Dharma

The last line of the “Gatha on Opening the Sutra,” a verse that we all chant before Roshi or anyone else gives a talk, says, “May we completely realize the Tatagatha’s [the Buddha’s] true meaning.” We have included the chanting of the gatha in this excerpt from the beginning of a recent talk because Roshi […]

Drawing on some of Rinzai’s practice instructions—and on his experiences with own teacher—Nyogen Roshi clarifies some common misunderstandings about our Rinzai lineage. He also identifies the reason we struggle in the practice: “What ails you? Lack of faith in yourself! If you begin to see what’s clearly here, it’s you!”

What does it mean to say that realizing Buddha-mind is also arriving at the place of not knowing? Nyogen Roshi marshals Dogen’s words on not knowing and Maezumi Roshi’s teaching on undivided activity to clarify the point for us. “Bring yourself back from the fantasy in your head,” Nyogen Roshi says. “To where? The only […]

Violence against African-Americans, reprisals against police officers and seemingly endless war provoke Nyogen Roshi to deliver a powerful talk about Samsara–the realm of suffering driven by greed, anger and ignorance of the fundamental unity of all things. Weaving a reading of a koan about the nature of compassion into his talk, Roshi arrives at the […]

In a Teisho on the third chapter of the Nirvana Sutra, Nyogen Roshi reminds us that the Buddha’s words are directed to each of us, exactly as and where we are. “Anybody who begins to practice,” Roshi says, “can walk out into the bright sunlight of this amazing world, which is what you are.”

Connecting the teaching of Gunabhadra and Bodhidharma, Nyogen Roshi points toward the profound implications of both teachers’ emphasis on pacifying the mind. “You can’t conceptualize this,” Roshi says. “If you keep judging it–yes or no, good or bad, I want to understand it–there is the separation. And that’s the difference between enlightenment and delusion, suffering […]

In a recent Teisho on the teaching of Gunabhadra, the 5th-century Indian monk who translated the Lankavatara Sutra from Sanskirt into Chinese, Nyogen Roshi highlights Gunabhadra’s emphasis on pacifying the mind as the essential feature of Buddhist practice. “This practice is real,” Roshi says, “and it is beyond anything you can imagine. It will transform […]

This should be so encouraging to those of you who are sick of being frightened, who are sick of fear, sick of anger. You don’t need some sort of new program. You need to sit down and get quiet and turn the light of the mind inward.  

“So long as you think that there’s something ‘out there,’ then this ‘out here’ is threatening. If you can catch that, then you’re beginning to understand what meditation is. Keep that awareness.” Excerpt from a Dharma Talk given by Nyogen Roshi at the Hazy Moon Zen Center.

Nyogen Roshi talks us through the basics of allowing body, mind and breath to settle–the heart of our Zen practice. Excerpt from a Dharma Talk given at the Hazy Moon Zen Center.

“By using the practice you can begin to free yourself from the illusion of separation. But don’t try to understand it–understanding is in the realm of delusional thought. This pure awareness is what you are.” Excerpt from a Dharma Talk given by Nyogen Roshi at the Hazy Moon Zen Center.  

“The practice of Buddha-dharma is to realize and actualize in this moment what our life truly is all about.” Excerpt from a Dharma Talk given by Nyogen Roshi at the Hazy Moon Zen Center.