Thousand Harbours Zen

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.

On the stories we carry with us and don't know how to let go.

Dogen said, "When someone asks about the dharma or the essentials of practice, Zen monks must reply on the basis of the true dharma. Do not answer on the basis of expedient means that are not true, thinking the person is not a vessel (of the dharma), or is incapable of understanding because he is only a beginner."

Dogen said, "If you first change your physical behavior, your mind will be reformed as well."

On the parable of the burning house, skillful means, and lying.

On Buddhist teacher scandals and the notion that we should "not confuse the teachings with the teacher." Can we even do that? And if not, then what?

Dogen in "Record of Things Heard": "You must practice the Way with the attitude of a person owing a vast debt and being forced to return it despite being penniless. If you have this frame of mind, it is easy to attain the Way.'"

“I desire to practice the Way, but the world is in its last period (which is degenerate) and I have only inferior capabilities. I cannot endure the formal practice which accords with the dharma. I want to find an easier way which is suitable for me, make a connection, and attain enlightenment in the next lifetime.” Dogen replies, "This is entirely wrong."

Causation: how did we get here from there? And now what?

"We should not necessarily rely on the words of the ancients, but we should grasp just true reality." From Dogen's "Record of Things Heard" 4-2.

Buddhahood, artificial intelligence, and how we see ourselves in others.

“Associating with a good person is like walking through mist and dew; though you will not become drenched, gradually your robes will become damp.” From Dogen's "Record of Things Heard" 4-4.

What is the Big Thing? And how do we not lose sight of it?

From Dogen's "Record of Things Heard," 2-26: "As long as we only think about the buddhadharma with our minds, we will never grasp the Way, even in a thousand lifetimes or a myriad of eons."

An explanation of what we call the "private ceremony," a service we can perform at home every day.

From Dogen's "Record of Things Heard," 2-17: "You should spend your time carrying out what is worth doing. Among the things you should do, what is the most important?"

From Dogen's "Record of Things Heard," 1-15: "A student of the Way must cool his mind as if he were giving up his life, and consider if what he is about to say or do is in accordance with reality or not. If it is, he should say or do it."

From "Record of Things Heard" (Zuimonki) 1-13. Dogen: "You should believe your teacher if he says that buddha is nothing but a toad or an earthworm, and throw your former ideas away."

On the motivations and expectations we bring to practice—and what we actually find.

What's the gap between what we see and what's really there? On the Zen imperative to look beyond simple appearances.

How do we open ourselves to being inspired by our heroes without losing sight of them, and ourselves, as three-dimensional beings?

From a one-day retreat, a talk on Dogen's Genjo Koan and the idea that there's something we're missing.

Zen upholds the "ordinary," but when we aim for that, we end up somewhere else.

We imagine that clarity feels sure, and confusion feels uncertain, but there's another clarity in not knowing.

A reminder about interdependence and how we work so hard to convince ourselves that the things in our minds are real.

How can we respond to the things that are out of our control? What can we honestly offer?

How Buddhism can either make us complacent or clarify how and where to push for change.

Zen is not the work of awakening; it's awake work.

The fourth of the bodhisattva vows: "The awakened way is unsurpassable; I vow to embody it."