Teachings
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Katie Arnold: Brief Flashings in the Phenomenal World
August 29, 20241 min read
Ultramarathon runner, Zen practitioner, and author Katie Arnold shares her compelling story of running, Zen, writing, and living life - all through the lens of not-knowing and accepting uncertainty. Katie’s recent book, Brief Flashings in the Phenomenal World, emerged in the aftermath of her father’s death, her associated anxiety, and a life-altering accident that occurred while rafting a whitewater river. “Brief flashings,” she says, “are moments of wonder that make us feel alive and connected.”...
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Carmen Afable: Breathing Mu
August 22, 20241 min read
Zen teacher Carmen Afable grounds her teisho in Shoyoroku case #93: Roso Does Not Understand. After reading the case, Carmen reminds us that we are the treasure and pearl of great value discussed in the koan. She says, “the Kensho experience is right before our eyes but we cannot see it as we are full of our delusive selves.” But Mu is everywhere, and the entire universe is “Mu-ing.” We are Mu, the finest jewel....
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Sean Tetsudo Murphy: Demystifying No-Self
August 15, 20241 min read
Zen teacher, meditation professor, and author Sean Murphy invites us to consider our illusion of separateness, the notion that we have a sense of self as an independent creature within the world. Much of our suffering – loneliness, feeling unsafe, disconnection, anxiety, difficulty with others – may emerge from this sense of being fundamentally separate. Rather, our true reality is one as an integral part of the universe. He implies that we cannot remove ourselves...
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Shana Smith: Dharma Rain
August 8, 20241 min read
Shana begins by noting the concurrent and successive rainstorms both in her area of Florida and at Mountain Cloud in Santa Fe as an introduction to the understanding of oneness or unity of all phenomena in the essential that is realized through the practice of zazen. Recalling Dōgen’s argument that although all beings are inherently enlightened, practice is needed to realize it, Shana argues that “all of us do it according to our own unique...
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Natalie Goldberg: Everything is dharma
July 18, 20241 min read
Writer and Zen teacher Natalie Goldberg reads from her new book “Writing on Empty” and speaks about the value of noticing that something is always awake in us. In writing her new book Natalie finds language to finally express her experiences of her mother and other topics cracked open during the void of Covid. Natalie states, for her “there is no difference between writing and the dharma.” Both are practices; both initiate compassion. The talk...
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Valerie interviews scholar David Hinton
July 11, 20241 min read
Valerie interviews scholar and author David Hinton about his new book, “The Blue Cliff Record.” David speaks about several fascinating topics, for example “absence” and “presence.” Absence, David says, is the generative absence from which the 10,000 things arise. They live their lives, then dive back into absence where they are reconstituted into energy. Presence is the 10,000 things that absence forms itself into and forms empirical reality. (Yes, it is that kind of mind-expanding...
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June 13, 2024 Teisho with Valerie
June 13, 20241 min read
https://youtu.be/9kSatLpfx0Q
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Bill Bruce: The koan of the Earth
May 23, 20241 min read
In this teisho, Bill shares Susan Murphy Roshi's compelling, “Koan of the Earth.” Bill offers a quote from John Tarrant at the beginning of his talk, “Pessimism implies too much knowing.” In the 45 minutes it takes to read the koan we have the good fortune to consider the current precariousness of life/Earth, as well as our response to the current crisis. How might practice-realization or enlightenment help? Can we look deeply and see that...
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Carolyn Seburn: Shakyamuni holds up a flower
May 16, 20241 min read
In this teisho on Mumonkan case 6, “Shakyamuni Holds Up a Flower,” Carolyn Roshi notes that this koan is uniquely important as a record of the first transmission, the foundation moment of Buddhism. She notes that not a word is spoken at the key moment when Shakyamuni Buddha, on Vulture Peak, gave a teaching by simply holding up a flower. Among the many disciples in attendance, only Maha Kasyapa reacted, also wordlessly, by smiling. Recognizing...
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Sean Tetsudo Murphy: Creativity applied to Zen practice
May 9, 20241 min read
Remarking that along with structured activity in the zendo, Zen is also characterized by creativity and playfulness, especially in dokusan, Sean noted that this creativity can help keep zazen practice alive when we feel we are getting stuck and, without judging our zazen, discern that it is not working. Creative solutions include knowing when thoughts involve memories, future events, or judgments of the present, and instead recognize that the present moment, the reality of our...
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