AZC Weekly talks

Dōgen's Fukan Zazengi, "General Recommendations for Doing Zazen"

Source: How to Raise an Ox by Francis Dojun Cook.

Dōgen's talks from the Eihei Kōruku, Part Two.

Sources: Dōgen's Extensive Record: Eihei Kōroku translated by Taigen Dan Leighton and Shohaku Okumura, and The Art of Just Sitting edited by John Daido Loori.

Dōgen's talks from the Eihei Kōruku, Part One.

Source: Dōgen's Extensive Record: Eihei Kōroku translated by Taigen Dan Leighton and Shohaku Okumura.

Dōgen's early life.

Source: Zen Master Dōgen - An Introduction with Selected Writings by Yūhō Yokoi with Daizen Victoria.

Looking at all ten cardinal precepts from the angle of Bodhidharma's One Mind teachings.

Source(s): Invoking Reality by John Daido Loori.

This is the second in a series of koans centred on the natural world. The koan is Case 37 in the Mumonkan, Zhaozhou's Cypress Tree in the Courtyard.

Sources: Pilgrim at Tinker's Creek by Annie Dillard and Two Zen Classics by Katsuki Sekida.

Not-self is the third of the Three Marks of Existence, and is also referred to as emptiness of self, or just Emptiness. It can be understood intellectually when examined through the lenses of impermanence and dependent co-arising. It can also be directly experienced when we forget ourself.

Sources: There is No Suffering by Master Sheng Yen, Dharma Drum 2001, and What makes you not a Buddhist, by Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse, Shambhala 2008.

This is the third in a series on teachers in the Auckland Zen Centre's lineage.

Sources: Endless Vow: the Path of Soen Nakagawa Roshi by Roko Sherry Chayat

Original Dwelling Place by Robert Aitken

Remembering Nakagawa Soen Roshi by Estelle Gerard.

Description: Teachings on determination, generosity and gratitude.

Source: Ichi Tantei One Doing -- Tangen-roshi of Bukkokuji Teisho, translations by Belenda Attaway Yamakawa, Edited by Ron Klein.

Description: Anecdotes and teachings.

Source: Ichi Tantei - One doing, Tangen-roshi of Bukkokuji, teisho translations by Belenda Attaway Yamakawa, edited by Ron Klein.

Description: Anecdotes and teachings.

Source: Ichi Tantei - One doing, Tangen-roshi of Bukkokuji, teisho translations by Belenda Attaway Yamakawa, edited by Ron Klein.

Description: Constant flow.

Source: Zen's Chinese Heritage by Andy Fergusson.

Description: Constant flow.

Some pointers and cautions for zazen at the beginning of our 7-day sesshin.

Sources: Various.

Second in a series of talks on The Three Marks of Existence, Impermanence, Suffering and Not-Self. Suffering is a core teaching of Buddhism. The Buddha said "I teach but two things; suffering and the way out of suffering." Buddhism addresses our personal suffering as well as equipping us to be able to effectively help other beings to find liberation.

Sources: Dharma Rain eds Stephanie Kaza and Kenneth Kraft and There Is No Suffering Master Sheng Yen.

This is the first in a series of koans centred on the natural world. The koan is Case 46 in the Blue Cliff Record.

Sources: Zen's Chinese Heritage by Andy Ferguson and A Step Away from Paradise by Thomas Shor.

Description: Sabbe anicca. Everything that arises passes. Impermanence is one of the Three Marks, or Characteristics, of Existence, and a cornerstone of Buddhist teaching. The Buddha says that what is real is change itself,and that there's order in that change. The Bodhisattva's practice of ego-attrition happens both on the meditation cushion and in our work in the world.

Source: Dharma Rain, Sources of Buddhist Environmentalism eds Stephanie Kaza and Kenneth Kraft, Shambhala 2000. 

Adrian Croucher gives a dharma talk on grief and Zen, drawing on a range of sources and his own recent experiences after the loss of his father.

References:

Domyo Burk, "Grief in Buddhism", Zen Studies Podcast, May 2020 (two parts):

https://zenstudiespodcast.com/grief-in-buddhism-1/

Lucy Hone, "Resilient Grieving - How to Find Your Way Through Devastating Loss", Allen and Unwin, 2023.

In this teisho we explore the different meanings of "I don't know", which are the three most famous words in Zen.

What is the receiving- the-precepts, or Jukai, ceremony and why do we participate in it?

