Vine of Obstacles Zen

Turning the light around

How Can We Carry the Jewel Close to Our Heart?

If you are not clear about this, turn the light around to illuminate, and then you'll know with great relief that the luminous jewel is what you are.

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Record of Going Easy

On Completing the Translation of the Record of Going Easy

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The Platform Sutra

On the Edge with The Platform Sutra

The Platform Sutra

The Key Barrier to Practicing Awakening

We must meet the barrier with that same direct, simple, subtlety.

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The Platform Sutra

The Oh-So-Subtle Point of Zen and Its Significance

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Exhausting suffering

What To Do When It Comes At You All At Once

The Platform Sutra Featured

Peace Isn't Luck: Then What is The Way?

"You say that there is no gradual progress, and yet Shakyamuni Buddha predicted my unsurpassed, perfect awakening. How can I get there?"

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The Platform Sutra

What is Awakening? Wandering Playfully in Samadhi

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Renunciation

The World is a Burning House: More on Renouncing Worldly Affairs

Zhiyi

Are You Ready for Urgent Practice? Twenty-five Considerations

"One-pointed creative application precisely distinguishes the Way."

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Koan

Shushan’s Long-Life Stupa: Improbable! Impossible!

Renunciation Featured

Renunciation Day: The Dreamlike Illusion is a Sham

To practice Zen deeply a person must swim up the cultural stream.

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Koan

Ow! The Rest of the One Finger

Solo retreat

This Entire Ten-Direction World is the Eye of a Practitioner: A Photo Essay from Solo Retreat

"This entire ten-direction world is the original self’s radiant light."

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Koan

Speak Truth Now!

Vine of Obstacles Zen Featured

A Review of Vine Writings in 2024 and What's Ahead in 2025

This site is dedicated to depth writing about Zen practice for folks like you who aspire to go deeply into the Buddha Way.

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Platform Sutra

A Year-End Thank You: The Platform Sutra's "Pivotal Affinities" Chapter

Kensho

True Kensho: An Ordinary Person Wakes Up

To commemorate the Buddha Shakyamuni's awakening - a repost from early 2024 of a householder's famous awakening experience in about 1750 and his post kensho work with Hakuin and the nun, Esho.

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Platform Sutra

How Do Experienced Practitioners Slide By Kensho?

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Platform Sutra

One-Night Awakening is Verified by the Sixth Ancestor - and Goes

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Zen teaching Featured

On Not Serving a Sangha: A Reflection on Zen Teaching

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Zen politics

An Unexplainable Election Truth as Zen Practice

Platform Sutra

Dharma Ocean's Pivotal Affinity with the Sixth Ancestor: Studying the Platform Sutra

"When absorption and wisdom are maintained equally/Within consciousness all is pure and clear."

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Record of Going Easy

What Color is the Cool Breeze? Fayan's Substance and Name

Adverse effects of meditation Featured

404 Adverse Meditation Experiences

"If one is able to skillfully apply the mind, then the four hundred and four kinds of disorders will naturally be cured." - Zhiyi