Podcasts about Zazen

Etiquette, manners, and beyond! This week, Nick and Leah are enjoying a well-deserved break, but they'll be back next week with an all-new episode. In the meantime, here's one of their favorite episodes from the archives in which they answer listener questions about objecting to marriages, watching strangers' luggage, asking for more chairs, and much more. Please follow us! (We'd send you a hand-written thank you note if we could.) Have a question for us? Call or text (267) CALL-RBW or visit ask.wyrbw.com QUESTIONS FROM THE WILDERNESS: How should I handle my sister-in law who doesn't think I should be married to her brother? How should we respond to strangers asking us to watch their belongings? How do you send invitations or thank you notes when you don't know the recipient's address? Is there a polite way to suggest to my brother that he should have enough dining chairs for everyone? Bonkers: An undisclosed dress code for a wedding rehearsal dinner THINGS MENTIONED DURING THE SHOW Trailer for "Freaky Friday" movie Zafu and Zazen on Wikipedia YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED TO... Support our show through Patreon Subscribe and rate us 5 stars on Apple Podcasts Call, text, or email us your questions Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter Visit our official website Sign up for our newsletter Buy some fabulous official merchandise CREDITS Hosts: Nick Leighton & Leah Bonnema Producer & Editor: Nick Leighton Theme Music: Rob Paravonian ADVERTISE ON OUR SHOW Click here for details TRANSCRIPT Episode 211 THIS WEEK'S SPONSOR: INCOGNI Use promo code WYRBW at the link below to get an exclusive 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/wyrbw Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sesshin day 4. Teisho by Sangen Salo sensei during the February 5-day sesshin 2025 at Sanneji Zen Temple in Karjaa, Finland.

04/02/2025, So-on Eli Brown-Stevenson, dharma talk at City Center. So-on Eli Brown-Stevenson examines the rich intersection between Zen practice and artistic expression—not as a pursuit of perfection, but as a way to return to our true nature.

