Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Wild Fox Zen

Home
Buddhist

2022-12-06T13:41:42-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

A Stone Bridge? The Teacher-Student Relationship in Zen

Last updated on: December 6, 2022 at 1:41 pm By Dosho Port

A monk asked Zhaozhou, “For a long time I’ve heard about Zhaozhou’s stone bridge. Coming here, I only see a simple log bridge.” Zhou said, “You only see the simple log bridge, but don’t see the stone bridge.” The monk said, ”What is the stone bridge like?” Zhao said, “Carries donkeys, carries horses.” – Blue Cliff Record 52 “Zhaozhou” is both a province in ancient China with a famous bridge and an important Zen teacher who not only lived 120... Read more

Uncategorized

2022-11-05T15:27:07-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Last updated on: November 5, 2022 at 3:27 pm By Dosho Port

Uncategorized

2023-05-17T13:22:59-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The “Soto Zen” of the PMSO: A New Religion Whose Time Has Passed

Last updated on: May 17, 2023 at 1:22 pm By Dosho Port

If you are a regular reader, you know that I use the phrase “Post Meiji Soto Orthodoxy” or even its acronym, “PMSO,” quite often. So it seems that it might be good to unpack the meaning of this phrase in one place, so that the regular reader might better understand what I mean by it and how it points to something important. By the way, the first time I used the phrase was in 2015, although it seems like it... Read more

History and Religion

Uncategorized

Post Meiji Soto Orthodoxy

Soto Zen

2023-02-18T14:08:42-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

One Geeky Review of Dahui’s “Treasury of the Eye of the True Teaching”

Last updated on: February 18, 2023 at 2:08 pm By Dosho Port

Dahui Zonggao (1089–1163) was (arguably) the most important Zen master ever. (1) He is credited with developing the keyword method (話頭, huatou) that revolutionized Zen practice and that, in my opinion, is the greatest development in the meditation realm since Shakyamuni Buddha. Most importantly, the innovative teaching of Dahui has probably led to more awakening (aka, kensho) than that of any other Zen teacher in history. So kudos and bows to great old master Dahui! Up until now, Dahui’s best... Read more

History and Religion

Treasury of the Eye of the True Teaching

2023-04-07T18:48:49-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Soto Zen’s Dirty Little Secret

Last updated on: April 7, 2023 at 6:48 pm By Dosho Port

Dirty Little Secret? According to the Urban Dictionary, that esteemed and profound arbiter of taste and discernment, a “dirty little secret” is “A secret that you don’t want anyone to know but someone finds out about it sooner or later.” The secret in this case is a break in the Soto transmission between the forty-third and forth-fourth generations, between about 1020CE and 1050CE in China. Although I’m referring to it here as a dirty secret (tongue in cheek), many of... Read more

History and Religion

Uncategorized

Rinzai Zen Buddhism

Soto Zen Buddhism

2022-12-06T13:46:26-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Soto and Rinai Zen: One School or Two?

Last updated on: December 6, 2022 at 1:46 pm By Dosho Port

Going Through the Mystery’s One Hundred Questions My next book is cooking along and at this point it looks like it will be available in the late Fall. The book includes an introduction in which I geek out freely on the nature of Chan (Japanese, Zen) in the thirteenth century the period of transmission from China to Japan. I’ve long been interested in thirteenth century Zen because we too are a period of transmission from one culture to another. Or,... Read more

2022-12-06T13:47:38-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Is There Someone Who Gets It?

Last updated on: December 6, 2022 at 1:47 pm By Dosho Port

In our recently concluded summer study session through the Vine of Obstacles Zen, we explored “Zen Conduct” through Dōgen’s teaching in “Guidelines for Studying the Way.” At the same time, I’ve been playing around with translating some bits of Dōgen from his Eihei Koroku (Dōgen’s Extensive Record), looking again at some of the sections that have been most meaningful to me over the years, as I highlighted in my recent post: Whole-Body Little Dog: New Translations of Two Old Dōgen... Read more

History and Religion

2022-09-12T13:51:23-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Invitation to “Awakening of Mahayana Faith” October 2 – November 20, 2022

Last updated on: September 12, 2022 at 1:51 pm By Dosho Port

This fall, we are introducing a new offering through the Vine of Obstacles Zen – a course that’s open to everyone. This is an opportunity for aspiring practitioners to explore practicing with us without making the full two-hour daily commitment required for Vine students. This offering is intended to serve as a way for you to clarify your intention and/or ramp up your practice so that you could become a Vine student, or simply as a pathway to receive what’s offered... Read more

Uncategorized

2022-12-06T13:48:28-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Outer and Inner Layer Utterly Dropped Off: The Awakening Meihō Sotetsu Zenji

Last updated on: December 6, 2022 at 1:48 pm By Dosho Port

Introduction Meihō Sotetsu (1277-1350, 明峰素哲, Bright Peak Elemental Penetration) is the fifth generation Sōtō Zen ancestor in Japan, following Dōgen, Ejō, Gikai, and Keizan. If you are practicing Sōtō Zen with teachers in any of these lineages – Katagiri, Swaki, Harada-Yasutani, Aoyama, Bokusan-Kishizawa – you are practicing in Meihō’s dharma stream. Keizan may have regarded Meihō as his primary successor because he transmitted Dōgen’s robe to him. However, another prominent successor of Keizan, Gasan Jōseki (峨山韶碩 1275–1366), gets a lot... Read more

2022-12-06T13:49:08-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Whole-Body Little Dog: New Translations of Two Old Dōgen Poems

Last updated on: December 6, 2022 at 1:49 pm By Dosho Port

In recent days, I’ve been playing around with translating some bits of Dōgen from his Eihei Koroku (Dōgen’s Extensive Record), especially from Volume 9, his collection of ninety kōans with verses. The only translation of these that I know of is by Leighton and Okumura and they are good, of course, but I’ve long wondered if I might focus them from the perspective of kōan training. Given what we’re working with these days at Vine of Obstacles Zen, including a... Read more

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What is the first book of the Bible?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Exodus Matthew Genesis Psalms

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 August 2021 June 2021 April 2021 February 2021 January 2021 November 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 August 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 December 2016 October 2016 June 2016 April 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 August 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008

TRENDING AT PATHEOS Buddhist