AZC Weekly talks
309 episodes — Page 4 of 7
2021-11-23 Cultivating right attitudes for practice and life 2
Roshi Amala Wrightson explores Huineng's three antidotes to grasping; no thought, no form, and non-abiding.Main Text: Silent Illumination by Guo Gu.Automated transcripthttps://otter.ai/u/50dLN5y5B-i48kyIbbIzV0baELs
2021-11-09 Cultivating right attitudes for practice and life 1
Roshi Amala Wrightson explores contentment from a Zen perspective. Contentment, usually rather dryly called "non-grasping" in Zen, is an essential attitude in our practice life; an antidote to restlessness and a middle way between attachment and aversion.Main Text(s): Silent Illumination: A Chan Buddhist Path to Natural Awakening by Guo GuAutomated transcripthttps://otter.ai/u/6Lx_X8osLv5XZThPlgOk4S1Y_iA
2021-10-19 The power of chanting and bowing
Wholehearted chanting can be a bridge that connects us with loved ones and with more-than-human realms. It can also take us into a present which contains both past and future, the living and the dead. Sources: Article "Why do we recite sutras?" by Hakuun Yasutani-roshi, and Zen Wisdom, Knowing and Doing by Master Sheng Yen Automated transcript https://otter.ai/u/R-h9EqrVfOhU6vYYlGbqA6Llqzc
2021-10-03 Arrogance
Exploring how the self-centred emotion of arrogance (or pride) causes pain in ourselves and others, plus a glimpse of what it feels like to be on the other end of arrogance. Automated transcript https://otter.ai/u/G62yeu0YvzLI9DH2UabB-HRgMXk Text: Light Comes Through by Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche
2021-09-28 Information and Misinformation
Who do we trust for our information? How open-minded are we? Can we see beyond the views of the people we disagree with and stay connected? Automated transcript https://otter.ai/u/XzTeGS3N0GbY_WzQ5slHpLLY-_k
21-09-14 Learning from Te Ao Māori
Talk given in recognition of Māori Language Week (Te Wiki o te Reo Māori). Some background on our 4 vows translation, Ko ngā Oati e Whā. Beginning to explore key concepts of the Maōri worldview, with a look at whanaungatanga, or right relationship. Text(s): In right relationship -- whanaungatanga by Haylee Kiroi in Climate Aotearoa ed. Helen Clark
2021-08-31 Working with our suffering
In lockdown again, many of the ways that we "get a break from ourselves" are no longer possible. So how do we work with painful habits of thinking and feeling? Automated transcript https://otter.ai/u/g9eity7un76x1QQGlup3GyICboM
2021-08-17 H46 Kyosei's Sound of the Raindrops
How can we engage in our lives without falling into subject/object dualism? How can we hold onto nothing in the very midst of using all our senses? Automated transcript https://otter.ai/u/4XeQRqAdbuBUg-aOjPSQ_aEgGPw
2021-08-06 Yu Uses Her Full Strength
When Yu realises master Linji's "true person of no rank" she leaps beyond convention and societal norms. Text(s): The Hidden Lamp, Stories from Twenty-Five Centuries of Awakened Women, ed.Florence Caplow and Susan Moon Automated transcript https://otter.ai/u/qhM5PQADJaOGJo_pJqDyazNJWYo
2021-08-05 The Life and Teachings of Russel Williams 6
The space around our thoughts. Text(s): Not I, Not Other than I, The Life and Teachings of Russel Wlliams ed. Steve Taylor O-Books 2015 Automated transcript https://otter.ai/u/5Wio99bNCEzPoRnqGVhwFaW3di8
2021-08-04 The Life and Teachings of Russel Williams 5
"You are not the conditions that make you do things." Text(s): Not I, Not Other than I, The Life and Teachings of Russel Wlliams ed. Steve Taylor O-Books 2015 Automated transcript https://otter.ai/u/WvZbHLiB-G8-YyOKX60zfP1pqhs
2021-08-03 The Life and Teachings of Russel Williams 4
Self-preoccupation and the three conceits. Text(s): Not I, Not Other than I, The Life and Teachings of Russel Wlliams ed. Steve Taylor O-Books 2015 Automated transcript https://otter.ai/u/DKAxUiEOAaMZiC6FiUNq8Fgkf-k
2021-08-02 The Life and Teachings of Russel Williams 3
The Manchester Buddhist Society and starting to teach. Non-returner and Bodhisattva paths. Text(s): Not I, Not Other than I, The Life and Teachings of Russel Wlliams ed. Steve Taylor O-Books 2015 Automated transcript https://otter.ai/u/yXjIWkytWMnTC-PCpdG1oARj1NI
2021-08-01 The Life and Teachings of Russel Williams 2
Working with horses and people Text(s): Not I, Not Other than I, The Life and Teachings of Russel Wlliams ed. Steve Taylor O-Books 2015 Automated transcript https://otter.ai/u/oJLpNH5PagZFSrL0xHzyHLC8Akg
2021-07-31 The Life and Teachings of Russel Williams 1
Early life and awakening Text(s): Not I, Not Other than I, The Life and Teachings of Russel Wlliams ed. Steve Taylor O-Books 2015 Automated transcript https://otter.ai/u/tnt2nc8uvzTunQmORDJdBfTWqKg
2021-06-29 Precepts 3 - discussion
Discussion following teisho Precepts 3.
