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March 2023

March 20, 2023

Plucking a Blade of Grass: The Wondrous Dharma of Miàodào

Below you will find a dharma talk by an incredible (and largely unknown) Zen master,...

February 2023

February 20, 2023

Dōgen’s Instruction for Householder Zen Training

Introduction Because this Dōgen dharma discourse (hōgo) in Eihei kōroku V8.14 was written for householders, includes...

February 02, 2023

Wandering Destitute into a Demon Pit

In this post, I will continue my recent Dōgen translations with short comments. This is...

January 2023

January 31, 2023

The Central Importance of Inquiring of a Teacher

I've previously posted my translations of excerpts from a revealing Dōgen dharma discourse (J. hogō),...

January 23, 2023

Round and Smooth Like a Pearl

The short passage that I'm sharing today comes from Dōgen’s Extensive Record (Eihei koroku), V8.14,...

January 17, 2023

Dogen: Find a Good Teacher, Ask For a Koan, Break Through

Context This post is a follow-up to Cultivating Verification: A New Shushogi for Now. Near...

December 2022

December 21, 2022

Cultivating Verification in One School Zen: A New Shushōgi for Now

I recently wrote a piece titled, The "Soto Zen" of the PMSO: A New Religion Whose...

December 16, 2022

The Pivotal Linji Master Xutang and his Profuse Praise for Sōtō Master Dōgen

Introduction Note: This is an updated version of an essay from June of '21. I...

November 2022

November 14, 2022

Bargaining for Salvation

"What is the minimum amount of asceticism required?" That's the question a young practitioner put...

October 2022

October 19, 2022

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

Dahui Zonggao (1089–1163) was (arguably) the most important Zen master ever. (1) He is credited...

September 2022

September 13, 2022

Is There Someone Who Gets It?

In our recently concluded summer study session through the Vine of Obstacles Zen, we explored...

August 2022

August 16, 2022

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

In recent days, I've been playing around with translating some bits of Dōgen from his...

July 2022

July 27, 2022

Stinking Skin Bags, Blind Donkeys, Parrots and Studying the Buddhadharma

Click here to support my Zen teaching practice via Patreon. Introduction This post is the...

June 2022

June 09, 2022

The Vital Importance of Studying Buddhadharma: Why and How

Introduction In this post, I will explore two questions: "Why study the buddhadharma" and "How...

April 2022

April 07, 2022

Praise for the Old Buddha Rújìng and His Dying Poem

Click here to support the teaching practice of Dōshō Rōshi at Patreon. One helluva teacher...

March 2022

March 17, 2022

Punning, Toileting, and Purifying: the Awakening of Rújìng

Exploding myths An earlier version of this post has been up awhile at my Patreon...

March 07, 2022

Meeting People and Manifesting (or not): Two Slippery, Seamless Kōans for Advancing Practice

Deep, Dark, Nurturing Waters This post is about practicing after kenshō, and even after having...

February 2022

February 23, 2022

How to Break Through Mu

The theme here is the Cáodòng/Sōtō master Tiāntóng Rújìng's (1163-1229, 天童如淨; Japanese, Tendō Nyojō) instructions...

February 03, 2022

Rujing and Six Intimate Dharma Heirs

In this post, Kōkyō Henkel offers an insightful preface and then his and Yashu Zhang's...

January 2022

January 12, 2022

Keizan’s “Answers to Ten Questions from the Emperor”

In this post I’ll offer some dharma gems from Keizan Jōkin Zenji (1268–1325), the fourth...

January 09, 2022

The Luminous Koun Ejō Zenji: Background, Awakening, Legacy

A preliminary note After focusing for the last five years on other translating and writing...

June 2021

June 25, 2021

Xutang’s Blurb for Dogen’s Best Seller

Introduction When I was translating The Record of Empty Hall and working on the commentary,...

January 2021

January 18, 2021

Flowers Blooming on a Withered Tree: Incredible!

Steven Heine's recent book (September, 2020), Flowers Blooming on a Withered Tree: Giun's Verse Comments...

June 2020

June 04, 2020

Broken To Smithereens: More On The Keyword Instruction Of Dàhuì

In this final post of the series on the keyword method of Dàhuì, I begin with...

April 2020

April 17, 2020

Great Uncertainty and the Real Work: More On The Keyword Instruction of Dàhuì

"The mind that is not baffled is not employed." My first real baffling encounter...

April 06, 2020

The Most Revered and Most Reviled Zen Master Ever

Now that I've completed the manuscript edits for The Record of Empty Hall: One Hundred...

April 09, 2019

The Dharma for Taking Food: The Zen Art of Oryoki

Recently, we held a three-day retreat focussed on Dōgen's “The Dharma...

February 2018

February 12, 2018

Will You Be Aware of Your Own Awakening?

This past week, I received an email from...

December 2017

December 15, 2017

How I Got Dōgen Wrong: Enlightenment, Just Sitting, and the Bodhisattva Heart

"This mind is Buddha" is one of...

November 2017

November 20, 2017

“It Came From Beyond Zen” and What Dōgen Did Not Teach

In this look at Brad Warner's new...