ZEN IN OUR TIME“Connecting the Dots”Some of you A few may have undergone formal training, in Zen or other meditative traditions, or you may be a relative newcomer to Zen. The objective of this essay is Whatever your experience level, this course should help you sort the wheat from the chaff, to clarify for yourself which teachings of Buddhism are relevant to you, to provide some background on Zen Buddhism, how to integrate Zen practice into your daily life, and the importance of Zen's unique style of meditation, and finally some approaches to integrating Zen practice into your daily life.. My approach to Zen may seem a bit different from others you may be familiar with. The reason for this is NOTE: Applying my professional training in design thinking, which influences how I see the world. To augment more traditional text-based presentations of Zen and buddha-dharma, my training in graphic design, I have charted the basic teachings as 3D structures flattened into 2D charts, available upon request. This illustrates their interrelatedness, providing visual aids and mnemonics to help you visualize and remember them. The graphic models allow further analysis of overlapping and interconnected implications of what otherwise typically appear as linear constructs and literary outlines in the verbal formword. We are literally going to connect the dots to the degree possible.Basics of BuddhismZen NOTE: Applying my training in graphic design, I have charted the basic teachings of Zen as semantic models, 3D structures flattened into 2D charts, for the sake of illustrating their interrelatedness, as well as providing visual aids and mnemonics for you to visualize and remember them. These will also allow you to do further analysis of the overlapping and interconnected implications of what otherwise appear as linear constructs in the written word. Buddhism is both very simple and complex at the same time. As we say in design circles, "simple in concept; difficult in execution." The amount of material available on Buddhism appears virtually endless. I am not a scholar, nor a historian, but it may be helpful to provide some background from the perspective of Zen practice, on the subject as I understand itThe Four Noble TruthsBuddha re-discovered these truths in his meditation and articulatedmeditation them in his "First Sermon.” He unfolds a model of "Four Noble Truths." This quartet constitutes a kind of take-it-or-leave-it description of reality, the causes and conditions of sentient existence, including the Eightfold Path, a thoroughgoing prescription for practice, covering the eight dimensions of leading a Zen life based on meditation. All of the teachings may be seen as corrective descriptions of enlightened realty and prescriptions for taking action based on the enlightened worldview. Buddhism's Four Noble Truths are traditionally translated as the existence of suffering, its origin in craving, the potential of cessation, and the path to follow in daily life, leading to cessation. This begs the question — WhatWhat, exactly, makes them so noble, after all? They can beare ennobling, but only if we embrace them. If we do, : they can enable us to live a life of compassion in the context of inexorable change, or "suffering." The Noble Truths do not change with circumstance. They do not interact with, nor react to, changes in circumstance. The first of the four truths is that this existence — indeed any physical existence — is of the nature of suffering (Skt. dukkha). There is no existence without change, the universal dynamic. Galaxies colliding, the Big Bang — all is dukkha. As human beings, we are caught up in this change, and we tend to take it personally. We suffer not only physically, but also emotionally, mentally, and even socially. The second truth is that most of our suffering is finds its origin in our own attachment and aversion,, craving, or thirst: clinging to the pleasant, and avoiding the unpleasant. Suffering is both natural —, as in aging, sickness and death —, and unnatural or intentional —, as in self-inflicted and mutually-inflicted suffering between human beings, and imposed upon other beings, sentient and insentient. On a personal level, Buddhism embraces suffering, rather than trying to avoid it. The third of the truths offers hopeis that suffering can cease, but only through our embrace of it. The natural processes of aging, sickness and death cannot be avoided no matter how hard we try. They are built into existence itself. UnnecessaryIntentional and unintended suffering can come to an end, however, through relinquishing cessation, or at least lowering,the extent ofof our craving, modifying our craven behavior.The Noble Eightfold PathThe fourth of the quartet posits that there is a way of living daily life as a path to cessation. Theusual interpretation of its eight points begins with worldview, or intention. In time our view evolves toward conformance to that taught by Buddha, through examining our thought, or understanding., "Right" view and thoughtwhich together comprise right wisdom.; Engaging in loving speech, kind action and a compassionate livelihood, add up toor right conduct. E; and engaging effort, mindfulness and meditation, we developas right discipline. The only real discipline in Zen is self-discipline, which applies to lay practice as well as monasticism.Wisdom, conduct and discipline constitute our tripartite path. Fortunately, Zen offers a workaround. The primary focus of Zen is the practice of its highly focused method of meditation (J. zazen), integrating posture, breath and meditationattention, called “zazen” in Japanese. Zazen is like a magnifying glass, an indispensable and instrumental method for focusing attention awareness in an extremely tight awareness on our own direct experience. Which is where the origins of Buddhism arose, from the meditation of Buddha, Shakyamuni. Visualizing the Eightfold Path as a 3-dimenional model of a cube illustrates that these eight components of the three primary divisions — the outer person, or conduct;, the inner person,or discipline;, and the fruit of the practice, the evolution of true wisdom — are all interconnected in complex ways. For example, the intersection of right speech and right action: “You talk the talk, but you do not walk the walk.” Your words do not match your actions. Each pairing of any two of the eight dimensions can be analyzed in such a manner. But the important thing is to be aware of them, and observinge how they affect our lives, and how our manner of living affects them. The Six ParamitasWhen we think of perfecting our practice of any activity, such as playing the piano, or high-performance athletics, naturally we form some sort of goal or expectation that we hope to realize. But the notion of perfection in Zen is not like that. There is an ancient Sanskrit term,from Sanskrit, “paramita,” that is sometimes translated as “perfection.” There are six such, (sometimes expanded to ten,) such in traditional models. — The basic six-pack usually translatessometimes condensed as: generosity or giving;, precepts or (ethics);, energy or or effort;, patience or or forbearance;, meditation, contemplation or concentration;, and wisdom. But in Zen, we instead look to discover their true meaning and application in our meditation. The founder of Soto Zen in 13th Century Japan, Master Eihei Dogen, was said to have commented, paraphrasing: asking In zazen, wwhat Precept (morality) is not fulfilled? In Zen, the perfection of desirable personality traits, and the full comprehension of them, becomes possible only through diligent pursuit of wholehearted meditation practice. My Zen teacher, “sensei” in Japanperese, Soyu Matsuoka-roshi, would often say that we should always aim at the perfect posture in seated meditation, never imagining that we have achieved it. This amounts to “posture paramita.” We engage in a process of perfecting, in lieu of setting goals of perfection. Eventually, with repetition, any endeavor such as practicing the piano, dance moves, sports, or martial arts forms, will reach a turning point, where it becomes truly musical, transcendent, and transformative. Your practice of meditation will likewise naturally go through several turning points in its evolution. Eventually, it will become what my teacher referred to as “the real zazen.” This is when posture, breath and attention all come together in a unified way. Not-two.Zazen: Sitting Still Just Sitting; Still Enough, Straight Enough, For Long EnoughThe focus of Zen is on the present moment, but the activity that is occurring moment by moment is ceaseless, relentless in its changing dynamic. We sit still in order to recover our original mind, in which stillness is not separate from motion. This is one meaning of an ancient Sino-Japanese term, “mokurai”: stillness in motion, motion in stillness. Silence in Zen, to take another example of mokurai,, is not the absence of sound. The silence is in the sound. And vice-versa. Same for stillness and motion. Nonetheless, we emphasize the stillness partsays. It is difficult to slow down, let alone come to a full stop, in today's world. When we do — sitting still enough for long enough — a whole new dimension of reality opens up for us. We enter the original frontier of the mind, discovered by Buddha two-and-a-half millennia ago, and passed on to us by the ancestors of Zen.Concluding the InconclusiveLike most things in life, Zen has to be experienced to be understood, from personal experience. This is one instance of how the highly specialized training in Zen has a halo effect on daily life. If you have become accustomed to the extreme clarity of mind engendered in quiet meditation in the zendo, you will be better equipped to face the chaos in daily life Two aspects of Zen that I have mentionedindicated remain foremost in my mind —- its irreducible simplicity of method, and the importance of finding the right teacher for you. I highly recommend you pursue both with diligence, as if your hair were on fire, as per Master Dogen.