Main Source: Invoking Reality, moral and ethical teachings of Zen by John Daido Loori, Shambhala 2007.

Richard-sensei's teisho on the koan "Linji's Great Enlightenment". The teisho also looks at the use of the kyosaku, the encouragement stick, in Zen.

Main references:

Zen's Chinese Heritage by Andy Ferguson.

Description: To die the Great Death means letting go of everything, even our precious awakening experience. We go up the pole to free ourselves of the three poisons, but then we leap back down into the world of duality and suffering to help others to liberate themselves. A Zen master said, "Zen training is preparation for life in the world, not the goal of life in the world."

Sources: Awakening to Zen, Roshi Philip Kapleau; Zen's Chinese Heritage, Andy Fergusson; Two Zen Classics, Katsuki Sekida; The Gateless Barrier, Zenkei Shibayama; Passing Through the Gateless Barrier, Guo Gu.

Texts:

Urs App, Master Yunmen

Master Sheng-yen, The Sword of Wisdom.

Description: According to the Avatamsaka (Huayen) Sutra the Buddha proclaimed at his great awakening that all beings are endowed with wisdom and virtue. Why then do we cause so much suffering for others and ourselves?

Source: The Book of Equanimity by Jerry Shishin Wick.

Description: The third of Master Hui Neng's antidotes for attachment. Having the courage to be open and vulnerable and making peace with not being in control, are skilful strategies in an impermanent world.

Main text: Flowers Fall: A Commentary on Zen Master Dogen's Genjokoan translated by Paul Jaffe.

Description: Master Hui Neng's antidotes to our attachment to our inner world, outer relationships and identity.

Source: Silent Illumination by Guo Gu.

Main references:

Nine Lives by William Dalrymple

The Secret Life of Flies by Erica McAlister

Ichi Tantei: talks by Tangen Roshi

Description: A look at two of the essential qualities we need to practise Zen and ways we can cultivate them.

Sources: Throw Yourself into the House of Buddha by Tangen Harada Roshi, Shambhala 2023, Silent Illumination by Guo Gu, Shambhala 2021, NOON e-Newsletter January 2025 Discipline of the Good Mind article by Freida J. Jacques.

Readings from: Throw Yourself Into the House of Buddha : the Life & Zen Teachings of Tangen Harada Roshi / translated by Belenda Attaway Yamakawa ; edited by Kogen Czarnik.

Readings from: Throw Yourself Into the House of Buddha : the Life & Zen Teachings of Tangen Harada Roshi / translated by Belenda Attaway Yamakawa ; edited by Kogen Czarnik.

Readings from: Throw Yourself Into the House of Buddha : the Life & Zen Teachings of Tangen Harada Roshi / translated by Belenda Attaway Yamakawa ; edited by Kogen Czarnik.

Readings from: Ichi Tantei = One Doing / Tangen Roshi of Bukkokuji ; teisho translations by Belenda Attaway Yamakawa ; edited by Ron Klein.

Readings from: Ichi Tantei = One Doing / Tangen Roshi of Bukkokuji ; teisho translations by Belenda Attaway Yamakawa ; edited by Ron Klein.

Readings from: Throw Yourself Into the House of Buddha : the Life & Zen Teachings of Tangen Harada Roshi / translated by Belenda Attaway Yamakawa ; edited by Kogen Czarnik.

Texts used in the teisho:

Karen Armstrong, Buddha

Stephen Batchelor, Living with the Devil

Nyanaponika Thera and Hellmuth Hecker, Great Disciples of the Buddha

Educating ourselves about our colonial history can be a way of honouring Te Tiriti. We can learn much from Parihaka about waging peace and the power of non-violence, as Gandhi did.

Sources: Shifting Grounds, Deep Histories of Tamaki Makaurau Auckland by Lucy Mackintosh Bridget Williams Books

Ask that Mountain by Dick Scott Raupo 1975

Book quoted from:  The Force of Character by James Hillman.

Book quoted from:  The Soul's Code: In Search of Character and Calling by James Hillman.

Daily life practice and "What is this and how did it get here?"

Sources: Meetings with Remarkable Women, Lenore Friedman, Shambhala 1987

Subtle Sound ed. Roko Sherry Chayat Shambhala 1996

Painting legs on a snake

Sources:

Meetings with Remarkable Women, Lenore Friedman, Shambhala 1987

Subtle Sound ed. Roko Sherry Chayat Shambhala 1996

Sesshin mind

Readings from Stephen Batchelor's Introduction to his translation of Nagarjuna's Verses from the Centre.

