The sixth Field of Zen Practice is ending Dukkha (this is part of my book, The Ten Fields of Zen Practice: A Primer for Practitioners). While physical and emotional pain, discomfort, and longing are an inevitable part of human life, Dukkha is existential angst we add to such experiences, ranging from subtle uneasiness to acute anguish. It drives ou…

It’s challenging to make our Dharma practice continuous – maintaining awareness and appropriate conduct each moment of our lives. In his essay Gyoji, or “Continuous Practice,” Zen Master Dogen doesn’t offer practical tips for mindfulness and pure conduct in everyday life, but instead challenges our limited ideas about what practice is. In this epis…

Our goal in practice is to live in accord with the truth, or the Dharma - not only while sitting in meditation or studying Buddhism, but every moment of our lives. In other words, we strive to make our practice continuous. It can be extremely challenging to maintain mindfulness and good behavior all the time. How can we make our practice more conti…

This is part two of my discussion “Cutting Moral Corners: Is Buddhism Compatible with 21st-Century Life?” In Part 1 I talked about the moral stress that arises from living a modern life, where almost every decision we make becomes a moral choice. I discussed how home leaving – or monasticism – was early Buddhism’s prescription for avoiding moral st…

As long as we remain engaged in 21st-century life, at least in any industrialized society, we are part of an infinitely complex web of karma that covers our planet. Even the details of our lives become moral choices, and it becomes increasingly difficult to live in a way that does no harm or that fulfills the ideal of the selfless Buddhist contempl…

In a lineage tradition like Zen, your understanding, manifestation, and expression of the Dharma is deeply influenced by your teachers, and by their teachers. Whether you are a member of my Zen Center, Bright Way Zen, or a fan of this podcast, you may appreciate stories of my teachers Kyogen and Gyokuko Carlson in this live talk.* (*Most of my epis…

I am on sabbatical for the month of August, so this is a recent live talk* I gave at Bright Way Zen. This is, of course, a very timely topic with a major election coming up in the U.S. in just over two months. If politics is "the set of activities that associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, …

I'm on sabbatical the month of August, so this episode is an informal, live talk* I gave in response to a question: "Is everything a Zen teacher does a 'teaching'? How do you know?" This led to discussion of other topics as well, related to having a formal relationship with a Zen teacher - What does it mean? What does it look like? Why would someon…

In this episode and the previous one, I do something radical and share my experience of a sesshin I recently attended, describing it day by day. There are many reasons not to do this, and I went into those reasons in the last episode (part one), where I also described my first two full days of retreat. In this episode I describe days 3-5 and make s…

In this episode I’m going to do something radical and share with you my experience of the sesshin I attended last week, describing it day by day. There are many reasons not to do this, which I will go into. I certainly don’t intend to do it again. Still, despite my misgivings I thought it might be helpful for you to get an insight into what a sessh…

This episode is the third installment of chapter five of my book-in-process, The Ten Fields of Zen: A Primer for Practitioners. In the first episode, I described the central role of Precepts in Zen and covered the Three Refuges, Three Pure Precepts, and two of the Grave Precepts. In the last episode, I talked about the Grave (serious, or weighty) P…

This episode is the second part of chapter five of my book-in-process, The Ten Fields of Zen: A Primer for Practitioners. In the last episode, I described the central role of Precepts in Zen and covered the Three Refuges, Three Pure Precepts, and two of the Grave Precepts. In this episode, I talk about the Grave (serious, or weighty) Precepts three…

The fifth Field of Zen Practice is living according to moral Precepts. The Buddhist precepts guide our ethical conduct, ensuring we minimize the harm we do to self and others. Such conduct is a prerequisite for the peace of mind we need for spiritual practice. The precepts also serve as valuable tools for studying the self; when we are tempted to b…

According to Zen master Keizan’s Denkoroku, Ananda spent 20 years at the Buddha’s side. He had a perfect memory, understood all the teachings, was an impeccable practitioner, and attained arhatship. Despite this, the Buddha made Kashyapa his Dharma heir, and Ananda spent another 20 years practicing with Kashyapa. Finally, Ananda asked Kashyapa, “Wh…

This episode and the last, “Dharma Study: Wrestling with the Teachings,” comprise chapter four of my book, The Ten Fields of Zen Practice: A Primer for Practitioners. In the last episode, Part 1, I talked about the value of Dharma Study and how best to approach it. Then I discussed how to go about deciding what you want to study. In this episode I …

The fourth Field of Zen practice is Dharma Study, or becoming familiar with and investigating Buddhist teachings. The texts and teachings in Buddhism include tools we can use for practice and inspirational guidance for our behavior, but the most critical part of Dharma Study is challenging the ideas and views we already hold, not acquiring new ones…

We all have negative aspects of ourselves we want to fix, disown, or even expunge completely from our being, but even with practice some things are extremely hard to change. As we strive to break free of our less-than-helpful aspects of self, we typically employ violent means, ranging from subtle rejection to vicious and debilitating self-loathing …

Last week I led a sesshin, or silent Zen retreat. Participants participated in a 24-hour schedule of zazen, chanting, silent work, formal meals, and rest. Once or twice a day, I offered a "teisho" during zazen. "Tei" means to offer or put forth, and "sho" means to recite or proclaim. Teisho are sometimes called "encouragement talks," and they are m…

The third Field of Zen practice is Mindfulness, which is cultivating clear awareness of what is happening, moment by moment, within you and around you. Mindfulness is absolutely fundamental to Zen practice, allowing you to practice within all the other Fields. Without awareness, you can’t live your life by choice instead of by karma.…

Recently, someone submitted a Dharma question for me to address: “I wonder what Buddha would say to us about the crises facing humanity, particularly the suffering of our own making?” I can't know, but I dare to put some words in the Buddha's mouth and then present follow-up questions.Di Domyo Burk

This is the third episode of three comprising the “Zazen” chapter of my book, “The Ten Fields of Zen Practice: A Primer for Practitioners.” I start by offering what I should have put at the beginning of my chapter on Zazen: Basic instructions for Zazen. I then discuss how my “Five Efforts in Zazen” suggest Zazen is a neat and linear process, but in…

This is the second episode of three comprising the "Zazen" chapter of my book, "The Ten Fields of Zen Practice: A Primer for Practitioners.” I finish my discussion of the five efforts of Zazen, covering becoming intimate with Life, seeing the true nature of Life, and being one with Life.Di Domyo Burk

The second Field of Zen practice is Zazen. “Za” means seated, and “zen” means meditation. However, as 13th-century Zen master Dogen famously stated, “…Zazen is not meditation practice.” Superficially, our Zazen may look like the meditation done in other spiritual traditions, or even in secular settings. We even call Zazen “meditation” sometimes, fo…

The Buddha famously said “admirable friendship,” or what I’m calling Dharma friendship, is the entirety of the holy life. In the last episode, I discussed the value and nature of personal Dharma friendships. In this episode, I talk about what makes a good Dharma friendship and offer some practical ideas about how to find, form, and maintain such re…

The Buddha famously said the “admirable friendship,” or what I’m calling Dharma friendship, is the entirety of the holy life. In this episode, I discuss the value and nature of personal Dharma friendships. In Part 2, I will talk about what makes a good Dharma friendship and offer some practical ideas about how to find, form, and maintain such relat…