Hello Fam, Due to some changes in policies in streaming platforms like Spotify, we would be changing our Sleep Music only content to Guided Meditation + Sleep Music to help you sleep better. As uploading Music Only Tracks would make the Spotify remove our Podcast, so that's the reason for changing To Guided Meditation Tracks. We will also be coming soon with our own Android/iOS app to serve you better. Hope you understand and continue to support us. Regards, The Mindset Meditation Team Don't Click This: https://bit.ly/2RnSdjS Follow us on Instagram: https://instagram.com/themindsetmeditationpodcast?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= I AM Morning Affirmations: Gratitude, Self Love, Positive Energy, Freedom & Happiness Detox your mind and heart of thoughts and emotions that don´t serve you anymore, but are there out of habit. Close your eyes, take a minimum of six slow deep breaths, and begin focusing on relaxing every inch of your body. - Start by focusing on your toes and wiggle and relax your toes - Relax your feet, rotate your ankles and relax your feet - Work up to your calves, Relax your muscles - Continue working your way up your body, one body part at a time. Within minutes as you work your way up to your head continue to take deep breaths. You will begin to feel relaxed as if you were floating. Your body and brain will be massaged into a deep sleep. Detach and let go. Feel at peace. Feel happy. Feel Free. Don't forget it may be useful for your family and friends too. Enjoy this amazing episode. Don't forget to Subscribe to our YouTube channel: The Mindset Meditation Link to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/2RnSdjS

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - ZCNYC - 3/1/25 - Hojin Sensei talks about Master Hakuin; his "Song of Zazen", and how his art - brushwork and poetry - was integral with his zazen and teaching process. Hojin explains the importance of art in Zen practice and talks about finding herself drawn to a similar teaching path.

ADZG 1227 ADZG Sunday Morning Dharma Talk by Douglas Floyd The post Zazen and the Hamster Wheel first appeared on Ancient Dragon Zen Gate.

Perguntas e respostas com Monge Genshō Rōshi - Sensei, o que significa estar tudo bem? Se há o sofrimento, como deve ser a nossa postura de estar tudo bem? - Sensei, o senhor já fez uma analogia do Zazen com um cadáver no seu caixão. No Sesshin eu tive um insight de que o Zazen é como uma criança no útero antes de nascer. Isso faz algum sentido? ------ Site: daissen.org.br Instagram: @zendaissen e @mongegensho Youtube: Zen Budismo por Monge Genshō Aplicativo do Daissen na Play Store e App Store: Zen Daissen https://linktr.ee/zendaissen

02/08/2025, Doshin Dan Gudgel, dharma talk at City Center. Doshin Dan Gudgel offers suggestions and principles for providing and engaging in online practice, and celebrates the connection between ‘sacred' and ‘everyday' activities in Soto Zen.

Norman gives the sixteenth talk to the Dharma Seminar on Dogen's Continuous Practice from Kaz Tanahashi''s translation of the Shobogenzo Fasciles 31a and 31b. In this talk Norman speaks on Phillip Whalen on zazen. .Suggested donation: $7 https://bit.ly/donate-edz-online-teachings We cannot continue offering teachings online without it. Thank you! https://s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/edz.assets/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Dogens-Continuous-Practice-Talk-16-2024_5-Series-Philip-Whalen-on-Zazen.mp3

ADZG 1222 ADZG Sunday Morning Dharma Talk by Taigen Dan Leighton The post Reflecting on 50 Years of Zazen first appeared on Ancient Dragon Zen Gate.

Zazen - Sitting Meditation by Ordinary Mind Zen School

This guided meditation explores our core practice of just-sitting and the encouragement to leave everything alone. Even though we're in different geographical locations with different visuals, different sounds, we share very similar bodies. One thing all humanity has in common is breathing. We all share that together. Welcome the breath. Become one with the breath, our constant companion and friend, right to the very end. Not trying to change anything, fix anything. Just allowing our Zazen to do its work for us. Sitting relatively still allows us to go deeper and deeper into just simply experiencing this moment. Allow the breath, the unity of us all, sitting together, breathing together, to connect us to the sense of life itself.

“There is not a moment when you can't practice.” – Koshin   Many of us are busy. We often share with one another just how busy our lives feel. Can we slow down, pause, and experience each moment? Koshin Sensei reminds us that “Zazen teaches us how to find a stillpoint in the midst of […] The post Boundlessness Not Perfection | Koshin Paley Ellison appeared first on New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care.