Nagarjuna's Verses from the Centre Part Two. In this teisho we concentrate on the verses themselves.

Sources: Verses from the Centre translated by Stephen Batchelor

The Unborn: Life and Teachings of Zen Master Bankei by Norman Waddell

Readings from Stephen Batchelor's Introduction to his translation of Nagarjuna's Verses from the Centre. Nargajuna was an important Indian teacher and our 14th Zen Ancestor. Batchelor calls him "the poet of emptiness".

 Mostly biographical material

Sources: Meetings with Remarkable Women, Lenore Friedman, Shambhala 1987

Subtle Sound ed. Roko Sherry Chayat Shambhala 1996

Teisho by Sensei Richard von Sturmer

Readings from the autobiography of Daiun Sogaku Harada-roshi, Roshi Kapleau's first teacher.

Individual consciousness, collective consciousness, universal consciousness.

Sources: Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet by Thich Nhat Hanh, Rider London 2021, Canticle to the Cosmos video series by Brian Swimme.

We can learn to guard our mind and nurture our aspiration by being careful of what we consume.

Source: Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet by Thich Nhat Hanh, Rider London 2021.

What we consume shapes us -- not just the food and drink that nourish our physical body but also the impressions of our five senses, what we long for, and what we think. We can learn to be mindful of our mind/body and be careful about what we consume.

Sources: Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet by Thich Nhat Hanh, Rider London 2021;The Universe is a Green Dragon by Brian Swimme, Bear and Company Publishing, Santa Fe New Mexico 1984.

Teisho by Sensei Richard von Sturmer.

The Milindapañha (lit. 'Questions of Milinda') is a Buddhist text which dates from sometime between 100 BC and 200 AD. It is a dialogue between the Indian Buddhist sage Nāgasena, and the 2nd century BC Indo-Greek king Menander I (Pali: Milinda).

Morality, Awakening and Meditation -- that is, good character, prajna wisdom and daily zazen -- are what is looked for in a Zen teacher.

Teisho by Roshi Bodhin Kjolhede.

All the other precepts we take at Jukai flow from our taking refuge in Buddha (realisation), Dharma (truth) and Sangha (harmony).

Various sources.

Some background on why we receive the sixteen precepts at Matariki. The importance of attending to our often harsh inner speech, and seeing through it.

Source(s): Advice Not GIven by Mark Epstein, Hay House 2018

Some reflections on why we have ceremonies and rituals, and look at some of the legends behind the bathing of the baby Buddha.

A Dharma talk by Sensei Richard von Sturmer.

Texts used: Crooked Cucumber: The Life and Zen Teachings of Shunryu Suzuki by David Chadwick; To Shine One Corner of the World by David Chadwick.

A first-hand case study in working with reactive states of mind.

Source(s): A Fire Runs Through All Things: Zen Koans for Facing the Climate Crisis by Susan Murphy, Shambhala 2023

Comments on ten zen pointers on the practice of welcoming

Source: Article by John Tarrant "How to welcome the end of the world" in Lion's Roar November 2016.

Just calmly see that all is one and by themselves false views will go.

Sources: RZC translation of Affirming Faith in Mind, in Chants and Recitations, Rochester Zen Center, 2005 and  Faith in Mind: A Guide to Zen Practice by Master Sheng-Yen, Dharma Drum Publications, 1987.

These dreams are merely flowers of air.

Sources: RZC translation of Affirming Faith in Mind, in Chants and Recitations, Rochester Zen Center, 2005 and  Faith in Mind: A Guide to Zen Practice by Master Sheng-Yen, Dharma Drum Publications, 1987.

The wise do not strive after goals.

Sources: RZC translation of Affirming Faith in Mind, in Chants and Recitations, Rochester Zen Center, 2005 and  Faith in Mind: A Guide to Zen Practice by Master Sheng-Yen, Dharma Drum Publications, 1987.

The great Master Joshu gives a teaching on non-abiding.

Sources: various

Beyond the easy and the hard.

Sources: RZC translation of Affirming Faith in Mind, in Chants and Recitations, Rochester Zen Center, 2005 and  Faith in Mind: A Guide to Zen Practice by Master Sheng-Yen, Dharma Drum Publications, 1987.

 Dropping things and mind.

