The Zen Studies Podcast

• 301 – Teisho: You Have to See Your Nature

  This episode is a Teisho, an encouragement talk that’s meant to be listened to while you are sitting quietly. Zen teachers give Teisho during sesshin, and this amounts to a more formal kind of Dharma talk, almost like a meditation. It’s not meant to be educational. I’m curious as to how it will come off if you listen to it while walking or driving or doing something else. Maybe it’ll be cool. But I recommend sitting still if you’re able. Teisho are generally only given during sesshin and not recorded, but I recreated one from the sesshin I led last week for you.

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  28:14
• 300 - One Reality, Many Descriptions Part 6: Trikaya, the Three Bodies of Buddha

  The teaching of the Trikaya, or Three Bodies of Buddha, is challenging. It may seem to be metaphysical speculation or surprisingly theistic for Buddhism. However, it offers a unique and valuable framing for the mystery of awakening, the palpable presence of the Ineffable despite its ungraspable nature, and the relationship of all phenomena to the Ineffable.

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  34:06
• 299 – Q&A: Revisiting Veganism and Moral Choices, and Questions about Shikantaza

  In this extemporaneous question-and-answer episode I address a listener's comment on my answer in a recent Q&A episode about the relationship between Buddhism and eating a plant-based diet. Then I respond to two different questions about the practice of shikantaza, or just sitting.

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  32:39
• 298 – Framing Your Dharma Practice in a Helpful Way

  Chances are, whether you're aware of it or not, you have a certain way of framing your Dharma practice. That is, you function using a conceptual framework that defines your relationship to your practice, the intent of that practice, and what is supposedly being transformed by that practice. When you're centered in the moment, you can practice without framing, but most of the time you'll be framing things whether you mean to or not. It's good to be conscious of your framing and choose a framing that's helpful.

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  22:44
• 297 – Investigating the Wandering Mind

  Almost everyone who practices meditation or mindfulness encounters the phenomenon of the wandering mind – when, despite your conscious intention, your mind is filled with thoughts that have nothing to do with your current experience. You can employ various techniques to let go of the thoughts and “bring the mind back” to your meditative object or to the present moment, but often these techniques are applied as if all mind wandering was of the same nature. I investigate different reasons your mind wanders and how they call for different responses.

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  36:41

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