Bhikkhu Zhi Chang, a native of Gui Xi of Xin Zhou, joined the Order in his childhood, and was very zealous in his efforts to realize the Essence of Mind. One day, he came to pay homage to the Patriarch,… Read More ›
Chan / Seon / Zen
The Heart Sutra a review.
Book review: There have been many translations of this short text over the years, but this is a completely fresh look and the translator comes up with some rather unique conclusions.
Hearing Sounds Through the Eyes, by Jisu Sunim
Sometimes people feel afraid because they don’t know what the teacher is talking about! `How we can face our own reality?’ But the teacher also has difficulty in getting the student’s discursive mind to understand what he is talking about. The best policy for the teacher, then, is to let practitioners continue with their practice, giving them time for some perspective to slowly come into focus. The most chronic disease for people who find it difficult to face reality is, indeed, this discursive mind…
Field of Boundless Emptiness, by Zen Master Hongzhi
The subtlety of seeing and hearing transcends mere colours and sounds. The whole affair functions without leaving traces, and mirrors without obscurations…
The Sound of One Hand: Paintings and Calligraphy by Zen Master Hakuin
Short film about 5 minutes. Hakuin’s self-taught, spontaneous, yet masterly and inspired painting and calligraphy, just like his teachings and writings, expressed the mind and heart of Zen for monks and lay followers alike.
Ten Verses on Oxherding, Zen master Guoan Shiyuan
In Zen, a herdboy’s search for his lost oxen has served as a parable for a practitioner’s pursuit of enlightenment since this Buddhist sect’s early history in China. In the eleventh century, the Song-dynasty Zen master Guoan Shiyuan (active ca. 1150) codified the parable into ten verses (gāthā), recorded and illustrated in this handscroll…
Buddhism: What is So-Called Tathāgata Chan
Chinese Chan masters in the earlier periods did not possess a unified definition of Tathāgata Chan and Patriarchal Chan—instead, they wrote with rather ambiguous meanings and loose definitions…
A moment of realisation, by Diana St Ruth
A moment of realisation about the way we operate in the world can open doors in our mind for the light to come in and bring insight. It may cause us to cringe a bit when we reflect on how we’ve been in the past, a very uncomfortable feeling. On the other hand…
Buddhism now 