The Zen Studies Podcast
Episodes in Release Order
1 – How Does Zen Buddhism Fit Within the Context of Buddhism as a Whole?
2 – The Three Treasures of Buddhism: Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha
3 – Zazen (Seated Meditation) Part 1: What Zazen Is and How to Do It
4 – Zazen Part 2: How to Deal with Thinking, Stay Engaged, and Maintain a Practice
5 – Buddhist History 1: Arising of Buddhism Part 1 of 2 – Historical and Religious Context
6 – Buddhist History 2: Arising of Buddhism Part 2 of 2 – New Religious Developments
7 – Dharma Talk – Beyond Mindfulness: The Radical Practice of Undivided Presence
8 – It-with-a-Capital-I: The Zen Version of God
9 – Shakyamuni Buddha’s Enlightenment: What Did He Realize?
10 – What Is “Zen Practice” Anyway?
11 – Buddhist History 3: Life of Shakyamuni Buddha Part 1 – Birth through Homeleaving
12 – Buddhist History 4: Life of Shakyamuni Buddha Part 2 – Before and After Enlightenment
13 – What Zen “Acceptance” and “Non-Attachment” Really Are
14 – Buddha’s Teachings Part 1: The Three Marks and the Teaching of Not-Self (Anatta)
15 – To Study Buddhism Is to Study the Self (and Why That’s Not Selfish)
16 – Sangha: The Joys, Challenges, and Value of Practicing in a Buddhist Community
17 – Buddhist History 5: Life of Shakyamuni Buddha Part 3 – Early Teaching and Sangha
18 – Zen Forms (Customs and Rituals) and Why They Matter
19 – The Heart Sutra Part 1: Introduction to the Most Common Mahayana Text
20 – The Heart Sutra Part 2: Line by Line Explanation, Continued
21 – Sesshin: 24-7 Silent Meditation Retreats
22 – How Buddhists Should Behave: Evolution of the Buddhist Precepts Part 1
23 – How Buddhists Should Behave: Evolution of the Buddhist Precepts Part 2
24 – Deepen Your Zazen by Not Getting Stuck in Satisfaction or Dissatisfaction
25 – Work as Spiritual Practice According to Dogen’s “Instructions to the Cook” – Part 1
26 – Work as Spiritual Practice According to Dogen’s “Instructions to the Cook” – Part 2
27 – Buddha’s Teachings Part 2: The Four Noble Truths
28 – Listener’s Questions: The Teaching of Rebirth and Too Much Thinking During Zazen
29 – Six Realms of Existence Part 1: Introduction and the Heaven Realm
30 – Six Realms of Existence Part 2: Asura, Beast, and Hell Realms
31 – Six Realms of Existence Part 3: Hungry Ghost and Human Realms
32 – The Practice of Not-Knowing: Relief, Intimacy, and Ground for Effective Action
33 – Buddhist History 6: Life of Shakyamuni Buddha Part 4 – More Teachings and Stories
34 – Dogen’s Genjokoan Part 1: Non-Duality, Intimacy, and Enlightenment
35 – Dogen’s Genjokoan Part 2: Our Experience of Absolute and Relative
36 – Buddha’s Teachings Part 3: The Noble Eightfold Path
37 – Dogen’s Genjokoan Part 3: Seeking, Self-Nature, and the Matter of Life-and-Death
38 – The Two Sides of Practice: Samadhi Power and Karma Relationship
39 – Buddhist History 7: Indian Buddhism After the Buddha – The First 200 Years
40 – Being Beneficial Instead of Right: The Buddhist Concept of Skillful Means
41 – Dogen’s Genjokoan Part 4: Moon in a Dewdrop and Views of the Ocean
42 – Buddha’s Teachings Part 4: Right Speech – Factual, Helpful, Kind, Pleasant, and Timely
43 – The Value of Buddhist Prayer Part 1: Paradox of Prayer in a Nontheistic Spiritual Tradition
44 – The Value of Buddhist Prayer Part 2: Aid-Seeking If There’s No God
45 – The Value of Buddhist Prayer Part 3: Prayer for Personal Transformation
46 – Dogen’s Genjokoan Part 5: Birds Fly, Fish Swim, a Zen Master Waves a Fan
