Thousand Harbours Zen

On Precept 9 (not indulging in anger)—it doesn't say there aren't good reasons to feel anger, just that we should learn not to be seduced by it.

On Precept 8 (not withholding dharma assets), clinging vs. letting go, and realizing what you're capable of giving.

On Precept 7 (not elevating yourself and blaming others). We have more capacity for sympathy—and for delusion—than we're comfortable admitting.

On Precept 6 (not speaking of the faults of others) and how the keyword isn't "faults," it's "others."

On Precept 5 (not indulging in intoxicants) and the ways in which we feed our addictions.

On Precept 4 (not lying) and the reasons why we lie. What narrative are we trying to control?

On Precept 3 (not misusing sex) and the messiness of intimacy.

On Precept 2 (not stealing) and the question of what we have been offered versus what we just think belongs to us.

On Precept 1 (not killing) and the mindset we can bring to all the precepts. It's not about becoming more pure.

Imagine that taking refuge in buddha, dharma, and sangha isn't about choosing to enter some new space, but rather that it's an act of falling without any hope of control.

A reflection on climate activist Greta Thunberg and others who have shaped their lives around a singular intention. How do we root ourselves that deeply?

On taking up a path that has boundaries that were created by people centuries ago—why do we do it, and how do we do it sincerely?

The three poisons—attachment, aversion, and ignorance—and how sometimes ignorance is at the centre.

What do we need to take with us on this path? If that's different from what we want, how do we reconcile the two?

There is a difference between how we address the complexity of identity in ourselves, and how we relate to it in others. The approach can't be the same.

We chant, "Now, actualizing the buddha ancestors means to bring them forth and look at them respectfully. It is not limited to the buddhas of past, present, and future, but it is going beyond buddhas who are going beyond themselves." What's it all about?

Every teacher and every temple have different ideas about the student-teacher relationship; Koun shares some of his perspective on the complexity of it all.

Bodhidharma famously described Zen as a "special transmission outside the scriptures". What does that mean and why does it matter?

The ground of this practice isn't what we experience, or what we feel, or even what we see—it's what we do, regardless of the rest.

We talk a lot about some experience called "awakening," but the real task is simply to be awake.

On how we work with the feeling that there's no way out of wherever we are, or whatever we're experiencing.

In the Terminator movies, Sarah Connor has the burden of knowing what's coming and having to cultivate someone who can address it. We're in the same position.

There isn't anything you have now that you won't eventually lose. So why not start letting go now?

Zen usually frames itself in terms of "goallessness", or at least of a practice without object. But that doesn't mean there isn't a method to it.

The last of eight talks on the Noble Eightfold Path - Right Resolve.

The seventh of eight talks on the Noble Eightfold Path - Right View.

The sixth of eight talks on the Noble Eightfold Path - Right Concentration.

The fifth of eight talks on the Noble Eightfold Path - Right Mindfulness.

The fourth of eight talks on the Noble Eightfold Path - Right Effort.

The third of eight talks on the Noble Eightfold Path - Right Livelihood.

The second of eight talks on the Noble Eightfold Path - Right Action.

The first of eight talks on the Noble Eightfold Path - Right Speech.

We don't just get rid of delusions, as much as we may want to. So how do we treat them?

Hope and despair both come from the same place — no need to trust either one.

How do we deal with panic, fear, sadness, anger? Buddhism isn't therapy—it doesn't take any of it away. But it does raise some worthwhile questions about how we feel, and about how we feel about how we feel.

In both "Precious Mirror Samadhi" and "Harmony of Difference and Equality," there are references to arrow points meeting. This is how it works.

Zen traditionally doesn't talk so much about compassion, yet we chant about it a lot. What are we chanting about? Why?

Zazen as a moment of silence in which we just hold everything. We're doing it already, but we can also choose to.

We have a tendency to take ordinary activities like walking, insert a spiritual feeling, and call it "walking practice." But what this tradition asks us to explore is dharmic activity, which is not the same thing.

Zen practice is outside of any measurement—it's not a place where you can succeed or fail. So how to proceed?

What is at the core of resolve? We think of it as a decision to do something, but we can also understand it as a choice to plant ourselves where we are.

Following an eye-opening ceremony at ZNS's new location, a discussion of how we see the Buddha, and how buddhas see.

How do we commit to doing our best while honestly confronting the impossibility of getting it just right?

From Dogen's Zuimonki 6-17: "Forget not only the different views on the dharma, but also worldly affairs, and hunger and cold as well... When you listen with this attitude, you will be able to clarify the truth and resolve your questions."

On the legend and legacy of Bodhidharma, the first Zen ancestor in China.

We all want to be inspired, but inspiration can only get us so far. What do we feel, beyond inspiration, that drives us?

We know there's delusion, but what do we think we see if we see completely past delusion? Layer after layer, it's still our own creation. What do we do with that?

Why do we practice? Why do we gather in this way, sit in this way? Why do any of it? It starts with not knowing why.

How we hold the precepts and what we might get wrong.

On Buddhism, plateaus, and the idea that there are tools we can use to progress in the practice.