The Daily Zen Teisho

West Mountain Evening Talk – Part 2

Daily Zen — Fri, 06 Nov 2026 15:17:26 +0000

Muso’s story of his experience is an honest account of the many starts and turns into blind alleys that sound familiar. Who hasn’t been lost at times in the study of Buddhism?

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Bloodstream Sermon – Part 4

Daily Zen — Tue, 03 Nov 2026 12:17:12 +0000

Bodhidharma is considered the founder of Zen, bringing the teaching to China from India in 520 AD. The story of his life and teachings is almost mythological in that most of his teachings were not written down.

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Avoiding Foxes and Dogs

Daily Zen — Thu, 29 Oct 2026 11:03:13 +0000

Occasionally, readers write that they have difficulty understanding some of the journals and seem a bit perplexed about what to do when they hit something they don’t immediately get. What I like about this selection is that Yuan-hsien hands us some very concrete directions about “looking into a saying.”

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“Do not grasp another’s bow”

Daily Zen — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 17:24:02 +0000

Whenever we are reading part of a letter to a practitioner written hundreds of years ago, we are attempting to bridge time and cultural barriers. Because we all share the same sense of adventure and quest for truth, no matter how many years intervene, we share the same spark that drives explorers everywhere.

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The Living Method of Turning the Light Around

Daily Zen — Tue, 20 Oct 2026 16:05:09 +0000

While this method of “turning the light around” seems very simple and direct, there is still some room for further translation. All the various approaches to meditation seem to have a technique that gives us something to hold onto: counting one’s breath, then watching one’s breath; using mantra, asking “Who am I?”; visualization, all as means to focus one’s attention.

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Letter to Masanori Yuno, February 1977

Daily Zen — Sun, 11 Oct 2026 16:48:15 +0000

Yokoyama was one of the most unusual Soto Zen monks whose life reminds one of another ordained monk, Ryokan, who is best known for his poetry and love of playing with children. Neither one of them served as head of a temple or trained other monks. Their choice to live without ceremony or pretension demonstrated a purity of practice expressed through everyday life

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The Wise Ones of Old

Daily Zen — Mon, 05 Oct 2026 09:49:53 +0000

To say too much about Taoism can interfere with another’s own direct experience of intuitive understanding. Having read this piece many times in the past, I see how often it takes multiple readings to reveal deeper insights.

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Five Points in Buddhist Practice

Daily Zen — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 15:15:00 +0000

Shosan was born into a warrior family in 1579 and lived through one of the most war-torn times of Japanese history. At age 12, he was adopted by a member of a seventy-man horse troop and thus began his life as a samurai.

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The World of Intensive Practice

Daily Zen — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 19:04:00 +0000

Reading this piece reminds me of listening to a piece of classical music. Each movement transitions so skillfully into the next that we are barely aware that we have just entered a new room filled with new tempos and phrasing, all skillfully balanced around the theme of zazen as the bedrock of our lives.

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Sermons – Part 2

Daily Zen — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 13:50:19 +0000

Some pieces are overwhelming as we try to absorb the depth communicated. Ma-tsu is delivering a sermon to monks who, just like us, have been practicing for various numbers of years.

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Sermons – Part 2

Daily Zen — Sat, 19 Sep 2026 08:27:27 +0000

There are numerous sutras, teachings of the Masters, and enlightenment stories in the history of Buddhism and Zen. There are times when we read these writings and feel a million miles away from enlightenment, Nirvana, or equanimity.

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The Wayseeker

Daily Zen — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 18:01:44 +0000

Dropping gaining mind in practice is a huge step; in the beginning, we are all awonder at these marvelous “results” of meditation and when they might appear.

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Readings from Sun Face Buddha

Daily Zen — Wed, 02 Sep 2026 08:37:00 +0000

I’ve built a grass hut where there’s nothing of value. After eating, I relax and enjoy a nap. When the hut was completed, fresh weeds appeared. Now it’s been lived in-covered by weeds. The person in the hut lives here calmly, Not stuck to inside, outside, or in-between.

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The Ryumon-ji Sermons – The Unborn Part 3

Daily Zen — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 08:48:00 +0000

For those of us who have read the stories of Zen masters’ lives, Bankei’s enlightenment story is among the more powerful ones. His dedication is inspiring, and his insights shared from that ground give us a rich perspective on his deceptively simple-sounding teaching.

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The Fundamental Expedient Teachings

Daily Zen — Thu, 20 Aug 2026 17:20:29 +0000

This translation comes from the Tun-huang documents discovered in Cave 17 sometime around 1900. While we don’t usually explore where these translations actually come from, this story deserves some attention.

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Illusion = Satori

Daily Zen — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 14:18:15 +0000

At times we feel like we are “successfully” walking with a foot in both worlds where illusion and reality seem balanced. Similar to walking a balance beam, we adjust our heart/mind and respond to what is happening within and without with a sense of naturalness.

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King of Samadhis

Daily Zen — Sun, 09 Aug 2026 18:44:00 +0000

Most of what we have read or heard about sitting meditation has come from contemporary vehicles for Buddhism. This lovely piece, King of Samadhis, helps communicate the direct teaching of sitting meditation expounded hundreds of years ago to monks in Dogen’s assembly.

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The Platform Sutra

Daily Zen — Fri, 07 Aug 2026 12:11:19 +0000

Many of us are familiar with the first part of the Platform Sutra, recounting the story of Huineng’s life and how he obtained the robe and bowl after arriving at the monastery as a commoner.

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To Live is Just to Live

Daily Zen — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 16:34:00 +0000

All of us have been known to complicate our lives and our practice at times. We overthink problems, over-dwell on emotional states from time to time, and try to quantify where we are in practice. To simply sit without the complications, the trappings of practice, even something this simple, can be challenging for us.

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Shikantaza

Daily Zen — Wed, 22 Jul 2026 15:48:22 +0000

Time to return to the beginning with Spring/Fall around the corner. Many of you have asked for more instruction on beginning meditation.

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Informal Talks

Daily Zen — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 10:38:03 +0000

Dogen speaks clearly about the mind that seeks the way and how to maintain the intensity of practice over time. We couldn’t ask for a world of more distraction than the one we currently inhabit.

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What is the Way?

Daily Zen — Mon, 13 Jul 2026 11:17:47 +0000

There are always layers of understanding and misunderstanding in practice. It is similar to a snake shedding its skin; at one stage that is the only protection it has; then, at some point it is time to expand and let go of that empty skin that no longer serves.

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Divine Light

Daily Zen — Thu, 09 Jul 2026 11:38:18 +0000

In the beginning, I was seeking that one essential point to connect with, to focus on, which would allow me a foundation that didn’t clutter up the mind with too many concepts or formulas, or rules.

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Zazen

Daily Zen — Fri, 26 Jun 2026 13:01:14 +0000

There’s room in practice for many kinds of students; at some stage in practice, we have been them all. Everything is in a constant state of change, including us, and anything we think we understand about zazen is to be discarded to make room for even vaster insights.

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Skeletons

Daily Zen — Fri, 19 Jun 2026 15:50:00 +0000

Death, the great equalizer, has a way of bringing life into a different kind of focus. Ikkyu’s skeletons share teachings from their point of view, which is accessible to those of us who remember we too will be those skeletons, and in fact carry them with us daily.

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