In Zen-Buddhism, Dharma transmission is a custom in which a person is established as a “successor in an unbroken lineage of teachers and disciples, a spiritual ‘bloodline’ (kechimyaku) theoretically traced back to the Buddha himself.” The...
GOING FOR REFUGE Going for refuge and taking the precepts is the cornerstone of all the Buddhist paths. It usually becomes a turning point in a person’s life. One where they work toward an ideal – this ideal being shown to us through The Buddha – a...
THE HEART SUTRA The Bodhisattva of Compassion, Avalokateshvara, while in deep meditative concentration, absorption and curious inquiry, looked deeply into the nature of experience, penetrated fully to the intuitve realization of the emptiness of the skandhas and after...
The Perfect Enlightenment Sutra is one of the most popular and influential sutras in Zen. It was held in the highest regards by some of the greatest Zen Master’s like Zongmi and Chinul. The sutra itself is twelve chapters and the introductory section describes...
“Do you have a Koan?” That was the first question Korean Zen Master, Venerable Hwasun Yangil Sunim asked me. I had heard about Koans before – mainly from books. I didn’t really think they were essential for Zen practice. But here I was, sitting...
A quick and expedient way of awakening… The master takes his staff and points directly to your heart saying, Listen here! This! This! A thousand times this! The seeker is what’s sought. Originally the mind is pristine, vast and expansive like a clear blue...
A young monk tentatively asked the Master, “Teacher, why did Bodhidharma come from the west?” The Master looked out the window and said, “The cypress tree in the courtyard.” The Zen Master whacks his stick against the floor. You’re startled, heart racing, eyes...
The conceptual every day mind is never happy. It always wants something to chew on. It’s a hungry ghost and no matter how much information we feed it the mind will never be satisfied. “Does a dog have buddha-nature?” “Why did Bodhidharma come to China?” “Was the...
Zen is… “A special transmission outside the scriptures, not founded upon words and letters. by pointing directly to one’s mind, It lets one see into one’s own true nature and thus attain buddhahood.” (1) The above statement from Bodhidharma is an...
Covered by seeing, hearing, touching and thinking, one cannot see the brightness of Original Mind. If suddenly one is without mind, Original Mind will appear like the great sun in the sky, illuminating everywhere without obstruction. Most Dharma students only know...
“You have to love life!” My teacher Zen Master Hwasun Yangil Sunim has been saying this a lot lately, “You have to love life!” The Tao is translated as “The way” And if all of this (gestures to everything including himself) is the...
Right from the beginning, in the unborn nature There is nothing to be refuted and nothing to be established. At the level of the unborn, there is no distinction of Attaining nirvana or not attaining nirvana. The unborn nature itself is also not there, Because there is...
“How I Practice the Meditation of Mahamudra” – By Jetsun Milarepa “When I’m meditating on Mahamudra, In the nature pf reality I rest without effort. Without any distraction, I rest loosely. In the state of emptiness, I rest with clarity....
The wild fox kōan, also known as “Pai-chang ‘s fox” and “Hyakujō and a Fox,” is an influential kōan story in the Zen tradition dating back as early as 1036, when it appeared in the Chinese biographical history T’ien-sheng kuang-teng...
Please, please see it: everything is alive. Great, great Alive. This is the happiness of all happiness. And this “now here” can never be destroyed. The light of your eternal life is shining brightly, now. What joy there is in this radiance! Please, take care of...
Like a feather that is blown wherever the wind takes it, a weak and undisciplined mind is easily influenced by its environment and can be blown off the path. Until your mind becomes like a mountain that no wind can move, take care of who you mix with, and how you...
To understand how delusion arises, practice watching your mind. Begin by simply letting it relax. Without thinking of the past or the future, without feeling hope or fear about this thing or that, let it rest comfortably, open and natural. In this space of the mind,...
To say that you are a practitioner is to miss the mark What is there to practice if you nodded yes when the teacher talked about intrinsic buddha nature. To say there is practice says that there is a practitioner that is on a quest to some distant goal that they some...
Listen to the Eternal Sound of the Bell The magnificent sound of the temple bell shakes the dawn and awakens all living creatures from a dream world. As the brilliant morning sun reddens the eastern horizon, wake up and listen to this bell. Its clarity sings of...
