Vine of Obstacles Zen

The Platform Sutra Featured

What is Shugyo 修行 (aka "Cultivating Conduct")?

"Shugyo refers to training the whole being in the most profound manner by taking the wisdom of awakening itself as the basis of training."

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Record of Going Easy

Not Two: Marvelous Function Without Limit

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The Platform Sutra

"Do I Need A Teacher or Not?" The Quirky Perspective of the Platform Sutra

Platform Sutra

The Platform Sutra's Nonabiding

"If you can clear away grasping mind, you will be permeated with non obstruction."

Platform Sutra

Problems With The Platform Sutra: Dogen

...if you have a problem with the buddhadharma and don't even consider the possibility that it might be your personal problem, you really aren't in that moment studying the buddhadharma.

The Platform Sutra

Problems With The Platform Sutra: Scholars

There is a strong consensus among Buddhist scholars that "The Platform Sutra" is not what it presents itself to be....

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Record of Going Easy

At All Times, Do Not Give Rise To Deluded Thoughts (Not)

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Kensho

Is Our Practice Sufficient? A Reflection On "A Deep Feeling of Inadequacy"

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Teacher-student

The Teacher-Student Relationship: Host and Guest

secret acts of kindness Featured

Secret Acts of Kindness and He Gets Us

Why not create a world of kindness together?

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Record of Going Easy

Do People Today Still Need Satori Or Not?

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Sunday dharma talk Featured

Which Is The True One?

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Record of Going Easy

Engrave It On Your Bones, Carve It In Your Flesh

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Hakuin Featured

True Kensho: An Ordinary Person Wakes Up

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Sesshin

Song of the Dragon Sesshin

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Record of Going Easy

This Breath Turns Millions Of Scrolls: An Invitation For The Ancestor To Go To East India

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Zhiyi Featured

Dharma Gates to the Sublime: Seeing, Turning, Purifying

Zhiyi Featured

Three Big Sublime Stopping Mistakes

... denial that stopping is possible, the exaggerated concern about attachment to stopping, and confusing stopping with seeing.

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Zhiyi Featured

Dharma Gates to the Sublime: Counting, Following, Stopping

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Neyaashi Zen Hermitage

Snowy Day, Big Ship

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Breath Featured

Aligning the Breath: Windy, Uneven, Ordinary, and Subtle

Vine of Obstacles Zen Featured

Vine Zen Writing: '23 Roundup and What's Coming in '24

I'm writing today to give you a quick and organized way to view what's been offered here from the Vine Writing Department over the last several months and what is probably coming in '24.

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Ten Line Kannon

Universal Gate: Context for Great Compassion Training with “The Ten Line Life Prolonging Kannon Sutra”

Hakuin

Breaking News: Hakuin Zenji Named Vine of Obstacles Zen Abbot Emeritus

"I want all of you to be aware that the study of Zen can effect a miraculous transformation that will change you to the very marrow of your bones." Hakuin Zenji

Koan

A Goose in a Bottle: How Will You Be Free?

Kannon Bodhisattva pays us a visit, drops their usual name and form, enters us, and turns in accord with the circumstances as they are.