Listen to the story of Bodhidharma, the blue-eyed monk who brought Zen to China, and his legendary feats - from crossing rivers on reeds to meditating until his legs fell off. Learn how his teachings evolved into modern Zen practices, and get practical guidance for starting your own meditation practice. Click here for Adventure Travel inspiration from our friends at Explore Worldwide. Don't Just Travel, Explore. [This description contains Amazon affiliate links. If you click on a link and make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no additional cost to you.] Uncanny Japan is author Thersa Matsuura. Check out her books including The Book of Japanese Folklore by clicking on the Amazon link.  If you'd like to help support the podcast and have a bedtime story read to you monthly, please visit Patreon. Discord: https://discord.gg/XdMZTzmyUb Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thersamatsuura Website: https://www.uncannyjapan.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UncannyJapan Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/uncannyjapan.bsky.social Mastodon: https://famichiki.jp/@UncannyJapan Twitter: https://twitter.com/UncannyJapan Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/uncannyjapan/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/uncannyjapan/ Books on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Thersa-Matsuura/e/B002CWZ73Y/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1500180689&sr=8-1 Buy Me a Coffee (one-time contribution): https://buymeacoffee.com/uncannyjapan

2025-01-05 | Dharma Talk | Zazen: Our Essential Practice | Ellen Hippard by Appamada

01/04/2025, Shosan Victoria Austin, dharma talk at City Center. Shosan Victoria Austin asks: How does Zen training help us find a sense of refreshment in ordinary, simple activities?

“Zazen is an attitude for how you live.”   For many of us, showing others who we really are is rare. But why? What causes and conditions; stories and identities do you drape around yourself? Keizan Jokin says that the practice of sitting zazen is like coming home. How can we set down what is […] The post Zazen as an Attitude for Life | Koshin Paley Ellison appeared first on New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care.

12/18/2024, Roger Hillyard, dharma talk at City Center. Roger Hillyard explores the idea of transmission — how it flows in all directions, how we experience it in our lives, and how Eihei Dogen wrote about it in “Twining Vines.”

Bear Gokan Bonebakker, Senior Monastic and Dharma Holder - ZMM - 12/14/24 - This talk explores how the minimal instructions for Zen practice that have been handed down to us from Dogen Zenji encourage us to be with what is, as it arises, without fixing or adding extra. “Realizing the fundamental point, it is practice realization,” Dogen wrote. We are encouraged to “let go of all involvements,” take care of the body and mind and all that arises, and let the practice of zazen support our true self.

12/10/2024, Chikudo Catherine Spaeth, dharma talk at Tassajara.

LISA NAKAMURA (she/her) is the Gwendolyn Calvert Baker Collegiate Professor of American Culture and Digital Studies at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She is also a core faculty member of the Asian American Studies Program, the Film, Television and Media department, and the English department at Michigan. Lisa is the author of four books on racism, sexism, and the Internet and her book “The Inattention Economy: Women of Color and the Internet” is forthcoming in Fall 2025 from University of Minnesota Press. She has published research on Asian stereotypes in massively multiplayer online games, the connections between virtual reality, empathy, and racial and disability justice, the overlooked role of indigenous women in postwar electronics manufacture, and on cross-racial and cross-gender role play in anonymous digital environments like chatrooms and games. lisanakamura.netYour hostREVEREND DANA TAKAGI (she/her) is a retired professor of Sociology and zen priest, practicing zen since 1998. She spent 33 years teaching sociology and Asian American history at UC Santa Cruz, and she is a past president of the Association for Asian American Studies. 

“You say you'd like to try to do zazen in order to become a better person. How ridiculous. How could a person ever become something better?” - Kodo Sawaki   Patrick gives a passionate exhortation for Kodo Sawaki's classic encouragement “Zazen is good for nothing.” What do we lose trying to shape our time to fit a purpose? What is the point of a profitless pursuit? Why don't these zennies want to admit how good zazen really is for us?? Find out here!

Our topic for this talk is A True Companion: Zazen & Mortality. We will begin with embodiment and stay close to our resources as we take an honest, Dharmic look into the transformative power of this journey from here to the end of our life.

11/23/2024, Rinso Ed Sattizahn, dharma talk at City Center. This dharma talk by former central abbot Rinso Ed Sattizahn examines Suzuki Roshi's open, inviting practice, and unpacks Wang Wei's poem “In my middle years…”

11/20/2024, Jisan Tova Green, dharma talk at City Center. In this dharma talk by Fall 2024 practice period co-leader Jisan Tova Green, Tova investigates how it's possible to find inner freedom in a world in which so many beings are not free to fully be who they are.

