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...
Click to listen to The Awakened Podcast on one of your favourite platforms • Apple Podcasts • Google Podcasts • Spotify • Breaker • Overcast • Pocketcasts • Radio Public • Anchor I’ll Remember for You Student: Suddenly my ex got stuck on the fact that he...
I prostrate to the self-arisen first Buddha, Changeless Light. In the beginning, Within the vast expanse of the mother of the ground of all, When that ground was distinguished, Sound, light, and rays resounded, appeared, and radiated in a self-arisen manner. Since I,...
Position For Meditation – The Seven-Pointed Meditation Posture of Vairochana Each of the five rLung (winds) relate and balance by the seven-pointed posture. The posture helps calm excess circulation of one type of wind, and supports the settling of mind. 1. Legs...
Click to listen to The Awakened Podcast on one of your favourite platforms • Apple Podcasts • Google Podcasts • Spotify • Breaker • Overcast • Pocketcasts • Radio Public • Anchor The Mojito Mind So what’s the question? Student: How do our instincts fit into the...
On No-Mind: In one fascicle by Bodhidharma (T85n2831 translated by Urs App, in The Eastern Buddhist, Vol. 28, No. 1 (Spring 1995), pp. 82-107) The ultimate principle is without words; one needs to borrow words to make this principle apparent. The great Way is without...
Tracing Back the Radiance by Chinul (Edited and Translated by Robert E. Buswell, Jr. Published by the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism) Question: Through what expedients is it possible in one moment of thought to trace back [the radiance of one’s sense] faculties and...
The Four Dharma Seals In order for a teaching to qualify as being a truly Buddhist teaching, it must contain and represent the Four Dharma Seals as the Buddha taught. A “seal” is like an impression left by a monarch’s signet ring upon a document, verifying its royal...
Click to listen to The Awakened Podcast on one of your favourite platforms • Apple Podcasts • Google Podcasts • Spotify • Breaker • Overcast • Pocketcasts • Radio Public • Anchor Nothing Special Whatsoever Okay, perfect. Any insights, revelations, challenges,...
Master Feixi’s 飛錫 Gaosheng nianfo sanmei baowang lun 高聲念佛三昧 寶 王論 (Precious King’s Treatise on the Samādhi Gained by Loudly Invoking the Buddha’s Name) states: "Those who bathe in the ocean are making use of hundreds of rivers. Those who invoke the Buddha’s name...
Click to listen to The Awakened Podcast on one of your favourite platforms • Apple Podcasts • Google Podcasts • Spotify • Breaker • Overcast • Pocketcasts • Radio Public • Anchor Everyday Miracles Okay, perfect. Any insights, revelations, challenges, frustrations,...
