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Loving Your Enemies: Extending Metta Does Not Mean Capitulation
Episode 318
Unlike Jesus, the Buddha didn't explicitly instruct us to "love our enemies." However, he did instruct us to extend goodwill, or Metta, to all beings unconditionally – including, of course, our enemi…
Published on 11 hours ago
317 – Keizan's Denkoroku Chapter 1: Mahakashyapa's Smile
Episode 317
In this episode I read and reflect on Chapter One of Keizan's Denkoroku: Record of the Transmission of Illumination. In it, Shakyamuni Buddha holds up a flower and blinks. Keizan says, "No one knew h…
Published on 2 weeks, 1 day ago
Buddhist Communities and Public Political Stands: A Moral Quandary
Episode 316
When should Buddhist communities take public stands on issues that could be seen as political? If politics is about how we make decisions in groups (local communities, towns, cities, states, nations)…
Published on 3 weeks, 5 days ago
Bad Zazen: Not Just an Oxymoron
Episode 315
The form of meditation we do in Zen, unless we're working on a koan, is called shikantaza – nothing but sitting – or silent illumination. It's been called a "method of no method," in which we let go …
Published on 1 month, 2 weeks ago
Q&A: Comfort in the Precepts, Anger at Injustice, and Accidental Kensho
Episode 314
How do you find comfort in the precepts? What is the relationship between anger, forgiveness and justice? What about anxiety due to abrupt insight into emptiness? This is one of my unscripted Q&A epi…
Published on 1 month, 3 weeks ago
Ten Fields of Zen, Field 7 – Learning the Self: This Very Body Is Buddha (3 of 3)
Episode 313
This is the third part of three of my episodes on "Learning the Self," one of my Ten Fields of Zen. In the first episode I discussed why we "study the self" in Zen, and what "self" we're talking abou…
Published on 2 months ago
Ten Fields of Zen, Field 7 – Learning the Self: This Very Body Is Buddha (2 of 3)
Episode 312
Part two of three of my series on "Learning the Self," one of my Ten Fields of Zen. Last episode I discussed why we "study the self" in Zen, and what "self" we're talking about if the self is empty o…
Published on 2 months, 2 weeks ago
Ten Fields of Zen, Field 7 – Learning the Self: This Very Body Is Buddha (1 of 3)
Episode 311
Ultimately, if you want to experience Realization and have it transform your life, you need to commit yourself to Learning the Self. This means becoming intimately familiar with your self - your mind…
Published on 2 months, 3 weeks ago
Three Paths: The Value of Monastics, Clergy, and Lay Practitioners in Western Zen
Episode 310
Since the Buddha's time, certain practitioners have chosen to leave the household life to dedicate themselves completely to formal Buddhist training. Undergoing a ceremony of ordination in which they…
Published on 2 months, 4 weeks ago
Dana, the Paramita of Generosity: Buddhist Teachings on Giving (2 of 4)
Episode 309
I discuss the oldest source of Buddhist teachings on Dana as a bodhisattva perfection – the Jataka tales, or stories about Shakyamuni Buddha's remarkable actions during previous lifetimes. Such stori…
Published on 3 months, 2 weeks ago