DOGEN ON ZAZENUpon returning to Japan from China in 1227, at the age of 27, Master Dogen composed the first draft of Fukanzazengi, the tract in which he outlines the principles of seated meditation, or zazen, that he had learned under the tutelage of Master Rujing. In one of the English translations, about two-thirds of the way through the text, he asks a question of the reader: Now that you know the most important thing in Buddhism, how can you be satisfied with the transient world? Our bodies are like dew on the grass and our lives like a flash of lightning, vanishing in a moment. At this point in the piece, he has said many things about the physical method of meditation, interwoven with suggestions of the philosophy, attitude adjustments and correctives to conventional wisdom that accompany the practice. So what he means to indicate as the most important thing is subject to speculation. This may reflect a translator's choice anomaly, a known issue in the art of interpreting ancient teachings. To home in on this most important thing more closely, let's look at a brief, pointed poem, “Zazenshin,” that Dogen paraphrased from a Chinese version. It means something like “Acupuncture Needle” or “Lancet” – a very sharp instrument – for or about zazen: Zazen-shin - Shohaku Okumura, trans. The essential-function of each buddha and the functioning-essence of each ancestor.
Being actualized within not-thinking.Being manifested within non-interacting.Being actualized within not-thinking, the actualization is by nature intimate.Being manifested within non-interacting, the manifestation is itself verification.The actualization that is by nature intimate never has defilement.
The manifestation that is by nature verification never has distinction between Absolute and Relative.The intimacy without defilement is dropping off without relying on anything.The verification beyond distinction between Absolute and Relative is making effort without aiming at it.The water is clear to the earth; a fish is swimming like a fish.
The sky is vast, extending to the heavens; a bird is flying like a bird. So from this we may take it that the most important thing has something to do with not thinking and non-interacting, and not distinguishing between the absolute and relative. It is pointing at something intimate, undefiled by conventional wisdom, and that has nothing to do with our reliance on common understanding, and goal-oriented efforts. To which we can only respond, “Hmmm. Thank you Dogen, for clearing that up.” MATSUOKA ON DOGENClearly, this message is about something beyond words, that language can only point at, if it is beyond thinking itself. Let's explore some more contemporary quotes from Matsuoka-roshi to see if we can zoom in on the meaning of these passages. O-Sensei simplified Dogen Zenji's instructions for his American students, condensing them into three discrete areas: posture, breath, and attention. The following are three expressions he would use frequently, addressing questions about zazen: Keep aiming at the perfect posture never imagining that you've achieved it You have to work your way through every bone in your body When your posture is approaching the stage of perfection, it will feel as if you are shoving your head against the ceiling The first, about aiming without achieving, makes Dogen's “making effort without aiming at it” a bit more concrete by narrowly defining “it” as the upright posture. This is in keeping with the Zen premise that the zazen posture is the full expression of enlightenment, not merely a means to the end of enlightenment. It also reminds us that there can be no separation of body and mind in Zen, nor, indeed, in reality. And that the natural process of Zen is open-ended, based on aspiration as opposed to expectation. The second indicates that this is going to be a steady, slow process on a visceral level, sitting “with muscle and bone,” as my senior dharma brother in Chicago, Kongo-roshi, titled one of his talks. There are a lot of bones in your body. And the bones, of course, are not separate from the skin, flesh, and marrow, the connective tissue, as Master Bodhidharma taught. “Working your way through” recalls the famous dictum from the poet Robert Frost, paraphrasing, “the only way out is through.” The third seems to contradict the first, when Sensei describes what he frequently referred to as the “sitting-mountain feeling” that eventually comes from zazen. We are to aim at it without concluding that we've achieved it, because “Zen goes deeper,” as he would often say. No matter how seemingly complete and transcendent our immediate experience, it is not the end of the process, an attitude adjustment first articulated by Buddha himself in the “Fifty False States” section of the Surangama Sutra. The main admonition is that, no matter what happens in your meditation, not to imagine that you are now completely enlightened. Even Buddha returned to meditation for the fifty years of his life following his profound insight. But this “shoving your head against the ceiling” sensation is something that I can personally attest to from my modest experience on the cushion. I suspect that when we pull back on the chin, stretching the back of our neck with strength, a specific detail of the posture emphasized by Matsuoka-roshi, it has the effect of shoving our skull against the scalp, which would then feel like the resistance of a solid, external surface like a ceiling. The entire body is a tension-compression structure, much like a camping tent, where the bones of the skeleton are the compression members under stress from the surrounding membrane of musculature, tendons and ligaments, like the canvas and ropes of the tent. HAKUIN'S GAS PEDALThe other end of the “tentpole” is the base of the spine, connecting to the coccyx, or tailbone. Hakuin Zenji, a famous Rinzai priest whose life span bridged the 17th and 18th centuries, from 1686 to1769, recommended that we push forward and down on the lower spine until we feel a bit of pain there. That sensation derives from stretching the hard tissue of the discs between the large lower vertebrae. Even more today than in his time, our posture tends to be c-shaped, sometimes referred to as a “cashew,” when we sit in the driver's seat of our vehicles on the expressway, or the chair at our desk. The natural position of the spine is an “S-shape” curve, bending the lower back in the opposite direction, like a cobra rising from the floor, dancing to the tune of the snake-charmer's flute. I call this Hakuin's gas pedal. Like the accelerator of your car or truck, if you keep your foot on it, pressing forward and down, the vehicle moves. If you let up on it, it slows to a stop. On the other hand, if you go pedal to the metal, it speeds out of control. The Middle Way again, in all its manifestations. So the most important thing, as regards the posture, at least, may be keeping these two pressure points in play while sitting. If you do so, you can't go far wrong in terms of sitting upright. Breathing and attention also come into the picture, but that may be a subject for another UnMind. Let me close this segment with a couple of aphorisms that have come to me in my practice. ME ON ZAZEN I do not claim to have the depth of insight and understanding of our ancestors, and recognize that context, while not determinative of Zen experience, certainly counts. What Buddha, Bodhidharma, the great ancestors in China, and Dogen himself managed to accomplish under relatively primitive conditions in no way compares to what we may expect to realize under relatively cushy but geometrically more complex circumstances. But as they did in their times we must do in ours — namely use what we know to inform our efforts in exploring what we do not know, and cannot know, in any ordinary sense. So, here, I want to introduce two terms that may have no counterpart in their language. PROPRIOCEPTION MEETS VERTIGOProprioception is a term from modern physiology, defined as: Perception or awareness of the position and movement of the body Vertigo is defined as: A sensation of whirling and loss of balance, associated particularly with looking down from a great height, or caused by disease affecting the inner ear or the vestibular nerve; giddiness. In terms of our experience in zazen, then, proprioception would be akin to samadhi, or at least its early stages, when, as Matsuoka-roshi said: When posture, breath, and attention all come together in a unified way, that is the real zazen. Now, if there is “real” zazen, it implies that there must be “unreal” or “fake” zazen, or the false impression that we are doing zazen when we are not, really. Samadhi is a jargon term that I hesitate to use, as it implies that I know what it means while suggesting that you probably do not. Which sets up the false dichotomy of “you and I,” “us and them,” the in-group cognoscenti versus the great unwashed. Sensei also pointed out, at the Zen Buddhist Temple of Chicago, paraphrasing, “When you become dizzy, concentrate on your knees.” And “When you get nauseous, concentrate on your forehead.” Or it may have been the other way around. The main point is that you probably will get dizzy, and you probably will get nauseous, in zazen. This brings up another coinage, for which I claim authorship: Let not the spiritual be the enemy of the practical I detect a vestigial strain of puritanism in the American culture that can infect our understanding and presentation of Zen, as a kind of belief system, a set of doctrines that one must subscribe to, in order to penetrate the inner sanctum of Zen's purported spiritual secrets. This is anathema to the real Zen, as I understand it. All of Master Dogen's instructions in Fukanzazengi are physical, not mental, as Carl Bielefeldt points out in his “Dogen's Manuals of Zen Meditation,” a wonderful, incisive line-by-line analysis of Dogen's two extant revisions compared to the Chinese original. So let's stay focused on the physical, and not get distracted by any woo-woo “spiritual.” If we continue sitting without expectation, implementing the two pressure points until we feel tMatsuoka-roshi's “sitting mountain feeling” of great stability — our head “pressed against the ceiling” — the body and mind will take us where we need to go. We trust our teachers' intent and wisdom, and we trust our Original Mind, as indicated in the title of Hsinhsinming, the earliest Ch'an poem chanted in Soto liturgy. If we sustain this posture — sitting still enough and straight enough for long enough — it will work its magic. Equilibrium will set in in the tension-compression system of muscle and bone of the body, leading to equipoise of the mind. Sustained for some time, the constancy of our proprioception will inevitably lead to vertigo — the flip side of solidity. “Mountains are always walking” — the planet is falling through space. There is “not even a toehold.” Emptiness is innately form, form innately emptiness. In the next segment of UnMind, we will put a cap on “Election Year Zen,” my tenth and final concluding commentary on the 2024 campaign, now that we know how it all turned out. But like a centipede, or millipede, there are surely many more shoes to drop.

