Paid-members only Sunday Practice Session Sunday, June 28: Vine Practice Session Invitation You are invited to attend.
Members only Samdhinirmocana Sutra The Inexpressible Dharma Gushing Forth "Even though your throat, lips, and mouth are sealed shut, how will you speak?”" - Baizhang
Samdhinirmocana Sutra Happening Now in Buddha’s Mind: The Sutra That Explains the Profound Meaning Now we find ourselves in Buddha’s mind. The sutra says that this mind is vast and "well-apportioned," so there is room for everyone, you included.
Members only Samdhinirmocana Sutra Is There Someone Who Does Not Get Sick? “You extend your hands to the sky and chase after echoes, exhausting mind and body. Wake up from the dream and realize it was not. In the end, what is there to do?”
Nine Stages for Calming the Body-Mind Featured A Treasure from the Ancient Trailblazers: Nine Stages for Calming the Body-Mind This system ... demonstrates that it is possible to profoundly shut-up, specifically how to go about it, and exactly what remedies are fitting now.
Paid-members only Sunday Practice Session Sunday, May 17: Vine Practice Session Invitation (and Summer Study Information)
Members only Hokyo-ki Dogen's Private Notes from the Hokyo Era: Are We All Buddhas Just the Way We Are—Or Not? In the passage from Hokyo-ki highlighted in this post, Rujing clearly says that unless we awaken we are not Buddhas. So much for the dogma of nonattainment.
Hokyo-ki Dogen's Private Notes from the Hokyo Era: Immediately Extinguish the Flames from Your Head "With upright zazen, you return home and sit in peace."
Members only Hokyo-ki Featured Dogen's Private Notes from the Hokyo Era: The Just-Sit Koan “Zazen is the body-mind dropped off—when it is single-minded zazen, free of the five desires, and rid of the five hindrances.”
Members only Hokyo-ki Dogen's Private Notes from the Hokyo Era: The Interacting Communion of Appeal and Response And then there's the burning house of the whole human and nonhuman world. What can a practitioner do but to join palms and cry out, praying for the help of the Buddhas and Ancestors?
Members only Hokyo-ki Dogen's Private Notes from the Hokyo Era: What Was Dogen Thinking? In which Dogen denies that karmic hindrances are empty.
Hokyo-ki Dogen's Private Notes from the Hokyo Era: Obstructions or Picking and Choosing? "Taking a shower won’t fix your heart problems."
Members only Dogen Featured Dogen's Private Notes from the Hokyo Era: What Was Dogen Doing? "Liberated, they are mild and peaceful. Yet, the thunder roars.”
Hokyo-ki Dogen's Private Notes from the Hokyo Era: The Five and Six Hindrances Rujing's kufu is what works in any dharma method to be free of any hindrance.
Stages in practice Mountains are Not Given our predilection to dig into the original sources to see what unexamined and/or forgotten treasures lie there, you might not be surprised that we did it again. You'll find the results below.
Vine of Obstacles Zen Featured 15 Reasons to Become a Vine of Obstacles Zen Student If you are inclined to be put through the paces of a highly structured program designed for householders, you might find that Vine of Obstacles Zen is just the right place to find "no quarter for escape."
Paid-members only Sixth Ancestor Towering, Towering: The Death Gatha of the Sixth Ancestor and fixed sitting.
Dogen "How Much Zazen Should I Do?" No offense intended, but from what we've seen, probably a lot more than you are now doing.
Post-kensho training Falling Through No-Wall and Waking Up: Muso Soseki and Nurturing the Sacred Womb "No mind smashes the bones of the empty sky."
The Platform Sutra The Key Barrier to Practicing Awakening We must meet the barrier with that same direct, simple, subtlety.
