TREELEAF ZENDO PODCAST
Episodes
Saturday Jun 27, 2015
June 2015 Talk - Why Zen Folks Fail - Part 4
Saturday Jun 27, 2015
Saturday Jun 27, 2015
Last time in this series on "Why Zen Folks FAIL!", we looked at NOT KNOWING HOW NOT TO CHASE! Folks don't know how to be totally still. This time, the reason "Zen Folks FAIL!" is because of complacently NOT KNOWING HOW TO CHASE! Folks don't know how to keep climbing and moving!
Saying about this life and world that "there is nothing in need of change" --does not-- mean "there is nothing in need of change". Simply because all things are "perfectly complete, just as they are", that --does not-- mean that all things are "perfectly complete, just as they are". Saying so is only from one beautiful perspective. In fact, to realize profoundly that "there is nothing in need of change", we must change our human tendencies of excess desire, anger, jealously and other divisive thoughts of ignorance. There is a lot about us in need of change in order to realize that nothing was ever in need of change from the first, not a drop.
Further reading and discussion for this talk are available on the Treeleaf forum:
SIT-A-LONG with Jundo: Why Zen Folks FAIL!! (4) - NOT CHASING ENOUGH! »
Saturday Jun 20, 2015
June 2015 Talk - Why Zen Folks Fail - Part 3
Saturday Jun 20, 2015
Saturday Jun 20, 2015
Many forms of Buddhist meditation center on seeking ... seeking benefits ranging from mystical states and insights, to simple relaxation and good health effects. These are great Practices, yet also feed the tendency so common to folks in modern, consumer societies to not know how to be truly still, content and whole ... for people in the West keep running after more, bigger, better, brighter. We want to be more focused, more peaceful, more enlightened ... We truly are hamsters on treadmills, and we do not know how to stop and turn spinning wheels into Enso!
Even many of the students and Teachers of so-called "Just Sitting" Zazen will bring a subtle greed into their sitting ... subtly and secretly demanding some profit and returns ... which robs the sitting of its greatest power. Oh, sure, they may become more peaceful, relaxed, accepting in life ... and that's something! But they are not truly "just sitting" in stillness ... rather, they are still "just demanding" even if in the backs of their minds. Modern, industrial people, it seems, find it so hard to just sit and be, whole and complete!
Further reading and discussion for this talk are available on the Treeleaf forum:
SIT-A-LONG with Jundo: Why Zen Folks FAIL!! (3) - CHASING »
Sunday Jun 07, 2015
June 2015 Zazenkai Dharma Talk
Sunday Jun 07, 2015
Sunday Jun 07, 2015
TODAY's TALK: Jijuyu-zanmai (The Self-Fulfilliing Samadhi / The still abiding taste of the self in self-fulfillment) by Menzan Zuiho Osho
Menzan Zuihō (面山瑞方, 1683-1769) was a Japanese Sōtō Zen scholar and abbot of the Zenjo-ji and Kuin-ji temples active during the Tokugawa era. Menzan's scholarship was part of the Tokugawa movement of returning to original historical sources to revitalize Zen (復古. "fukko" - "return to the old"), especially the works of Dōgen Zenji. Before Menzan the works of Dōgen were not widely studied or put into practice, and he helped revitalize the Sōtō school by analyzing and building on Dogen's writings. Menzan used Dōgen to promote a reform of the Sōtō sect, which included reforming the monastic code and meditation practice. Due to Menzan's efforts, Dōgen studies now occupies a central position in Sōtō Zen thought.Menzan was also involved in lecturing to the public and teaching laymen and laywomen meditation practice. One of his most famous works, the Buddha Samadhi (Jijuyu Zanmai) is addressed to laypeople and focuses on the teachings of Dōgen.
The reading for this talk is available in the Zazenkai forum thread.
June 2015 Zazenkai Forum Thread »
Sunday May 31, 2015
May 2015 Talk - Why Zen Folks Fail - Part 2
Sunday May 31, 2015
Sunday May 31, 2015
People fail at Zen because they think there is a place to fail. But in fact, THERE IS NO PLACE TO FAIL!
People fail at Zen because they think there is -no- place to fail. In fact, THERE ARE ENDLESS PLACES TO FAIL!
The biggest place to fail is to believe that there either is or is not places to fail. Better said, the trap is the failure to know that ONE CAN FAIL YET NOT FAIL AT ONCE!