Vine of Obstacles Zen

Turning the light around

Turning the Light Around for a Moment

Last week, I posted a Dogen verse here about turning the light around - an essential instruction for zazen across Zen lineages and across time. Below you'll find another such reference by Letan Hongying (1012-1070), Linji Lineage, Huanglong Branch, nineteenth generation in China, forty-eighth since Buddha. His phrase,

Dogen

A Little Mercy Now: Turn the Light Around

Dahui's Shobogenzo

Conceiving Interpretations Pursuant to Words

Here's another piece from Dahui's Shobogenzo, this one continues the theme about Soto and Rinzai distinguishing characteristics, probably the last on this for now. Zhenjing was a Rinzai master in the forty-third generation in China. Whether his words about Soto are praise or criticism, well, that&

Don't Press the Wind

Dahui's Shobogenzo

Totally Unshakable

Sleeping in the Zendo Turns Out Pretty Darn Well

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

Paid-members only

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.