In this lecture we sample the Yogacara teachings of Vasubandhu called the Treatise on the Three Natures, which form the philosophical backbone of Yogacara. So, what are the three natures? They are three interrelated aspects of our experience: the imaginary, dependent and complete or realised nature. In a nutshell they are:The imaginary nature of th…

In this sixth episode in the series Indian Buddhist Philosophy: Progressive Stages of Insight into Emptiness, Sono discusses the Two Truths of Nagarjuna, the important insight into the “emptiness” of emptiness and how these philosophical insights shape how we practice.By Andrew Tootell

Meditation: A Still Forest Pool, by Shinsho by Andrew TootellBy Andrew Tootell

Zen Buddhism can be understood as a form of performance art.In this recording, Sono performs the song by the 17th century monk Hakuin, called “Song of Zazen”.By Andrew Tootell

How does our practice help with this work?When we come from love rather than anger and fear, without creating enemies, we avoid anxiety and burnout. We can rely on our zazen practice to step back and see clearly with a compassionate lens. Together with the fundamental truths of Buddhism, this allows us then to step up and into wise action as is req…

In this talk I discuss socially engaged Buddhism and how the paths of personal and social transformation are interdependent.As David Loy states: ‘Engagement in the world is how our individual awakening blossoms, and how contemplative practices such as meditation ground our activism, transforming it into a spiritual path”.…

In this meditation we contemplate the question: Why do you sit?Like a Koan there is no right answer. Are we “Performing our vows”?“Renewing our commitment”? “Embodying the practice principles?” What kind of engagement with life is Zazen? The practice of nonseparation?The practice of leaving everything alone? Nonthinking is a kind of letting be – le…

In this lecture/discussion, Sono explains the concept of dependent arising in Buddhism, emphasizing that things only exist conventionally and do not have inherent existence. This idea, also known as emptiness, was clarified as the absence of something rather than the presence of something else. Sono further discussed how this concept relates to the…

From the Buddhist perspective, the understanding and realisation of emptiness is the key to liberation from suffering – because the roots of suffering stem from primordial confusion as to the nature of reality – to be free from suffering we need to eliminate ignorance – to eliminate ignorance is to understand emptiness – hence the realisation of em…

The divine abodes are loving kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity. These are both fruits of a practice of meditation and can be doorways to the deepening of that practice. In this guided meditation we explore the connection between romantic love and loving kindness. Romantic love hints at the universal love we can experience and embody whether …

This talk explores the benefits of these often tricky challenges and what Buddhism and relational science offer us in dealing with them. Idealised or romantic love is dualistic and relates to the other, Harmonic love relates with the other. Rather than being in love, we become love.By Andrew Tootell

This session focuses on the meaning of Emptiness in the Pali Buddhist sutras and the Abhidharma philosophy school.By Andrew Tootell

Opening To Love, by Jack Wicks by Andrew TootellBy Andrew Tootell

Awakened awareness is not about special experiences – it is about recognising the simplest form of conscious experience that is available to everyone. Joko called it “Simple Mind”, Shunryu Suzuki called it “Beginners Mind” or we could simply call it awareness of awareness or “Pure Awareness”.We could say that the purpose of meditation, both silent …

This guided meditation offers a chance to gain clarity around our thoughts and emotions. Taking a few deep breaths, we can name our experiences. Then we gain an opportunity to fully experience them without being overwhelmed by them. We can then move on the investigate them if it feels safe to do so. Remembering to nurture ourselves by coming back t…

This session gives an introduction to the Buddha’s first discourse on Turning the Wheel of the Dharma. In this discussion we focus on the four truths or practices.By Andrew Tootell

In this guided meditation Sono introduces three types of Zazen:Mindfulness of a mental object;Mindfulness of the field of all objects; andJust-SittingBy Andrew Tootell

This session gives an introduction to why it is important to study philosophy and an overview of the course.By Andrew Tootell

Berry Crawford first started practicing Zen meditation in 1992. He lived at the Sonoma Mountain Zen Center and practiced as a resident in the mid 1990s. Afterwards, he practiced with Diane “Eshin” Rizzetto in the Ordinary Mind Zen School started by Joko Beck. Later, Berry became a student of John “Shoji” Sorenson and in 2022 was authorized to indep…

An Interview with Zen Teacher Eihei Peter Levitt Eihei Peter Levitt is the founder and guiding teacher of the Salt Spring Zen Circle on Salt Spring Island in British Columbia, where he resides with his wife, poet Shirley Graham. He was authorized as a Zen teacher in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi by Zoketsu Norman Fischer, founder of the Every…

