Welcome to the
Zen Studies Podcast!
Study Buddhism Online for Free
- Three new episodes every month
- 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)
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- 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 all 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 spend 10-12 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
183 – Natural Koans: Engaging Our Limitations as Dharma Gates
Formal Zen koans are short stories or statements by past Chan/Zen masters which have been passed down through the generations for study and contemplation by Zen students. Each koan contains a Dharma teaching, and until you personally experience and digest that teaching, the koan remains a closed gate you need to pass through. On the other side of that gate is greater freedom, wisdom, and compassion. In this episode, I discuss “natural koans,” or Dharma gates that arise in our everyday lives, and how to work with them.
182 – Answers to Interview Questions from Eastern Horizon Magazine
In this episode, I share with you questions and answers from my 2020 written interview for Eastern Horizon, a tri-annual magazine of the Young Buddhist Association of Malaysia (YBAM). There are some basic questions about Zen, and then some questions about what Buddhism has to offer with respect to understanding and coping with the COVID-19 pandemic. Thought you might enjoy hearing a different kind of presentation, where I have kept my answers very succinct.
181 – Bodhicitta: Way-Seeking Mind, or the Mind of Enlightenment
Bodhicitta can be translated as Way-Seeking Mind, or the Mind of Enlightenment. Bodhicitta is the part of us that recognizes and seeks truth and goodness, inspiring our spiritual search and motivating our practice. In a sense, bodhicitta is the part of us that is already awakened, because without it we wouldn’t recognize or seek truth and goodness in the first place. In Mahayana Buddhism, bodhicitta is essential to the path and a cause for gratitude. It also can be seen as the primary source of redemption for humankind, even when it seems the world is dominated by greed, hate, and delusion.
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