Sources: RZC translation of Affirming Faith in Mind, in Chants and Recitations, Rochester Zen Center, 2005 and  Faith in Mind: A Guide to Zen Practice by Master Sheng-Yen, Dharma Drum Publications, 1987.

Unifying the mind.

Sources: RZC translation of Affirming Faith in Mind, in Chants and Recitations, Rochester Zen Center, 2005 and  Faith in Mind: A Guide to Zen Practice by Master Sheng-Yen, Dharma Drum Publications, 1987

Attempts to stop activity will fill you with activity.

Sources: RZC translation of Affirming Faith in Mind, in Chants and Recitations, Rochester Zen Center, 2005 and  Faith in Mind: A Guide to Zen Practice by Master Sheng-Yen, Dharma Drum Publications, 1987.

How we create a sense of self with our habit of approval, disapproval and indifference.

Sources: RZC translation of Affirming Faith in Mind, in Chants and Recitations, Rochester Zen Center, 2005 and  Faith in Mind: A Guide to Zen Practice by Master Sheng-Yen, Dharma Drum Publications, 1987.

Dharma Talk by Jissai Prince-Cherry.

Jissai Prince-Cherry has been practicing with the Rochester Zen Center since 1996 and currently serves as the Center's Online Head of Zendo as well as Group Leader of the Louisville Zen Center. In 2022, she was ordained as a Zen Buddhist Priest. She joined us via Zoom to give this dharma talk.

Reflections on the situation in Gaza and readings from Carlo Rovelli's book, White Holes.

A Dharma talk by Richard von Sturmer.

A tale of Long Covid, anxiety and encounters with the bodhisattva of compassion. Adrian Croucher is a senior student at the Auckland Zen Centre.

Resources: John Blofeld, "Bodhisattva of Compassion: The Mystical Tradition of Kuan Yin", Shambhala Classics, 2009.

 Main text used: 'Encouraging Words' by Robert Aitken"

Dharma talk by Sensei Richard von Sturmer.

Impermanence.

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The importance of vows.

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3. Realization.

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Early life.

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Encountering the Dharma and zen training at Hosshin-ji.

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4. The illusion of separate self.

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Chan teacher Guo Gu explores how koans (gong'ans in Chinese) are not meant to be solved by us, but rather they can dis-solve our self preoccupations and cherished opinions.

Source(s): Passing Through the Gateless Barrier: Koan Practice for Real Life by Guo Gu Shambhala 2016

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Kyogen presents a dilemma. How can a man hanging by his teeth from a tree answer a question about Bodhidharma's coming from the west? If he opens his mouth to speak he'll fall to his death, if he remains silent he fails the questioner. When to remain silent, when to speak, and what to say can be life koans. Words are never sufficient, but they are called for at times. How can we respond authentically?

Automated transcript:

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Some reflections on violence and non-violence after the shootings at a downtown building site last Thursday [20 July].

Source(s): Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet by Thich Nhat Hanh, Rider 2022.

Automated transcript:

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Ethical behaviour is at the very centre of the process of awakening. The Jukai ceremony allows us to renew our commitment to harmless and compassionate thought, speech and action, and sketches out in broad strokes what they look like.

Sources: Being Upright: Zen Meditation and the Bodhisattva Precepts by Reb Anderson Shambhala 2001, Disciples of the Buddha by Zenno Ishigami Kōsei 1989.

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The Diamond Sutra, part of the Prajna Paramita sutras, is second only to the Heart Sutra in importance for Zen Practitioners. A number of phrases taken directly from the sutra are to be found among the preliminary koans.

Source: The Flowing Bridge by Elaine MacInnes Wisdom 2007

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Some reflections on the three main components of Earth Day -- sitting (mind), chanting (speech), and work (body).

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A very simple koan -- but don't be fooled --Tozan's 3 pounds of flax is unfathomable.

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Buddhist and Zen teachings on work.

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Effort is an essential element in practice. It is one of the strands of the 8-fold Path, one of the 6 Paramitas, and one of the 7 factors of enlightenment. What is right effort, and does it relate to Aimlessness?

Sources:Various

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As extreme weather events grow more frequent and it becomes more apparent that we have "entered a period of consequences" in regard to the climate crisis, how do we work with change, loss and devastation in ways that are healthy and helpful?

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Working with worries about the future and forgiving wrongs of the past.

