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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.
149 Episodes
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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?
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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.
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As with many other writings, there are always parts that stop us in our tracks. Is it the translation or my lack of understanding?
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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.
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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!
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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?
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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?
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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.
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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.”
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The “worthies of former times” sacrificed to attain their true insights; it involved more than just hearing and parroting a teacher’s words. They turned their own inner light onto the great matter at hand.
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Ah, to be able to sit and discourse with someone like Muso! Suddenly everything is crystal clear…the traps we set for ourselves, the spirited way we manage to fool ourselves, and the limited great insights we have.
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The response is down-to-earth and understandable for any of us. To stay on track and not get overwhelmed by the illusions that surround us involves a lifetime of commitment.
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Waking up is a great phrase to illustrate realization. In the beginning of practice when we are first learning meditation, and in some schools, the other techniques that have been used over time, it is easy to feel like what we seek is far away from where we currently are.
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Here we have several very different examples of Foyan’s skill as a teacher. The crystal clear teaching poem on sitting meditation juxtaposed with the conversational skill he has in communicating with his students.
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Reading this piece is like standing under a plum tree with blossoms falling all around you, the fragrance enveloping your senses, and feeling connected with much more. Remember the last time the fragrance wafted into your consciousness?
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