11/13/2024, Eli Brown-Stevenson, dharma talk at City Center. This dharma talk was given at Beginner's Mind Temple by So-on Eli Brown-Stevenson, co-leader of the fall 2024 Practice Period at City Center. Inspired by the teachings from Suzuki Roshi and the symbolism of the bell in Zen practice, this talk explores the Bodhisattva's unwavering path of sincerity, presence, and purpose. Through Ox-Herding Pictures 5 and 6, we follow the journey from striving and control to a state of acceptance and flow. Moving from “Taming the Ox” to “Riding the Ox Home,” we learn to meet ourselves with patience and embrace life as it is.

11/09/2024, Jisan Tova Green, dharma talk at City Center. This dharma talk was given at Beginner's Mind Temple by Fall 2024 Practice Period co-leader Jisan Tova Green. How can we welcome what we find unwelcome—from pain, disturbing emotions or thoughts in Zazen to events in our country or the world? Drawing from teachings on Bodhicitta (awakening mind) and her experience as a hospice worker, Tova suggests ways we can turn toward and learn from experiences we don't welcome.

11/06/2024, Gengyoko Tim Wicks, dharma talk at City Center. This dharma talk was given at Beginner's Mind Temple by tanto (head of practice) and practice period co-leader Gengyoko Tim Wicks. In the talk, Tim shares some of the teachings that are being studied this practice period and talks about practicing wherever we find ourselves. Recorded on Wednesday, November 6, 2024.

