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...
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...
The crazier the world gets, all that much more you need to understand how to get your mind right. If we want to get our minds right, we need to get to the business of finding our own mind and cleansing it well. Even though people are so good at locking up their own...
Zen master Bodhidharma said that the quickest and most effective way to awaken is to behold the mind. For the mind is the root of all things. He said that the mind has two aspects: one gets caught up in all the dramas of being a sentient being. It finds itself...
Looking Deeply At So-Called Permanent Things With Science [When a piece of seemingly solid matter—a rock, a human hand, the limb of a tree — is placed under a powerful electronic microscope], the electron-scanning microscope, with the power to magnify several thousand...
The Four Dharma Seals The Four Dharma Seals are really four quintessential insights that will completely transform your life. Once seen they can never be unseen. Once experienced they will completely change the way you see and experience the world. Right now you are...
The Questions of King Milinda King Milinda went to Nagasena and after exchanging polite and friendly greetings, took his seat respectfully to one side. Milinda began by asking: “How is your reverence known, and what sir, is your name?” “O’ king, I am...
Five Gates of Tao-hsin: Let it be known: Buddha is the mind. Outside of the mind there is no Buddha. In short, this includes the following five things: First: The ground of the mind is essentially one with the Buddha.Second: The movement of the mind brings forth the...
New Years Message From master e I love you. I wish I could be with you in person and hold you tight. That I could sit with you and hold your hand. That I could see you smile and hear your voice. I wish I could snap my fingers and take away all your fears and...
Bodhidharma’s Outline of Practice There are many roads for entering the Way, but essentially there are only two: entering through the Principle and entering through practice. Entering Through the Principle ‘Entering through the Principle’ is...
From the Collected Works of Korean Buddhism, Vol. 7-1 Gongan Collections 1: Case 1 TITLE: The Greatly Enlightened, World Honored One, Śākyamuni Buddha The World Honored One, without having yet departed Tusita (heaven),had already descended into the palace and,without...
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 natureand thus attain buddhahood.” The above statement from Zen Master Bodhidharma is an interesting one....
