Teachings
-
How does an Awakened Person Perceive the World, Part 4 of 4
August 31, 20157 min read
I came to realize clearly that mind is nothing other than rivers and mountains and the great wide earth, the sun and the moon and the stars. -Dogen Click to read Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 of David Loy's How does an Awakened Person Perceive the World? Nonduality Traherne’s account builds upon itself, becoming more moving and profound, until it reaches a climax: “The streets were mine, the temple was mine, the people were mine, their...
Read more -
Case 11, Book of Equanimity. Unmon’s Two Sicknesses
August 27, 20151 min read
Episode Description: Henry explicates Master’s Unmon’s teaching on the “Two Sicknesses.” Learn about Master Unmon’s early practice and awakening under the two masters Bokushu and Seppo. Find out how Unmon’s “two sicknesses” are actually four diseases, which give us a kind of road-map of training in meditation. Henry correlates these sicknesses with the famous Zen Ox-herding pictures, and shows how Master Unmon’s profound teaching is pointing us toward “traceless enlightenment.” Post Image Credit: Enlightenment , by Hartwig HKD,...
Listen to the talk -
How does an Awakened Person Perceive the World? Part 3 of 4
August 24, 20154 min read
If the doors of perception were cleans’d, everything would be seen as it really is, infinite. -William Blake Although form is not other than emptiness, it’s also true that emptiness not other than form. -Heart Sutra Read Part 1 and Part 2 of David Loy's, How does an Awakened Person Perceived the World? Emptiness “Eternity was manifest in the Light of the Day, and something infinite behind everything appeared…” Traherne does not mention God, except at the very end...
Read more -
Progress / Regress
August 22, 20152 min read
...this Way is a path: every moment is a path. One of the marvels of the Zen way is that you can actually never regress on the path. You can’t lose ground. You can’t fall back or drop back or reverse the progress. But it can surely feel like it. We could look at this two ways... First, whatever is arising at any moment is always the path itself, the Way. How could there be such as thing...
Read more -
Think Not-thinking
August 20, 20151 min read
Episode Description: Henry shares some thoughts on Yakusan's famous dialogue on meditation. A monk asks, “What do you think about when you meditate?” Yakusan answers, “Think not-thinking.” Henry relates this to master Dogen’s own profound awakening, in which he experienced “body and mind falling away,” and to the many writings and teachings that flowed from this life-resolving experience. Henry then turns to the Stoic Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius’s writings on peace of mind, and shows how...
Listen to the talk -
How does an Awakened Person Perceive the World? Part 2 of 4
August 17, 20154 min read
Eternity was manifest in the Light of the Day… -Traherne Click here to read Part 1 of David Loy's exploration, How does an Awakened Person Perceive the World? Light and Ecstasy The world that Traherne describes is incredibly beautiful and blissful. The trees ‘transported and ravished’ him, their unusual beauty made his heart leap ‘and almost mad with ecstasy.’ And he is specific about the nature of that loveliness, referring again and again to the luminosity of things:...
Read more -
Zen: A Long Hard Path
August 13, 20151 min read
Episode Description: In this talk, Henry explores the dedication required for long term Zen practice. He quotes Rilke’s words, “Everything in nature tries to become itself against all opposition,” and considers Gustav Mahler’s “Song of the Earth,” which centers around a set of Tang dynasty poems. Henry places Zen in the historical context of the Tang period in China, when many of the koans we study originated. The Tang period was culturally rich but also catastrophic,...
Listen to the talk -
How does an Awakened Person Perceive the World? Part 1 of 4
August 10, 20154 min read
The corn was orient and immortal wheat, which never should be reaped, nor was ever sown. -Thomas Traherne David Loy explores the nature of reality, and ourselves, when we experience the world as it really is. How does an enlightened person perceive the world? Obviously, that’s an important question for non-dualists including Advaitins and Buddhists. ‘Waking up’ – attaining moksha or nirvana, experiencing satori, realizing your true nature, etc. – is the ultimate goal for both, and we naturally...
Read more -
Case 7 Book of Equanimity. Master Yakusan Ascends the Rostrum, Part 2 of 2
August 6, 20151 min read
Episode Description: This talk continues with Case 7, “Yakusan Ascends the Rostrum,” exploring Yakusan’s own process of transformation. It begins by reflecting on how revolutionary Zen practice is -- an overturning of how we think things are. Yakusan offers a great example of how to proceed in this revolution: “Sit down and be silent.” Henry discusses how Zen lacks an object to venerate, unlike theistic religions with their deities. For Yakusan, the object of veneration is...
Listen to the talk