Katherine Daiki Senshin Griffith is the Head Teacher at the Zen Center of Los Angelos. She started studying Zen in the Rinzai tradition at New York Zendo Shobo-Ji in Manhattan in 1987. At Dai Bosatsu Zendo, she received Jukai in 1994 from Eido Shimano Roshi, with whom she studied until 2000, when she moved to Los Angeles. She became a member of ZCL…

An Interview with Zen Teacher and Priest Teshin Matthew Sweger Teshin Matthew Sweger is the teacher and resident priest at the North Carolina Zen Center. He was ordained as a Buddhist priest in 2004 by Lawson Sachter Roshi, a Dharma successor to Philip Kapelau Roshi. After completing the Harada-Yasutani koan curriculum, Teshin received Dharma trans…

In this talk I reflect on the “Voice from the Heart”, why the referendum lost and what has to happen next. It provides a brief historical background to the Voice and it includes some reflections on the One and the Many from a Zen perspective and applies the concept of “spiritual bypassing” at the collective level when a nation denies the truth of i…

An Interview with Zen Teacher Dr Sono Andrew Tootell Dr Sono Andrew Tootell is an Australian Zen teacher in the Ordinary Mind Zen School. He is the dharma heir of Barry Magid and is an accredited mental health social worker and maintains a private psychotherapy practice. He is the teacher for the OzZen sangha. More about Andrew: https://ordinarymin…

Our original nature can be described as Awareness or Heart-Mind. This Awareness that we are, which ultimately constitutes our original nature, has a number of essential qualities. As an introduction to this guided meditation, I discuss the four faces of Universal Love. In Buddhism they are called the Four Brahma Viharas (divine dwellings): In the l…

An Interview with Rabbi and Zen Teacher Adam Fogel Adam Fogel is a practicing Jewish Rabbi and long time Zen practitioner with authorization from his guiding Zen teacher, Ruben Habito Roshi, to offer Zen training within the context of Jewish high holiday retreats. He is also a licensed and practicing psychologist in the State of California. More fr…

This talk guides us through a journey of embodying the connections we have with our place here …the earth, the elements, and the beings we share life energy with. Exploring the fundamental Buddhist truths that everything is connected and everything is impermanent. Being present with the emotions that arise and coming to the spaciousness that allows…

This meditation guides you from the experience of your breath to some old zen parables. The first story is a re-telling of “A Parable” from Zen Flesh, Zen Bones by Paul Reps and Nyogen Senzaki. Two koans are featured, both are from The Gateless Gate by Koun Yamada. These are, Case 30 “Mind is Buddha”, and Case 36 “Meeting a Man Who Has Accomplished…

An Interview with Zen practitioner and Music/Chanting Scholar Stephen Slottow Stephen Slottow is a long time Zen koan practitioner and a professor of music theory at he University of North Texas. He was a professional fiddler and banjo player and an author of a book on the Americanization of Zen Chanting which we will discuss today. More about Step…

Bobby Chowa Werner is a dharma holder, or assistant teacher, in the White Plum Zen tradition. He has been a student of Roshi Anne Seisen Saunders since 2005 at the Sweetwater Zen Center in the San Diego California area. Chowa’s livelihood is in the music industry, composing and producing music for various projects and touring with an acappella doo …

Sensei Koshin Paley Ellison is an author, Zen teacher, Jungian psychotherapist, and ACPE Certified Chaplaincy Educator. After working more than a decade as a chaplain and psychotherapist, Koshin co-founded the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care. Koshin began his formal Zen training in 1987, and he is a recognized Soto Zen Teacher by the Ame…

Rev. Keiryū Liên Shutt (she/they) is a recognized leader in the movement that breaks through the wall of American white-centered convert Buddhism to welcome people of all backgrounds into a contemporary, engaged Buddhism. As an ordained Soto Zen priest, licensed social worker, and longtime educator/teacher of Buddhism, Shutt represents new leadersh…

This guided meditation was taught by Gurdjieff to his students. Through each round of body sensing we are guided into self-remembering – the “I am” of awareness.By Andrew Tootell

An Interview with Mushim Patricia Ikeda Mushim Patricia Ikeda is a Buddhist teacher ordained in the Korean Sŏn (Zen) tradition. She is also an author, poet, mentor, and community activist. She teaches meditation retreats for people of color, women, and social justice activists nationally and is a meditation teacher at the East Bay Meditation Center…

This guided meditation is all about finding or recognising and then stabilising in your essential nature, your inner “treasury”. I have titled the meditation “Appreciate this Life” after the book by the same title by Maezumi Roshi. Even though we cannot “see” our essential nature we can simply be, knowingly, our essential nature. We need to recogni…