2021-06-29 Precepts 3
Comments on precepts 3, 5 and 9 (sex, intoxicants and anger). Transcript: https://otter.ai/u/tAjKCqb9J5WQIYSW8xi6tORmm8g
2021-06-15 Precepts 2 - discussion
A discussion following the talk Precepts 2.
2021-06-15 Precepts 2
This talk covers precepts 2 and 8, which have to do with greed -- wanting stuff we don't have and clinging to stuff we already have, as well as precepts 4,6 and 7 which are to do with different aspects of right speech -- being truthful, kind and not boastful. Transcript: https://otter.ai/u/3mha923rEWSTSGcdGwI4kTGSgPg
2021-06-09 M10 Sozan and Poor Seizei
Working with spiritual poverty.
2021-06-08 An Experience of Enlightenment 4
Arrival, loss and return -- the universe changes on its axis, but how to share this amazing experience with others? Searching for a context for 20 years and finally finding one. Text: An Experience of Enlightenment by Flora Curtois Quest Books 1986
2021-06-07 An Experience of Enlightenment 3
A turning point -- no need to look further than the mind itself. Text: An Experience of Enlightenment by Flora Curtois Quest Books 1986
2121-06-06 An Experience of Enlightenment 2
Flora Curtois' search for Reality, or the ground of being. Text: An Experience of Enlightenment by Flora Curtois Quest Books 1986
2021-06-05 An Experience of Enlightenment 1
Introduction to the text by Yasutani-roshi Text: An Experience of Enlightenment by Flora Curtois Quest Books 1986
2021-06-01 Precepts Part 1 - discussion
Discussion following the teisho on precepts (part 1) Transcript: https://otter.ai/u/TzR5AgJe8tXU1xqsnAIJoxaEYkg
2021-06-01 Precepts Part 1
The 10 Precepts are at the core of the Great Way and have their origins in the 8-fold Path. The version that we say can be found in the Brahma Net Sutra, translated into Chinese by Kumarajiva in the 4th Century CE. Transcript: https://otter.ai/u/TzR5AgJe8tXU1xqsnAIJoxaEYkg
2021-03-30 Grass and Weeds
The teaching and poetry of grass and weeds, from Zen to Walt Whitman.
2021-04-20 Teachings of Jodo Shinshu 3
All is a circle -- an exploration of some of the circles to be found in nature and in Mind. Main Texts: River of Fire, River of Water: An Introduction to the Pure Land Tradition of Shin Buddhism by Taitetsu Unno, article From Anthropocene to Noosphere: The Great Acceleration in AGU (Advancing Earth and Space Science), 2021, by Boris Shoshitaishvili
2021-04-13 Teachings of Jodo Shinshu 2
Learning from spiritual friends, practising humility. Main text: River of Fire, River of Water by Taitetsu Unno
2021-03-21 Teachings of Jodo Shinshu 1
What we can learn from the Japanese Pure Land tradition Main Text: River of Fire, River of Water: An introduction to The Pure Land tradition of Shin Buddhism by Taitetsu Unno
2021-02-16 Vows, Faith, Compassion and Renunciation 2
More on how and why our sitting practice is woven with vows. Examples of other formulations of vows within the Mahayana tradition.
2021-01-26 Vows, Faith, Compassion and Renunciation
A look at four essential ingredients of our practice of the Buddhadharma, (besides zazen), and an introduction to Ko Ngā Oati e Whā (the four great vows in te reo).
2021-01-15 H18 The National Teacher's Seamless Monument
The Emperor of China doesn't understand the National Teacher's request for him to build a 'seamless monument'. After he dies, his heir Tangen recites a poem to answer the Emperor's query, saying, "Beneath the shadowless tree a community ferryboat."
