Wavering

We often think of spiritual equanimity as a static, unwavering state. But what if the true nature of equanimity is wavering itself? In this talk we explore the dynamic of moving with circumstances, toggling between mistakes and miracles, with a compassionate eye to being truly awake and truly human.

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Jinniu’s Rice Bucket

In the Blue Cliff Record we meet a mysterious teacher called Jinniu, who each day served rice to his students with a little dance and the words, “Little bodhisattvas! Little bodhisattvas! Come and eat your rice!” What was he doing? And why did Changqing, in response to a monk’s question, say, “That was a kind of grace before the meal”? Join us for an exploration of how to we might share the fragrance of our life with others.

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Ripeness

In this talk we take up a poem by Jane Hirshfield called “Ripeness” and ask how ripeness, ease, harvest and the clean knife might relate to one another. Are these different things or not, and how might they open the way for each other? We look at how the sharpest moments of our lives cut us into what is most spacious and unbounded, and examine Shatideva’s invitation to “Let all sorrows ripen in me.”

Buddha World, Demon World

Throughout this year we have been exploring the koan, “Without leaving the Buddha World, Walk in the Demon world.” But how do we do this? And where is the line between these worlds? We explore all this with the help of some pesky Japanese demons and an exacting pitchfork held by Master Mimoyan.

Open Response

In Torei Zenji’s Bodhisattva Vow he calls for an “open response” to challenging situations. What is an open response? And how might it help us to navigate the challenges of our time with something like equanimity and skilfulness? Let’s fall down the embankment of each other and find out.

Love, and be Silent

We live in a torn and divided world, so it is impossible not to ask, “What should a Zen student do?” In Shakespeare’s King Lear Cordelia asks herself a similar question in the face of a great crisis: “What should Cordelia do?” Her answer comes as swiftly as a natural event: “Love, and be silent.” So what is love? What is silence? And how might these two illuminate each other and express themselves clearly?

Practicing in the Forest

In this talk, offered at the conclusion of an extensive summer period of online practice, we explore the (possibly apocryphal) origin story of the metta sutta (The Buddha’s Words of Loving Kindness) and examine what it’s like to take up the koan, “You are welcome here”.

We Save Each Other

In this talk, we take up the koan “Xitang’s More” from the Record of Empty Hall.

When the old teacher Xitang asks, “Strive, but for what?” we are invited to consider just why and how we practice in a fractured world. In response to Xitang’s question, a monk steps forward and places both hands on the earth, saying “We save each other.”

What does it mean to save? What does it mean to be saved? And how might we touch the earth ourselves, wholeheartedly, in the spirit of “We save each other?”

Shake the Tree

In the lead up to Kirk Fisher’s Transmission Ceremony Kynan Sutherland offered this talk on Zhaozhou’s koan, “Shake the Tree and the birds take to the air, startle the fish and the water becomes muddy.” In it we explore the nature of transmission, the role of a Zen teacher, and the urgency of Zen practice in a vulnerable and startling world (23/4/23)