215 – We Will Die Soon: Contemplating Impermanence to Motivate Practice

215 – We Will Die Soon: Contemplating Impermanence to Motivate Practice

by | Sep 12, 2022 | Buddhist Teachings

From the time of the Buddha, Buddhists have spent time contemplating impermanence – often by deliberately meditating on their own mortality and eventual death. This practice isn’t for everyone, but it can help motivate us stay motivated to practice, focus on our deepest aspirations, take responsibility for our karma, maintain equanimity, and remember the preciousness of this moment. It can also lead to profound insights about the nature of the self.

214 – How Do You DO Zazen, Anyway?

214 – How Do You DO Zazen, Anyway?

by | Aug 31, 2022 | Meditation

Offering you another episode on zazen risks me repeating myself, but I don’t think it hurts to offer a fresh new talk on zazen periodically. The practice – while profoundly simple – also can be frustratingly elusive. What are you supposed to do during zazen, anyway? We’re told to just sit, and then allow thoughts to come and go, neither chasing them nor pushing them away. Is that it? In this episode I explore exactly what we’re supposed to be doing in zazen, and how to know if we’re doing it correctly.

213 – Deconstruyendo el Yo: ¿Qué aspectos son buenos y cuáles causan sufrimiento?

213 – Deconstructing Self: Which Aspects Are Fine, and Which Cause Suffering?

by | Aug 20, 2022 | Buddhist Practice

The core teaching of Zen is that understanding the true nature of self is of the utmost importance to living a life that is liberated, compassionate, generous, wise, and skillful. Mindful examination of a subject like the self classically involves something akin to deconstruction; once we recognize the component parts of something, our sense of it as monolithic thing or force is undermined. I parse “the self” into six aspects, and discuss how each relates to our practice.

212 – La Sabiduría del Juego

212 – La Sabiduría del Juego

by | Aug 12, 2022 | Spanish Translations

Category:  Práctica Budista, Textos Budistas ~ Translator: Claudio Sabogal Click here for audio + English version of Episode 212   Cuando jugamos de todo corazón, nos enfrentamos al mundo con energía, alegría,...
212 – La Sabiduría del Juego

212 – The Wisdom of Play

by | Aug 11, 2022 | Buddhist Practice, Buddhist Texts

When we play wholeheartedly, we engage the world with energy, joy, lightheartedness, and enthusiasm, welcoming challenge and enjoying our activity for its own sake. We rarely have the same attitude toward our work, responsibilities, difficulties, or even our Buddhist practice. What if we did? Zen Master Hongzhi suggests a playful attitude might actually be an enlightened one.

211 – Book Review – Kosho Uchiyama’s “Opening the Hand of Thought”

211 – Book Review – Kosho Uchiyama’s “Opening the Hand of Thought”

by | Jul 30, 2022 | Book Reviews

Uchiyama Roshi’s Opening the Hand of Thought is a great book for the beginner as well as the advanced practitioner of Zen. Uchiyama manages to balance philosophical discussion of the most challenging Zen topics – the nature of zazen, and awakening to universal self – with a compassionate, down-to-earth, creative (and sometimes humorous) style that makes you think, “I just might get it this time!”

208 – Nueve Beneficios de la Práctica Budista en Tiempos Difíciles

208 – Nine Benefits of Buddhist Practice in Difficult Times

by | Jun 30, 2022 | Buddhist Practice

How can practice help us deal with the strong negative emotions we experience in difficult times, such as anger, hatred, fear, or despair? Fortunately, Buddhist practice is a powerful way to decrease our pain, agitation, reactivity, and preoccupation no matter what difficulties we’re facing, whether the challenges are in our personal lives or out in the world. I talk about nine benefits of Buddhist practice that are especially helpful when you’re facing difficult times. 

207 – Zendo Tierra, Zendo Nube, Una Sangha: La Comunidad Budista en la Era Digital – Parte 2

207 – Dirt Zendo, Cloud Zendo, One Sangha: Buddhist Community in the Digital Age – Part 2

by | Jun 25, 2022 | Buddhism Today

In the last episode, I talked about the new phenomenon of a virtual space for practice, including its merits and benefits. In this episode, I talk about the merits of practicing in a “Dirt Zendo” – a physical practice space, in-the-flesh. I then describe, at Bright Way Zen, we are attempting to create a sense of Sangha that connects and includes anyone who practices with us, regardless of whether they participate in-the-flesh, online (in our Cloud Zendo), or both.

207 – Zendo Tierra, Zendo Nube, Una Sangha: La Comunidad Budista en la Era Digital – Parte 2

206 – Dirt Zendo, Cloud Zendo, One Sangha: Buddhist Community in the Digital Age – Part 1

by | Jun 7, 2022 | Buddhism Today

Since COVID lockdown, Buddhist communities have greatly expanded their online practice opportunities. Virtual spaces are surprisingly effective for practice and building a sense of Sangha. Many Buddhist and Zen centers are now facing the prospect of permanently including options for virtual participation, which brings many opportunities but also many challenges. I discuss how the virtual and physical practice spaces look at my Zen center, and how we structure hybrid meetings. Then I talk about the merits of what we call the “Cloud Zendo.” In my next episode, I’ll discuss the merits of a good old-fashioned physical practice space, which we call the “Dirt Zendo,” and the ways my Zen center is trying to integrate and care for both of our Zendos and create a sense of being one Sangha.

205 – Motivación para la práctica: ¿Qué amas más profundamente?

205 – Motivation for Practice: What Do You Love Most Deeply?

by | May 28, 2022 | Buddhist Practice

In order to find motivation for diligent practice, it can help to identify and connect with what you love more than anything else in the whole world. What love makes your life worth living? Love for your children, grandchildren, animals, nature, music, beauty, justice, knowledge? What or who arouses an unconditional sense of affinity and inspiration in the core of your being? Then practice for the subject of your love, because practice makes you better able to access, express, and manifest your love.

204 – La Naturaleza de Buda: ¿Qué Diablos Es y Cómo la Realizamos? Parte 2

204 – Buddha-Nature: What the Heck is It and How Do We Realize It? Part 2

by | May 21, 2022 | Buddhist Teachings

This is my second episode on one of the central teachings of Mahayana Buddhism, that all beings have Buddha-Nature (buddhata). In the first episode I discussed the view of human nature in original Buddhism and why the teaching of Buddha-Nature may have arisen in response to it. Then I talked about the beauty of the Buddha-Nature teaching along with some of its potential pitfalls. In this episode I discuss more about what Buddha-Nature is and is not, how we can benefit from this teaching, and in what sense having Buddha-Nature is a good thing even before you awaken to it.

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