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The Daily Zen Teisho
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The Daily Zen Teisho

Author: Daily Zen

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Daily Zen has been a contemplative haven for online visitors since 1998 offering a unique blend of Eastern quotes for each day of the year, Zen-inspired e-cards, and a meditation room where at any moment a visitor may be meditating with any one of our companion Wayfarers each day. The Journal, called On the Way, is published once a month and this podcast has been created to turn those Journals into an auditory experience allowing listeners to contemplate its ideas in another way.
155 Episodes
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Fall and Spring are both potent times to evaluate our practice; without judgment, just look to see if there are any adjustments to be made. Read the Journal while listening
As with any translation of a very ancient teaching, and one that was passed on orally rather than written down, we are often stopped wondering what was actually transmitted.  Read the Journal while listening
If the questions seem to flow too precisely and neatly along, it is because this is a format Hui Hai used to communicate these principles. Read the Journal while Listening
This was the last teaching of both the Buddha and Dogen before they died. For Dogen, it was part of his intention to rewrite all his work, and he had completed 11 chapters prior to this new piece.  Read the Journal while listening
The stubborn intellect can be crafty and tends to want “answers” and concepts to hold onto, and naturally, as students, we would appreciate a little help here.  However, our idea of help and a true teacher’s is rarely the same.  Read the Journal while listening
Making the Altruistic Vow…serves to focus on our intentions and purpose here and now.  What have we committed to? What better time of year to contemplate this lofty vow than now?   Read the Journal while listening
Constancy

Constancy

2025-11-2011:30

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
This piece is profoundly deep and vast in its scope. It’s as if all the true essentials of Buddhism and Zen are laid out right before us. Read the Journal while listening
Muso is touching on points we have covered many times over the years.  It is so easy to fool ourselves with our understanding.  Too often, there is confusion in thinking that knowing the meaning of a word equals the experience and manifestation of that principle. Read the Journal while listening
The ability to stay focused on a train of thought, a task that takes days to complete, or a conversation that goes beyond things right in front of us is becoming a lost art in our times.  Read the Journal while listening
The sheer beauty and simplicity of this piece speak for itself. Especially now when the times seem so extreme, and we are overstimulated to react, to be able to pause and remember to practice always returns us to center. Read the Journal while listening
Depending on how long one has practiced, at some point, we all realize the dead end of intellectual understanding.  That doesn’t mean there is no value in “words and letters.”  What is criticized above is the substitution of meditation time with what can become the distraction of reading one more teacher’s instructions, one more sutra, and how about that new school of Zen? Read the Journal while listening
Awakening

Awakening

2025-10-0708:19

Most of us have read the story of the Buddha’s life and awakening, but few of us have read a first-person account like the one above. Read the Journal while listening
As with many other writings, there are always parts that stop us in our tracks. Is it the translation or my lack of understanding? Read the Journal while listening
Listening to this sermon of Bodhidharma’s is similar to swallowing the ocean in one gulp, overwhelming in some places.  As with floating on the water, rather than struggling to stay up, it’s best here just to relax and let the teachings flow under, over, and through us.  Read the Journal while listening
Not all Zen teaching is immediately easy to grasp.  This is classic Zen delivered to us by the very famous patriarch of Zen, Bodhidharma.  However, it is like riding through rapids down the River of No Return and holding on for dear life! Read the Journal while listening
Ah, the grand prize of enlightenment in its ultimate form is highlighted by Dogen in this talk. Who doesn’t begin practice without that goal-less goal of enlightenment? Read the Journal while listening
The simplicity of this piece, the clarity of expression gives a kind of accessibility that is refreshing and brings a breath of fresh air to our journey.  Who has not felt the balm of compassion?   Read the Journal while listening
I often marvel at how contemporary the ancient writings sound. You can see how students of all ages fell into the same pitfalls of practice we do. Teachers always seem to talk about students of “today” not having the same intensity or commitment to difficult practice. Read the Journal while listening
Sometimes we are given too much to know what to do with it…sometimes we are given so little, we sit bewildered if we are proceeding “correctly.” Read the Journal while listening
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