Teisho Today Archives
Welcome to the Teisho Today archives, where we present our most recent Daily Zen Journals as audio files for your enjoyment. Over time, we aim to have the entire library of journals available in this format; however, this is a work in progress, as the first journal was released in 1998, and this is now 2026!
Join us on this journey as Daily Zen evolves and grows into the present moment, heading into our 25th year.
The Teishos are also available wherever you get your podcasts.
Awakening
When I was a young person, at the beginning of my life, I looked at nature and saw that all things are subject to decay and death and thus to sorrow.
West Mountain Evening Talk – Part 3
The Master said, “Bukko Zenji’s advice to his disciple Bukkoku goes: ‘I doubt that many students in Japan will attain satori in their lifetimes. Some students in this country tend to admire intellectual understanding instead of trying to attain satori.
Transmission of Mind -Questions from the Wan Ling Record – Part 10
Outside Mind, there is nothing. The green hills which everywhere meet your gaze and that void sky that you see glistening above the earth—not a hairsbreadth of any of them exists outside the concepts you have formed for yourself! So it is that every single sight and sound is but the Buddha’s Eye of Wisdom.
Dream Conversations On Buddhism and Zen
According to Buddhist scripture, even if people are learned, as long as they do not put their learning into practice, they are no different from the ignorant. This is also true of mundane activities; to understand the principles and talk about them may be quite easy, but actual performance is not so easy.
Constancy
Constancy – it has a lovely ring to it and actually is similar to one of the paramitas in Buddhism. Seeking the right phrase or word to express any spiritual concept can be challenging. Read the Journal while listening
Making the Altruistic Vow
To awaken to the Bodhi-mind means to vow not to cross over to the other shore of enlightenment before all sentient beings have done so. Whether layperson or monk, living in the world of celestial beings or of humans, subject to pain or pleasure, all should quickly make this vow.
Tsung Ching Record of Hui Hai
When the Master first arrived in Kiangsi to pay his respects to Ma Tsu, the latter enquired, “From where have you come?”
The Essential Gateway to Truth by Means of Instantaneous Awakening
Humbly, I prostrate myself before the Buddhas of the ten quarters and the excellent company of Bodhisattvas. In setting forth this treatise, I am apprehensive that I may fail to correctly interpret the sacred mind.
Essential Teachings of the Stone Lion: Stages of Meditation
When people discuss the practice of meditation, they often refer to a person having either a superior, intermediate, or inferior capacity for this task.
Essential Teachings of the Stone Lion: Instructions for Meditation
In Zen meditation, the key factor is to maintain a constant sense of questioning. So, having taken hold of the hwadu or koan “What is this?,” try to always sustain the questioning: “What is seeing?” “What is hearing” “What is moving these hands and feet?” and so on.
Practice of Meditation
Ultimately, all true learning is done on one’s own