11/03/2024, Eijun Linda Cutts, dharma talk at Green Gulch Farm. In this practice period talk, Senior Dharma Teacher Eijun asks: how do we practice when we are anxious and fearful —especially when there are great challenges in our life. Back to the basics!

This dharma talk was given at Beginner's Mind Temple by visiting teacher Gaylon Ferguson. During the Fall 2024 Practice Period at Beginner's Mind Temple, the community is studying Dr. Ferguson's book “Welcoming Beginner's Mind: Zen and Tibetan Buddhist Wisdom on Experiencing Our True Nature.” Dr. Ferguson begins by talking about the historical and continuing connection between San Francisco Zen Center and the Shambhala International Buddhist community where he was trained. Shunryu Suzuki Roshi and Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche were close friends in life, and our communities continue that connection and shared practices. In the second portion of the talk, Dr. Ferguson looks at five phrases and their interpretations from Zen and Tibetan Buddhist perspectives. The five phrase-topics covered are: beginner's mind; practice-realization; no gaining idea; buddha-buddha-buddha; and, “grief is a Buddha.” Recorded on Saturday, November 2, 2024.

10/30/2024, Jisan Tova Green, dharma talk at City Center. In this talk, given at Beginner's Mind Temple, Jisan Tova Green describes the Sejiki Ceremony, in which hungry ghosts are cajoled and offered food, including the sweet dew of the Dharma. She likens this to the experience many of us have when we set out on a spiritual path and describes the first of the Ten Oxherding Pictures, in which a person is walking in nature, seeking, looking a little lost. Something is missing. We all have within us hungry ghosts. Recorded on Wednesday, October 30, 2024.

This dharma talk was given at Beginner's Mind Temple by Fall 2024 Practice Period co-leader So-on Eli Brown-Stevenson. This talk centers on the Zen practice of welcoming, rooted in Suzuki Roshi's teachings. We explore how welcoming everything—joy, discomfort, and impermanence—brings us into deeper alignment with the present moment. Through the metaphor "The body is the temple, and awareness is the host," we uncover how zazen allows us to meet life with openness, breaking down the boundaries between self and the world. By fully welcoming our experience, we connect with our true nature and the interconnectedness of all things.

10/20/2024, Eijun Linda Cutts, dharma talk at Green Gulch Farm. Linda explores how the mind of a Bodhisattva is able to meet the challenges of our lives, and celebrates the traditional forms of Practice Period, that help us to be able to fully express an “appropriate response” to our world.

10/19/2024, Gengyoko Tim Wicks, dharma talk at City Center. This dharma talk was given at Beginner's Mind Temple's October one-day sitting, held at Unity Church, by Tanto (head of practice) Gengyoko Tim Wicks. Using this famous koan (Zen teaching story) Tim discusses the connection that our pasts have with the present and how it is that we practice with our difficulties.

10/13/2024, Sozan Michael McCord, dharma talk at Green Gulch Farm. This dharma talk was given at Green Gulch Farm by San Francisco Zen Center president Sozan Michael McCord. While we honor and treasure the memories, lessons and times with people who we knew in the past, it is that very memory of how temporary this life is — that everything is changing — which helps us treasure those we have in our lives today. This also serves as scaffolding to do the work of being here now, in this moment. It helps us take into our bones the beating heart of now, and turn our complete attention to the seemingly special or mundane that the moment in front of us is offering.

You've heard of Zen, one of the most popular Buddhist practices and philosophical approaches to life Japan is famous for but, do have you heard of Zazen meditation? Ryu shares his recent experience at zen retreat workshop outside Toronto where he experienced the incredibly rigorous zazen or sitting meditation!禅は日本で最も認知された仏教の実践であり、人生に対する哲学的なアプローチとして有名ですが、座禅瞑想は知っていますか? リュウスケがトロント郊外の禅リトリート のワークショップで、非常に厳しい座禅、つまり座って行う瞑想を体験してきてどお感じたかをシェアします。是非最後までお楽しみ下さい！Support the showhttps://linktr.ee/Sojapanese

10/02/2024, Ryushin Paul Haller, dharma talk at City Center. Our narratives and our histories shape our conditioned being. Acknowledging this conditioning, we take Refuge in Buddha, the innate capacity to awaken. In this talk, given at Beginner's Mind Temple, Ryushin investigates how our stories and narratives influence our experience of the world. By examining the truth of our lives, we can recognize that our experience is just one, subjective version of reality. After briefly getting the community into small groups to discuss their own experiences, Ryushin points out the clarifying and encouraging power of acknowledging, and speaking our experiences out loud to another human being, non-judgmentally - each of us enacting "Only a Buddha Together with a Buddha” — the title of a fascicle (Yuibutsu Yobutsu 唯佛與佛) of the Shobogenzo by Eihei Dogen, founder of Soto Zen in Japan.

This talk was given at Green Gulch Farm by Gendo Lucy Xiao 玄道. The talk is an exploration of taking refuge in our true nature as we navigate the seasons of life.

