AZC Weekly talks

Sometimes silence, so valued by us as students of Zen, is not enough. Of course all lives matter, but we need to affirm aloud that black and brown lives matter, as they are often devalued, disregarded and outright destroyed. If we are white we need to work at becoming aware of the privileges we enjoy as a result of present and historical colonisation, and the ideology if white superiority that goes along with it.

The first in the series of classes on the Heart Sutra

Bodhicitta (the intelligent heart, or aspiration to awaken for the sake of all) as a way of engaging with this time of great peril and great opportunity.

Some of the ways the pandemic lock-down is being understood and how we might respond to this global upheaval in our own lives.

Dharma Talk by Richard von Sturmer

The Buddha said whoever would tend me should tend the sick. With what attitude should we tend the sick?

Master Wansong comments on this story, "When the ancients were about to go, they frolicked in the realm of old age, sickness and death." How do you frolic in old age, sickness and death? Watch Master Dong Shan play like a dragon with his pearl and learn about the struggle and careful attention that lay behind his great freedom.

What is the nature of illness? What Is medicine? Ummon says that the whole earth is medicine, and asks what, then, is the self? How do things change when we approach the circumstances of our life from an understanding that the whole earth is medicine?

Zen teachings on sickness, death and healing. Quoted text: In Love with the World by Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche

A panel discussion on zen and marriage with Hogen Green-sensei and his wife Cindy Eiho Green, of the Mountains and Rivers Order and Amala Sensei (Auckland Zen Centre) and her husband Richard v. Sturmer

Coming to the Path talk by Hamish Bartle

People often come to the Dharma because they want to transcend birth and death, sickness and old age, but masters of the past and present all grow old, get sick and die. How can we leave behind birth and death? Main Text: The Collected Works of Chinul, translated and with an introduction by Robert E. Buswell Jr., University of Hawaii Press, 1983

How do we deal with frightening things when they confront us, and how do we deal fear itself and the vicious cycles of anxiety? Main Text: The Hidden Lamp, Stories fromTwenty-Five Centuries of Awakened Women, edited by Florence Caplow and Susan Moon, Wisdom 2013.

True Mind is like "a jewel hidden in the mountain of form". It exists but is not perceived. "Ordinary people are those who are enlightened all day long without ever knowing it." Even amid the troubles of the dusty world, the true mind remains unafflicted by those troubles. Main Text: The Collected Works of Chinul, translated and with an introduction by Robert E. Buswell Jr., University of Hawaii Press, 1983

Chinul responds to the question "What is the essence of True Mind?", describes its functioning, and explores the similarities and differences between True Mind's essence and function. Main Text: The Collected Works of Chinul, translated and with an introduction by Robert E. Buswell Jr., University of Hawaii Press, 1983

The importance of faith in the practice of the Path and the myriad names for True Mind in the Sutras and in Son (Zen). Main Text: The Collected Works of Chinul, translated and with an introduction by Robert E. Buswell Jr., University of Hawaii Press, 1983.

Conclusion of biographical material and introduction to Chinul's teaching on True Mind. Main Text: The Collected Works of Chinul, translated and with an introduction by Robert E. Buswell Jr., University of Hawaii Press, 1983.

Biography of Twelfth Century Korean Master Chinul. One of the most important figures in Korean Buddhism, Chinul sought to unify the teachings of the sutras with those of Son (Zen in Japanese), the so-called "special transmission outside the scriptures, not dependent on words and letters". Main Text: The Collected Works of Chinul, translated and with an introduction by Robert E. Buswell Jr., University of Hawaii Press, 1983.

An alternative story of the Buddha's home-leaving from the Sarvastivadin literature, and the parallel practice undertaken at home by his wife, Yashodhara, provide us with a model for lay practice. Main Text: The Hidden Lamp, Stories from Twenty-Five Centuries of Awakened Women, edited by Florence Caplow and Susan Moon, Wisdom 2013.

A dharma talk by Richard von Sturmer.

Text used: The Hidden Lamp: Stories from Twenty-Five Centuries of Awakened Women, edited by Florence Caplow and Susan Moon

Text used: The Hidden Lamp: Stories from Twenty-Five Centuries of Awakened Women, edited by Florence Caplow and Susan Moon

Text used: The Hidden Lamp: Stories from Twenty-Five Centuries of Awakened Women, edited by Florence Caplow and Susan Moon

Hastening our death: do we need to legalise assisted suicide, and why do so many people feel so strongly about this issue? Main text quoted: Being Mortal by Atul Gawande

Entry through practice -- (4) practicing in accord with Dharma -- giving Main Text(s) quoted: The Path to Bodhidharma, the teachings of Shodo Harada Roshi. Translated by Priscilla Daichi Storandt and edited by Jane Lago

Entry through practice -- (3) craving nothing (continued) Main Text(s) quoted: The Path to Bodhidharma, the teachings of Shodo Harada Roshi. Translated by Priscilla Daichi Storandt and edited by Jane Lago

Entry through practice -- (3) craving nothing Main Text(s) quoted: The Path to Bodhidharma, the teachings of Shodo Harada Roshi. Translated by Priscilla Daichi Storandt and edited by Jane Lago

Entry through practice -- (2) accepting circumstances Main Text(s) quoted: The Path to Bodhidharma, the teachings of Shodo Harada Roshi. Translated by Priscilla Daichi Storandt and edited by Jane Lago

Entry through practice -- (1) requiting animosity Main Text(s) quoted: The Path to Bodhidharma, the teachings of Shodo Harada Roshi. Translated by Priscilla Daichi Storandt and edited by Jane Lago