zen Nova Scotia in Halifax, NS. If you find these talks beneficial, please consider joining Zen Nova Scotia or making a donation at zennovascotia.com/support. Your support makes the practice and teachings available to others.
THZ 258 - I Have Already Exhausted Myself for You
THZ 257 - What Tools Do We Gain from Zen
A talk on Case 12 of Dogen's Mana Shobogenzo Koun Franz; Jan. 17, 2023
From a retreat held on Earth Day, a talk on taking how we look at “nature” and applying it to ordinary stuff. (April 22, 2023; Koun Franz)
At the start of the year, a return to the basics of the practice. Koun Franz; January 4, 2022
THZ 252 - You're Where You Need to Be
THZ 251 - What is Now the Time For?
THZ 250 - Zen is Not About Zen
THZ 249 - The Wisdom to Know the Difference
THZ 248 - Practice Like a Thief
THZ 247 - Getting Trapped By Right Intention
THZ 245 - Zazen is Colourless and Transparent
THZ 244 - Meeting Death in Everyday Life
THZ 242 - Equanimity and Congruence
No Secular World in Buddhadharma
THZ 240 - Zen Practice as Form
THZ 238 - Let Yourself Break Open
THZ 237 - Desire vs Attachment
THZ 236 - Lean in to Letting Go
THZ 235 - Nanquan, The Cat and Us
THZ 234 - When It All Seems Too Big
THZ 232 - Knowing Ourselves as Animals
THZ 231 - Mindfulness, Concentration and Superman
We may not be able to let go of our preferences, but we can learn to let go.
What are we capable of offering? Everything. And it starts now, where you are.
Jizo can go anywhere—including to hell. Where can we go? Where are we afraid to go?
The Buddha started with a question. Dogen started with a question. What's yours?
A re-examination of the fourth bodhisattva vow: "The awakened way is unsurpassable; I vow to embody it.".
A re-examination of the third bodhisattva vow: "Dharma gates are infinite; I vow to enter them."
A re-examination of the second bodhisattva vow: "Delusions are inexhaustible; I vow to put an end to them."
A re-examination of the first bodhisattva vow: "Beings are countless; I vow to free them all."
In the face of injustice, don't let compassion be an endpoint. Don't let not-knowing be an endpoint. Move, somehow—that's what a bodhisattva does.
On Shantideva's Prayer, and what it means to commit to something—to really commit—forever.
Those who are staying at home right now may find themselves falling into little rituals meant to make things feel regular, and safe; in this practice, ritual is something else.
Does Covid-19 have buddhanature? Do you? Why do we even ask things like that?
Dogen likened the spiritual life to the experience of falling off a horse. Can you feel it happening?
It can feel like it's all too much, too much to hold. We need to look at that.
On the tenth precept, "Not defiling the three treasures." The three treasures are just fine, but still, we forget who we are in relationship to them.
Freedom—the freedom we want (perhaps especially in the age of social distancing), and the freedom we already have.
Fearlessness is one of the four types of generosity. Why? And how do we get there?
A simple act of refraining, like not touching your face in a pandemic, can be both a practice of mindfulness and an act of generosity.
Buddhism offers what looks like two contradictory ways of meeting our mind in each moment. But maybe we can hold both.
If you knew you were dying, how would that change how you see others? Because you are.
On Precept 9 (not indulging in anger)—it doesn't say there aren't good reasons to feel anger, just that we should learn not to be seduced by it.
© 2020-2025 Ivy Podcast Discovery LLC
