Vine of Obstacles Zen

Meiho

The Zazen Instructions of Meiho Sotetsu: Like a Flying Bird with No Mind to Twitter

Greetings Subscriber, We're on vacation this week, but I wanted to share this with you. It's a follow -up to the Meihō bio and notes that I posted last week. This is from a really early translation (1963) of some Zen texts. I've made

Simplicity Zen Interview

Here's my interview by Berry Crawford - because I've talked and written about my background ad nauseum, we skipped that usual part of the Simplicity Zen podcasts and pretty much right to the main points about my views about the present Zen world.

Outer and Inner Layer Utterly Dropped Off: The Awakening Meihō Sotetsu Zenji

Directly Hitting the Mark: Jikige Jōtō

Here is an excerpt from my first book from way back in 2009, Keep Me In Your Heart Awhile: The Haunting Zen of Dainin Katagiri, that digs into an important Sōtō teaching. It highlights a Dōgen teaching we worked through during this past retreat: Dōgen Zenji’s tenth of ten

Transforming Through Play

In our Vine of Obstacles study of Dōgen's "Guidelines for Studying the Way," we noted Dōgen's point about transforming through play, that which is sometimes called "transforming through play samadhi" (遊戯三昧). The Digital Dictionary of Buddhism has this about that: “To sport,

Lineage Winds

Suzuki Roshi

Suzuki and Nakagawa Roshis Calling Buddha's Name and Bowing Together

Given my interest in One School Zen, I like to gather stories along those lines. The following is one that I stumbled on while searching for something else. It's another involving one of our Soto Zen founders in the US, Shunryu Suzuki Roshi and his last visit with

Nakagawa Roshi

Yasutani, Suzuki, Nakagawa Roshis & One School Zen

Here's another One School Zen piece. This one is from a 1968 San Francisco Zen Center "Windbell" (thanks to Kyoko Henkel for sharing this): "Suzuki Roshi had not known Soen [Nakagawa] Roshi [a Rinzai Zen master] and had only briefly met Yasutani Roshi [a hybrid

Going Through the Mystery

Going Through the Mystery's One Hundred Questions Book Description

Dahui's Shobogenzo

Not in Vain

Dogen

Whole-Body Little Dog: New Translations of Two Old Dōgen Poems

Bodhidharma and a bit about Takujū Kosen Zenji

Above is the "Bodhidharma" of Takujū Kosen (卓洲胡僊; 1760–1833) - one of my favorites in genre. Takujū Zenji is an important teacher in the Rinzai lineage of Harada Sogaku Rōshi in which Takujū is the third ancestor after Hakuin (following Tōrei and Gasan). He played a key

Real Wild Fox

I was up early this morning, working on another go-round of edits for my forthcoming book (which might be out later this year - earlier than I first thought), Going Through the Mystery's One Hundred Questions, and specifically on aligning the translations of the Wild Fox Koan across

Dogen

More Dōgen on the Mu Kōan

One of the early scholarly texts (in English) on Dōgen's teaching was Carl Bielefeldt's Dōgen's Manuals of Zen Meditation (1988). I read it soon after publication and found it eye-popping! The power of it's message has not faded with age. Indeed, I

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Full moon, Gichi Gami (Lake Superior)

Dahui's Shobogenzo

How to Concentrate in the Midst of Daily Affairs

In this “shortie" I'm offering another passage from Dahui's Shobogenzo (Treasury of the True Dharma Eye) that brings up the key issue for many dharma practitioners: How to concentrate in the midst of daily affairs. This is from Master Zhenjing, a 19th generation successor in

What is a Homeleaver?

Record of Going Easy

Record of Going Easy, Case 31: Yúnmén’s Pillar

You Might Need More Than One Dog: The Problems with Kōan Work Today

In this post, I identify a few problems in kōan training, highlight what I regard as the biggest problem, offer an example from my teaching practice, and speculate about the causes of these issues. Along the way, I wonder if it is appropriate for householders to take up kōan introspection.

Fukanzazenki

What is Not-Two's Nature? from Going Through the Mystery's One Hundred Questions

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Stinking Skin Bags, Blind Donkeys, Parrots and Studying the Buddhadharma

Dogen

Dōgen on Zhàozhōu’s MU

Dahui's Shobogenzo

Floating Clouds and the Pure Reality Body

Greetings Patrons, Here is another excerpt from Dahui's Shobogenzo. Master Ciming was a 17th generation successor of Bodhidharma in the Linji lineage known for his innovative teaching style. Although a monk, it seems that he had a wife who lived near the temple. You can read more about

Striving

Suzuki Shunryū Rōshi and Striving

Now, as for striving and Sōtō Zen - I bet you've it said heard before - Sōtō Zen is about no-gaining mind. And sometimes those who make this one-chopstick assertion cite the Heart Sutra's "no attainment." And yet, the Heart Sutra also teaches "

How To Escape?

Here's a Friday afternoon practice bump for ya: I've been working through an advance copy of Thomas Cleary's translation of Dahui's Treasury of the Eye of the True Teaching (aka, Shobogenzo, to be posthumously published by Shambhala in the fall). I'