47 – How to Guide Your Own Meditation Part 1: Do Something, Don’t Just Fall Asleep
48 – How to Guide Your Own Meditation Part 2: First-Person Stories
49 – Buddhist History 8: Aśoka, First Buddhist Emperor – Facts and Legend – Part 1
50 – Buddhist History 8: Aśoka, First Buddhist Emperor – Facts and Legend Part 2
51 – Profound, Practical, Mutable: Dharma Transmission in Zen – Part 1
52 – Profound, Practical, Mutable: Dharma Transmission in Zen – Part 2
53 – Buddha’s Teachings Part 5: Karma, the Law of Moral Cause-and-Effect
54 – You Don’t Need to Improve or Get Anything to Fulfill the Buddha Way
55 – Listener’s Questions: Enlightened Behavior, Openings, Chanting, Recommended Books
56 – Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva and the Power of Compassion
57 – Dogen’s Bendowa Part 1: What’s the Big Deal about Zazen?
58 – Dogen’s Bendowa Part 2: Inconceivable Dharma, Practice, and Realization
59 – Buddha’s Teachings Part 6: The Three Poisons as the Root of All Evil
60 – Taking Refuge and Precepts: The Significance of Becoming a Buddhist – Part 1
61 – Taking Refuge and Precepts: The Significance of Becoming a Buddhist – Part 2
62 – Listener’s Questions: Practicing with Mental Illness
63 – Buddha’s Teachings 7: The Four Brahmaviharas, or Sublime Social Attitudes – Part 1
64 – Shikantaza: Having the Guts to Just Sit and Let Go of Doing Anything
65 – Dealing with Fear, Anger, and Hatred as a Buddhist
Special Announcement: Launch of the Zen Studies Sangha
66 – Buddha’s Teachings 8: The Four Brahmaviharas, or Sublime Social Attitudes – Part 2
67 – Relating to Buddhist Teachings 1: Their Abundance, Diversity & Authenticity
68 – Relating to Buddhist Teachings 2: Wrestling with the Teachings
69 – The Soto Zen Goal of Goallessness: How to Awaken Without Trying
70 – Buddhist Practice: Dealing with Intrusive Thoughts and Emotions
71 – Buddha’s Teachings 9: The Four Brahmaviharas, or Sublime Social Attitudes – Part 3
72 – Taking Care of Our Lives: More About the Karma Relationship Side of Practice
73 – Is Buddhism Religious, Spiritual, or Secular?
74 – Sekito Kisen’s Sandokai: The Identity of Relative and Absolute – Part 1
75 – Sekito Kisen’s Sandokai: The Identity of Relative and Absolute – Part 2
76 – Western Zen Grows Up and Faces the Koan of Race – Part 1
77 – Western Zen Grows Up and Faces the Koan of Race – Part 2
78 – The Ten Oxherding Pictures: Stages of Practice When You’re Going Nowhere
79 – Buddha’s Teachings 10: The Four Foundations of Mindfulness
80 – Four Foundations of Mindfulness Practice and Similarities in Zen
81 – Five Steps for Positive Change without Waging War on the Self
82 – Buddhist History 10: Early Indian Buddhism – Stupas and Devotional Practice – Part 1
83 – Two Paths to Meditative Concentration: Directed Effort Versus Letting Go – Part 1
84 – Two Paths to Meditative Concentration: Directed Effort Versus Letting Go – Part 2
85 – I Shouldn’t Feel Like This: A Practitioner’s Conundrum
86 – Samvega and Pasada: Two Buddhist Emotions Indispensable for Practice
87 – Nyoho: Making Even Our Smallest, Mundane Actions Accord with the Dharma – Part 1
88 – Nyoho: Making Even Our Smallest, Mundane Actions Accord with the Dharma – Part 2
89 – Buddhist Practice as a Lifelong Path of Growth and Transformation
90 – Buddhist History 11: Early Indian Buddhism – Stupas and Devotional Practice – Part 2
91 – Unethical Buddhist Teachers: Were They Ever Really Enlightened?