Text used: Our Appointment with Life: The Buddha's Teaching on Living in the Present, by Thich Nhat Hanh (translated by Annabel Laity), Parallax Press 1990.

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Koans, their purpose, how they work, and why the can be called vile.

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Text used: The Unborn; The Life and Teachings of Zen Master Bankei, 1622-1693, Translated and with an Introduction by Norman Waddell, North Point Press 1984.

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Sickness and pain are inevitable but suffering is not

Text used: The Unborn; The Life and Teachings of Zen Master Bankei, 1622-1693, Translated and with an Introduction by Norman Waddell, North Point Press 1984.

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Transforming the unborn Buddha Mind into the poisons.

Text used: The Unborn; The Life and Teachings of Zen Master Bankei, 1622-1693, Translated and with an Introduction by Norman Waddell, North Point Press 1984.

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Meeting his master, deeper insights and beginning to teach.

Text used: The Unborn; The Life and Teachings of Zen Master Bankei, 1622-1693, Translated and with an Introduction by Norman Waddell, North Point Press 1984.

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Childhood and early struggles to understand "bright virtue".

Text used: The Unborn; The Life and Teachings of Zen Master Bankei, 1622-1693, Translated and with an Introduction by Norman Waddell, North Point Press 1984.

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Roshi Amala Wrightson gives the second in her series of talks on the Sutra called "Knowing the better way to live alone". Roshi will be drawing on the translation and commentary by Thich Nhat Hanh in his book "Our Appointment with Life".

In the context of the Sutra, “To live alone” doesn’t mean to isolate oneself from society-- it means to be present and steady, wherever you are, whatever your are doing. In this talk Roshi explores what it means to "live alone"-- not rejecting the world or society, but not attaching to what we experi...

Roshi Amala Wrightson gives the third in her series of talks on the Sutra called "Knowing the better way to live alone". Roshi will be drawing on the translation and commentary by Thich Nhat Hanh in his book "Our Appointment with Life".

In this talk Roshi explores what it means to "live alone" when we understand "alone" as "all one" --wholehearted zen practice as love. Roshi also discusses forgiveness and letting go of the past. 

Source(s): Our Appointment with Life: The Buddha's Teaching on Living in the Present, by Thich Nhat Hanh (translated by Ann...

Roshi Amala Wrightson gives the first in her series of talks on the Sutra called "Knowing the better way to live alone". Roshi will be drawing on the translation and commentary by Thich Nhat Hanh in his book "Our Appointment with Life".

In the context of the Sutra, “To live alone” doesn’t mean to isolate oneself from society-- it means to be present and steady, wherever you are, whatever your are doing. In this talk Roshi introduces the Sutra and the five skandhas.

Source(s): Our Appointment with Life: The Buddha's Teaching on Living in the...

The third in a series of three dharma talks by Richard von Sturmer. In this talk The Richard takes up Dōgen’s writings on nature as well as exploring the wilderness poetry of Tang Dynasty China.

Texts used:

Our National Parks by John Muir

Dogen's 'Mountains and Waters Sutra' from Moon in a Dewdrop: Writings of Zen Master Dogen

Classic Chinese Poetry translated and edited by David Hinton

"Zazen is not sensory deprivation — anything but. Birds and geckos and bullfrogs guide us. Be open to these natural teachers, wherever you may be practicing." -Aitken Roshi

This is the second of three Dharma Talks on 'Zen and Nature' given by Richard at the Auckland Zen Centre.

Texts used:

Poetry and Zen: Letters and Uncollected Writings of R. H. Blyth by Norman Waddell

Passing Through the Gateless Barrier by Guo Gu

The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon translated by Ivan Morris.

In this talk Richard explores interconnection on both vast and intimate scales. This is the first of three talks on 'Zen and Nature' given by Richard at the Auckland Zen Centre.

Texts used: A (Very) Short History of Life on Earth by Henry Gee

Earth: An Intimate History by Richard Fortey

Pilgrim at Tinker's Creek by Annie Dillard

In this talk Roshi Amala Wrightson continues to explore false views. The Diamond Sutra lists four mistaken notions we hold onto which distort our experience of the world; the views of "self", "human beings", "sentient beings" and "lifespan". Thich Nhat Hanh shows how throwing these false views away frees us to respond more effectively to the multiple crises we are facing in 2022.

Main Source(s):

Thich Nhat Hanh Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet. Rider, 2021

Brian Swimme, Canticle to the Cosmos. VHS Series.

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