2021-01-14 H17 Kyorin's Sitting Long and Getting Tired
What is the meaning of Zen? What is the meaning of life?
2021-01-13 Teachings of Zen Master Dahui 5
How we cling to the self-identities we create, even when they are painful. Main Source(s): Swampland Flowers: The Letters and Lectures of Zen Master Ta Hui Translated by Christopher Cleary
2021-01-12 Teachings of Zen Master Dahui 4
Renunciation is not an outward but an inward action, a gradual transformation of our attitude toward the world around us. Main Source(s): Swampland Flowers: The Letters and Lectures of Zen Master Ta Hui Translated by Christopher Cleary
2021-01-11 Teachings of Zen Master Dahui 3
Who or what is in the way of our waking up? How do we get out of the way? Main Source(s): Swampland Flowers: The Letters and Lectures of Zen Master Ta Hui Translated by Christopher Cleary
2021-01-10 Teachings of Zen Master Dahui 2
How subjective emotional consciousness distorts our experience. Main Source(s): Swampland Flowers: The Letters and Lectures of Zen Master Ta Hui Translated by Christopher Cleary
2021-01-09 Teachings of Zen Master Dahui 1
Some historical background on Master Dahui and his championing of koan practice. Source(s): Swampland Flowers: The Letters and Lectures of Zen Master Ta Hui Translated by Christopher Cleary, and Circle of the Way by Barbara O'Brien
2020-11-24 Chiyono's "No Water, No Moon"
Chiyono experiences enlightenment when the bottom falls out of her water bucket. How do we break out of fixed ways of seeing ourselves and framing the world? Absorption in a koan is a tried and tested way. Main text: The Hidden Lamp, Stories from Twenty-Five Centuries of Awakened Women edited by Florence Caplow and Susan Moon
2020-11-10 "These Mountains, They Are in Pain"
A meeting between a Buddhist monk and a people in Colombia who understand that they are part of the living world, not separate from it. Main Text: Running Toward Mystery; The Adventure of an Unconventional Life by Ven Tenzin Priyadarshi and Zara Houshmand
2020-07-31 Master Hongzhi's Cultivating the Empty Field 4
"With total trust, roam and play in samadhi". Main Text: Cultivating the Empty Field, The Silent Illumination of Zen Master Hongzhi by Taigen Daniel Leighton with Yi Wu, North Point Press San Francisco 1991
2020-07-30 Master Hongzhi's Cultivating the Empty Field 3
"You must be broadminded, whole, without relying on others." Main Text: Cultivating the Empty Field, The Silent Illumination of Zen Master Hongzhi by Taigen Daniel Leighton with Yi Wu, North Point Press San Francisco 1991
2020-07-29 Master Hongzhi's Cultivating the Empty Field 2
The bright, boundless field -- what is it? "Degrading situations" and how to avoid pursuing them. Main Text: Cultivating the Empty Field, The Silent Illumination of Zen Master Hongzhi by Taigen Daniel Leighton with Yi Wu, North Point Press San Francisco 1991
2020-07-28 Master Hongzhi's Cultivating the Empty Field 1
The life of Master Hongzhi Main Text: Cultivating the Empty Field, The Silent Illumination of Zen Master Hongzhi by Taigen Daniel Leighton with Yi Wu, North Point Press San Francisco 1991
2020-10-25 Navigating by the stars
Words from two wise women -- Anne Salmond and Susan Murphy -- for Jacinda Ardern (and all of us) as many challenges loom. Texts: Newsroom article, 18 October, 2020 Navigating by the stars www.newsroom.co.nz/ideasroom/anne-salmond-navigating-by-the-stars?fbclid=IwAR1oAA9c8VPWA-jF6jj5cWOwrZsA4j_x3bFtx3AXzudpFlO8WaBqXsPge4Q Minding the Earth, Mending the World by Susan Murphy
2020-10-20 Coming to the Path - Sally
Sally's Coming to the Path talk
2020-09-26 Questions Raised by the Cannabis Legalisation Ref
How does cannabis legalisation relate to the precept of not taking intoxicants or causing others to do so? What legal framework will improve health and equity while reducing harm?
2020-09-26 Term Intensive Introduction
Introduction to the Spring Term Intensive
20-09-15 End Of Life Choice Referendum
The first precept is "Not to Kill, but to cherish all life." How does this guidance play into how we might vote on the proposed euthanasia legislation? How will the legalisation of assisted suiside affect individuals, families and communities?