92 – Buddha’s Teachings 11: The Five Hindrances – Part 1
2019-03-15 Off-Week Book Review: Why Buddhism Is True
93 – Buddha’s Teachings 12: The Five Hindrances – Part 2
94 – Buddha’s Teachings 13 – The Five Hindrances – Part 3
95 – Lineage in Buddhism: The Intersection Between the Individual and the Collective Tradition
96 – A Zazen Pamphlet: Essential (and Brief) Instructions for the Practice of Zazen
97 – Twelve Pali Canon Suttas Every Buddhist Should Know – Part 1
98 – Nine Fields of Zen Practice 1: Zazen, Dharma Study, and Cultivating Insight
99 – Nine Fields of Zen Practice 2: Precepts, Opening the Heart, and Connecting with the Ineffable
100 – Twelve Pali Canon Suttas Every Buddhist Should Know – Part 2
101 – The Koan of Awakening: Do You Know the Essential Truth Yet, Or Not?
102 – Nine Fields of Zen Practice 3: Nyoho, Karma Work, and Bodhisattva Activity
103 – Twelve Pali Canon Suttas Every Buddhist Should Know – Part 3
104 – Buddhists: It’s Time to Address the Climate Emergency
105 – Dogen’s Shishobo: The Four Ways Bodhisattvas Embrace Living Beings – Part 1
106 – Dogen’s “Four Ways Bodhisattvas Embrace Living Beings” – Part 2 – Giving
107 – Active Hope 1: Finding and Enacting Our Best Response to the World’s Suffering
108 – Buddha’s Teachings 14: The Five Skandhas as Focus for the Practice of Not-Self (Anatta)
109 – What Does Buddhism Have to Say About Mass Shootings?
110 – How Understanding Impermanence Can Lead to Great Appreciation
111 – You Can’t Hold on to Stillness: Practice in Activity
112 – Dogen’s “Four Ways Bodhisattvas Embrace Living Beings” – Part 3 – Loving Words
Talk at San Francisco Zen Center: A Sermon for Buddhists in the Climate Crisis
113 – Clarification: It’s Okay to Use Multiple Types of Meditation
114 – Why Your (Real) Happiness Benefits Others
115 – Dogen’s Four Ways Bodhisattvas Embrace Living Beings – Part 4 – Beneficial Action
116 – Do You Need a Zen or Buddhist Teacher?
117 – Clarifying the Mind Ground According to Keizan’s “Zazen-Yojinki”
118 – Buddha’s Teachings 15: Nibbana (Nirvana) as the Ultimate Goal
119 – Brightening the Mind: Refusing to be Tyrannized by Negative States
120 – Dogen’s Four Ways Bodhisattvas Embrace Living Beings – Part 5 – Identity Action
121 – The Practical Value of Awakening to the Absolute Aspect of Reality
122 – Meditation Is NOT About Stopping Thoughts
123 – Engaging Our Climate Emergency as a Koan and Opportunity
124 – The Buddhist Practice of Vow: Giving Shape to Our Lives
125 – Liberation Through Understanding the Five Wisdom Energies
126 – Crisis Buddhism: Sustainable Bodhisattva Practice in a World on Fire – Part 1
127 – Bearing Witness: Exposing Ourselves to the Suffering in the World (Crisis Buddhism Part 2)
128 – Taking Action: Getting Out of the House and Helping Others (Crisis Buddhism Part 3)
129 – Why Is Self-Esteem Essential When the Self is Empty?
130 – Practicing with Fear in Buddhism
131 – Facing Impermanence? Fortunately, Buddhism Is All About Life and Death
