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.
Guidelines for Studying the Way
Practicing Zen, studying the way, is the great matter of a lifetime. You should not belittle it or be hasty with it.
The Meditations of a Bodhisattva – Part 2
Once the mind is made one-pointed and more supple, using different meditative objects, the bodhisattva attains what are called formless meditations.
The Meditations of a Bodhisattva
One who wishes to gain omniscience swiftly must strive in three things: in compassion, in the thought of enlightenment, and in meditation. Practice compassion from the very outset, for we know that compassion alone is the foundation of all the qualities of Buddhahood.
Wake-up Sermon – Part 2
Seen with true vision, form isn’t simply form because form depends on mind. And mind isn’t simply mind, because mind depends on form. Mind and form create and negate each other. That which exists, exists in relation to that which doesn’t exist. And that which doesn’t exist doesn’t exist in relation to that which exists.
Since I Became a Buddha – Part 1
We tend to think that is has only been 2,500 years or so since the historical Buddha became enlightened, taught and entered nirvana. So how could he have said at the time after his enlightenment that it had already been an incomprehensible period since he had been enlightened?
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.
Absorption in the Treasury of Light – Part 1
There is a chapter on light in the Shobogenzo; the reason for writing this essay now is just to bring out this essential substance, the fact that the countenance of Buddhism is absorption in the treasury of light.
The Teachings of the Fourth Chan Patriarch Tao-shin
When you are sitting in meditation, watch carefully to know when your consciousness starts to move. Consciousness is always moving and flowing. According to its coming and going, we must all be aware of it.
On Gardens and The Way
From ancient times until now there have been many who have delighted in raising up mounds of earth, making arrangements of stones, planting trees, and hollowing out watercourses. We call what they make “mountains and streams.” Though all seem to share a common liking for this art of gardening, they are often guided by very different impulses.
A Lotus in Fire
I wouldn’t say that those in recent times who study the Way do not try hard, but often they just memorize Zen stories and try to pass judgment on the ancient and modern Zen masters, picking and choosing among words and phrases, creating complicated rationalizations and learning stale slogans.
The Activity of the Reality of Life
All of us, regardless of whether we realize it or not, are living out the self as the whole universe. Since this is such a critical point, I’ll repeat it here. Usually, we make the idea of the small individual self the center of our world and become firmly convinced that this small individual self is our whole self, but this is not our true self.
On the Transmission of Mind – Part 3
The Mind is no mind of conceptual thought, and it is completely detached from form. So Buddhas and sentient beings do not differ at all. If you can only rid yourselves of conceptual thought, you will have accomplished everything.
The Awakening of Mugai Nyodai – Part 2
Chiyono said, “I have heard that the Buddha emits rays of light from a tuft of white hair between his eyebrows, illuminating all ten directions. Gazing at them is like looking at the palm of your hand. Can I point to my lowly self and say that I have Buddha nature, or am I deluding myself?
Practice of Meditation
Ultimately, all true learning is done on one’s own
