Vine of Obstacles Zen

The Many Beings Are Numberless: A Brief Reflection on Translation

Question A student on the Vine of Obstacles recently asked, "Our translation of the first Great Vow is 'The many beings are numberless, vowing to carry them across.' The group I practiced with previously used a different translation, 'All beings, one body, I vow to liberate.

Mu koan

Koans and Confusion

Three Marks and Ouch! Ouch!

Awakening Featured

Practicing Awakening in These Very Times

This talk is from 2021. It was supposed to be about Cyber Zen, given my experience with such and the pandemic it seemed a fitting topic. However, I spent most of the time talking about the importance of awakening in our Soto tradition, telling a bunch of awakening stories of

Lake Superior Today - April 23, 2022

Dogen

"Dōgen's Great And..." Series Table of Contents

Tetsu Gikai

Seven Stumbles, Eight Blunders: The Life of Tetsu Gikai

What you'll find here is a deep dive into the life of Tetsu Gikai (Pervading Clarity Justice Mediator), the third ancestor in the Japanese Sōtō succession, not to glorify him, but as inspiration for your own practice now.

One Track Zen Conversation at SparkZen!

One Track ZenListen now (48 min) | A Conversation with Dosho Port RoshiSpark ZenRev. Shoren Heather Here's a podcast, a conversation with Heather Shoren Iarusso, a longtime priest in the San Francisco Zen Center system. She's now the coordinator for their online program. I had a lot

Rujing

Praise for the Old Buddha Rújìng and His Dying Poem

"A poisonous thorn in the eye - ouch! - pull it out and throw it away. Do prostrations, burn incense, overturn everything and put it down bluntly."

Going Through the Mystery

Going Through the Mystery Question 19: What is the One Push?

Going Through the Mystery

Going Through the Mystery's 100 Questions: 18 No Place Not Known

Going Through the Mystery

Going Through the Mystery's One Hundred Questions: 2 What is Crossing Over?

Koan

Who Hears?

Rujing

Punning, Toileting, and Purifying: the Awakening of Rújìng

“Like how can you purify that which has never been defiled?”

Hakuin

Hakuin Zenji Post Index For Wild Fox Zen Blog

Hakuin

Hakuin's Single Hand

Going Through the Mystery

Going Through the Mystery's One Hundred Questions: Question 1: What Place is Smooth?

Mu koan

The Mu Koan: Eight Don'ts and One Do

The Art of Zen Meditation

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Breath

How to Tune with Breath and Precepts

Paid-members only

Suzuki Rōshi on Kenshō, Householder Practice, and Rinzai Zen

Compassion

Another Big Ugly Myth: "Zen Lacks A Compassion Practice"

The True Intention of Buddhas and Ancestors: A Seminar on Zen in Translation

Going Through the Mystery

Going Through The Mystery's One Hundred Questions, Question 6: What Realizes True Nature?

Awakening

We Are All This Luminous Mind: The Possibility and Importance of Awakening

An article by me (with the help of many friends) that appeared in Tricycle, 1/29/22. Their heading: "A Zen view of what awakening is and isn’t, with personal stories from contemporary practitioners."