Welcome to the
Zen Studies Podcast!
Study Buddhism Online for Free
- New episodes weekly!
- Listen to episodes in order in specific categories:
Buddhism Today
Buddhist History
Buddhist Practice
Buddhist Teachings
Buddhist Texts
Dharma Talks
Meditation
Zen Teachings
- Start at the beginning: Listen to all the episodes in order – or read the content instead!
- Subscribe via email to be notified of new weekly episodes (see sidebar to sign up)
- Subscribe via a podcatcher (like iTunes) to have the audio delivered to your podcast app (see sidebar)
- Browse and see what interests you! See Categories, Recent Posts, Series, look through the Glossary, or type a topic of interest in the search box.
How Can the Podcast Be Free?
I offer most of the content on the Zen Studies Podcast for free, because I want the Dharma (Buddhist teachings) to be available to everyone. Plus, I enjoy creating episodes – audio and text – about this ancient, incredibly rich spiritual tradition.
However, we all need to make a living, and I currently spend 15-20 hours a week on the podcast. Members support the podcast with a small monthly pledge. If you want to help me keep generating great content, consider becoming a member!
Recent Episodes
121 – The Practical Value of Awakening to the Absolute Aspect of Reality
Next week I’ll take a break from my busy life and projects in order to attend a silent meditation retreat. After spending the half-a-year since my last retreat immersed in the relative aspect of life, the absolute aspect of life will come to the fore. I hope to regain balance and see everything in a much larger context. In this episode, I talk about what that feels like, and the value of awakening to the absolute aspect of reality if you want be an effective agent for positive change in the relative world.
120 – Dogen’s Four Ways Bodhisattvas Embrace Living Beings – Part 5 – Identity Action
In this episode I finish up our study of 13th-century Zen master Dogen’s essay, “Bodaisatta Shishobo,” or what I’m calling the “Four Ways Bodhisattvas Embrace Living Beings,” with a discussion of "identity action," or "being in the same boat" with living beings. Even if you’re not a big fan of Zen texts, or of Dogen, I hope you’ll stick around because this episode is on the importance of a bodhisattva – the importance of any of us – making a practice of seeing ourselves as “being in the same boat” with other beings. Can you imagine how different our societies would be if we all tried to do this?
119 – Brightening the Mind: Refusing to be Tyrannized by Negative States
This episode is a Dharma Talk about how practice can help us “brighten the mind” when we’re feeling trapped in negativity, hopelessness, despair, discouragement, depression, lack of confidence, etc. We practice four steps: 1) Acknowledging (noticing and admitting how we’re feeling); 2) Taking some time to fully experience whatever it is we’re feeling, without trying to change it; 3) Exploring what’s going on within us, gently and nonjudgmentally, and 4) Engaging in an activity, like zazen, you know is calming and restorative.
Subscribe to the podcast:
Support the Podcast!
