Dharma

In a riveting talk weaving together Navy SEALs survival strategy, admonitions from the Avatamsaka Sutra and insights from physicist Tom Campbell, Nyogen Roshi reminds us that if the demands of true practice are difficult, the rewards are immeasurable. “Always it is only you,” he says. “And all the players on this great stage are you. […]

“There is much confusion” about the definition of prajna, Nyogen Roshi tells us in this Dharma talk. “And yet it is the simplest, most direct experience of actualized Buddha Dharma.” The reason for the confusion? Prajna simply can’t be understood, because “there is no understanding to the manifestation of great prajna.” Listen as Roshi clarifies […]

At the beginning of our sesshin commemorating Shakyamuni Buddha’s enlightenment experience, Nyogen Roshi reminds us of the common thread connecting all the forms of practice in our lineage. “You have to push through the wall of duality–the sense of separation that keeps us trapped in the six senses,” Roshi tells us. “How do I do […]

“Do you see how your belief system is shaping you?” Nyogen Roshi asks in a Dharma talk inspired by an “old master” who has figured into many of Roshi’s recent talks. “It is a belief system that makes you think this sense of separation is real.”  

In this Teisho, Nyogen Roshi relates the story of his getting lost in what he calls a “hell realm” and connects his experience with the lessons he is taking from The End of Suffering, a book that he has recommended to the sangha. “It’s your head that you’re constantly looking at,” Roshi says. “So long […]

In a talk weaving insights from the physicist Russell Targ into the teachings of Dogen Zenji and Nagarjuna, Nyogen Roshi demystifies “miraculous activities” like levitation and remote viewing. “The true miracles are the daily activities of Buddhas,” Roshi says.  

“Lineage isn’t something that you develop, something that you create. It’s something that you receive.” Responding to those who want to establish new Buddhist institutions in the U.S., Nyogen Roshi reminds us how profoundly simple and difficult true Buddhist practice is–and how important it is, for those reasons, to practice with a teacher who has […]

Working with “Chimon’s Prajna Wisdom”–a case from the Blue Cliff Record–Nyogen Roshi offers practice instructions that apply not just to working with koans but to any of the practices in the Zen tradition. “You have to take the koan beyond the intellectual mind, the egocentric mind, and that is not easy,” Roshi says. “The difficult […]

“You cannot free yourself from the dualistic mind by thinking about it,” Nyogen Roshi reminds us. Instead, using our practice, we have to allow our minds to become still and empty in order to see clearly. “The Miracle is right here!” Roshi says. “This is the miracle!”  

A guest at a Saturday talk prompts Nyogen Roshi to deliver a tour-de-force round-up of the key themes of his teaching. Connecting the yearning that brings a student to Zen to the cultivation of samadhi through practice, Roshi says, “There is something right here, right now that wants to wake up, or you wouldn’t be […]

How are Tibetan visualization practices, koans and Tai Chi related? All of these practices help the practitioner let go of the sense of separation that keeps him or her in a state of delusion about the true nature of reality. “Buddha Dharma is about your evolution–the evolution of your consciousness,” Nyogen Roshi says. “There is […]