This dharma talk was given at Beginner's Mind Temple by Hondo Dave Rutschman. One of the most important questions each of us has to work out in our life is deciding what it is we will take care of. In this talk, Dave considers what it might mean to take care of our practice through time—to appreciate all those who have maintained it for us in the past, and to uphold it for future generations. Then he considers what it might mean to practice in a way that completely lets go of past and future.

09/15/2024, Jiryu Rutschman-Byler, dharma talk at Green Gulch Farm. In this talk given at Green Gulch Farm, Abiding Abbott Jiryu Rutschman-Byler continues to explore four core elements of zazen practice: low belly, upright spine, clear mind, and wide-open welcoming. He focuses in particular on the practice of "clearing the mind," using teachings of the Buddha and from the Platform Sutra to discuss the dynamic between, on the one hand, welcoming everything including thought, and on the other hand, the fact that without a clear, empty mind the practice of welcoming often feels inaccessible to us.

09/14/2024, Gengyoko Tim Wicks, dharma talk at City Center. In this dharma talk, given at Beginner's Mind Temple by tanto (head of practice) Gengyoko Tim Wicks, Tim speaks about working with everything that arises in zazen including grief and difficult emotions, for it is all a part of being awake.

09/08/2024, Stephanie Blank, dharma talk at Green Gulch Farm. This talk was given at Green Gulch Farm by Gyokuden Steph Blank. In the talk, Gyokuden invokes dragon energies and invites us to awaken together right now; heartbreak welcome, dharma companions manifest, failure being no obstacle to practice. Discussing the role of intention as the determiner of karmic consequences, she encourages us to plunge into the stream of practice and express ourselves fully for the benefit of All Beings… and — TO VOTE!

09/01/2024, Gil Fronsdal, dharma talk at Green Gulch Farm. This extemporaneous talk was given at Green Gulch Farm by Gil Fronsdal. In the talk, Gil brings forward the teachings that arose in that moment.

08/31/2024, Jiryu Rutschman-Byler, dharma talk at City Center. In this talk, Abbot Jiryu describes the fundamental Zen practice of "welcoming everything," and emphasizes the posture - grounded belly, upright spine, and clear mind - that we can care for in order to fully embody and actualize that practice.

08/28/2024, Pamela Weiss, dharma talk at Tassajara.

08/28/2024, Shundo David Haye, dharma talk at City Center. In this talk, given at Beginner's Mind Temple, Shundo reflects on a recent visit to Tassajara, which included the monthly Full Moon Ceremony and the Obon Ceremony. He encourages us to remember our place in the ongoing lineage of Buddhas and Ancestors.

Ama Samy (Arul Maria Arokiasamy), S.J., born in 1936, is an Indian Zen master and Jesuit priest. Ama Samy was born to Christian parents in Burma in 1936 and grew up in India. After becoming a Jesuit priest in 1972, he began visiting Hindu ashrams and Buddhist meditation centers. He was introduced to Ramana Maharshi's teachings by Swami Abhishiktananda. His searching led him to become a wandering beggar for a period and to settle down as a hermit. Father Ama visited Japan and trained with Yamada Koun Roshi of Sanbo Kyodan. In 1982, Yamada Roshi authorized him to teach Zen. Ama Samy founded the Bodhi Sangha, the community of his disciples, in 1986. Bodhi Sangha became an independent Zen school when he left the Sanbo Kyodan organization in 2002. Ama Samy's method of teaching embraces both Soto and Rinzai Zen traditions and draws from the resources of Christianity and other religions. He lives and teaches at Bodhi Zendo Zen Center near Kodaikanal in South India.

SCROLL FOR SPECIAL PERFUME ROOM DISCOUNT! Bayly Ledes, President of Fashion Fragrances & Cosmetics, which owns Robert Piguet Parfums, is in the the Perfume Room this week! Bayly and I discuss the making of Fracas and speculate as to why it was and has remained so seminal; she shares insider stories of Robert Piguet and of Germaine Cellier and her task and privilege of preserving their legacy; you'll learn about her late father, Beauty Publisher and Titan of the Industry, John Ledes. And of course we discsss which of your fav celebs are wearing Fracas! FRAGS MENTIONED: Marissa Zappas, Neandertal Them, JORUM STUDIO: Monolith, Trimerous; The Maker Lover, Robert Piguet: Fracas, Zazen, Bandit, Fracas, Fracas Eau Fraiche, Bandit, Rue de Cirque, Oud Delice; Revlon Charlie, YSL Opium, Jean Nate, Eau de Lancome, Dior Eau Sauvage, Mugler Angel, Madonna Truth or Dare, Robert Piguet: Fracas Eau Fraiche, Fracas SHOP: www.robertpiguetparfums.com (+ special discount!) 10% OFF RP W CODE: PERFUMEROOM (NOW-JULY 31, 2024) TUNE IN TO THE PERFUME ROOM SUBSTACK ON FRIDAY FOR EXCLUSIVE CONTENT FROM THIS INTERVIEW!