Kogen Czarnik is a full Soto Zen priest (Osho) in the lineage of Tangen Harada Roshi. He began Zen practiice in 2003 in Poland, and soon after graduating from college he went to Japan to practice Dharma in a traditional monastic context. Since then, he has been practicing at monasteries such as Bukkoku-ji, Sogen-ji, Tosho-ji (where he did his pries…

Joshu(Peter Thompson) founder of the Wombat Sangha in Sydney gives a introduction to the importance of Yoga Nidra practice and how it complements our Zen practice.By Andrew Tootell

Helen Hobart is an ordained Vietnamese Zen practitioner and community leader. In 2010 she was ordained at Plum Village into Order of Interbeing where she was given the dharma name "True Sacred Clouds". She is a board certified chaplain and works professionally in that field. She has been the on the board of directors for both the Sacramento Dharma …

Korin Charlie Pokorny is a Soto Zen priest and was ordained by Tenshin Reb Anderson in 1999 and then received dharma transmission from him in 2018. He studied koans with Daniel Terragno under whom he completed Harada/Yasutani koan curriculum. He has a Masters degree from Stanford University in Religious Studies. He currently is a Dharma teacher at …

ZAZEN YOGA NIDRAThis guided meditation integrates zazen and yoga nidra. Both zazen and yoga nidra are gateways into the subjective sense of the body and ultimately the realisation of self as nondual awareness.By Andrew Tootell

An Interview with Soto Zen Priest and Teacher Shinko Andreas Hagn Shinko Andreas Hagn is the founder and teacher of Daijihi, a Soto Zen sangha in Viena Austria. He received jukai by Ryuten Rosenblum Roshi, a successor of Baker Roshi in 2011 and was ordained as a priest in 2019. His ordination teacher was Hoko Karnegis, who is in the senior teacher …

Joshu (Peter Thompson) is a founding member of the Sydney Zen Centre and a founder of the Wombat Sangha based in Sydney. In this talk Joshu develops a founding narrative for contemporary Zen practice based upon Evolution. Joshu says, “An important part of the story and mystery of our evolution and being here is the existential reality of alienation…

An Interview with Soto Zen Priest, Zen Teacher and Author Tim Burkett Tim Burkett is Zen priest, Zen teacher and retired licensed Ph.D. psychologist. Tim was the Guiding Teacher of Minnesota Zen Meditation Center from 2002-2019 and the retired CEO of one of Minnesota's largest non-profit mental health agencies, People Incorporated. He was among Suz…

An Interview with Soto Zen Priest David Isurushin Shapiro. David Shapiro is a Zen priest in the Clear Mind Zen lineage which flows through pioneering Soto Zen priest Sōyū Matsuoka Roshi. He received Dharma Transmission from John Shoji Sorensen Roshi and lives and practices in Reno, Nevada. He is a retired rehabilitation specialist and has worked wi…

Tatsudo Nicole Baden is a Dharma Successor of Zentatsu Baker Roshi in the Dharma Sangha Soto Zen Lineage. She has been practicing Zen since 2001 and received Dharma Transmission in 2017. She graduated as a psychologist from the University of Oldenburg in 2008. She also trained at the ‘School for Body Mind Centering’ for four years. Since 2009 she h…

This talk is continuing our conversation about nonduality. One of the core dualities we are trained into is subject and object duality. The theme of this talk – recognising our essential self as awareness – and some of the experiential exercises are taken from a book called “Standing as Awareness” by the nondual philosopher Greg Goode. Last month I…

Hozan Alan Senauke is a Soto Zen priest, Zen teacher, folk musician and poet residing at the Berkeley Zen Center, where he currently serves as Abbot. He is a former Executive Director of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship (BPF), holding that position from 1991 to 2001. Senauke received Dharma transmission from his teacher Sojun Mel Weitsman in 1998 duri…

Rev. Jay Rinsen Weik Roshi is the Abbot of the Buddhist Temple of Toledo. He received Dharma Transmission from Rev. James Myoun Ford Roshi in 2014. He begain his practice in 1987 with John Daido Loori Roshi at the Zen Mountain Monastery in New York and received jukai from him in 1998. He later studied with Daido Loori's dharma heir Bonnie Myotai Tr…

Seiso Paul Cooper is the guiding the guiding teacher for the Two Rivers Zen Community and also for the Realizational Practice Studies Project. He was ordained as a priest and received dharma transmission from Soto priest Sojun Diane Martin. Seiso is also a practicing psychoanalyst and is the author of numerous books including his most recent: "Psyc…

This guided meditation leads us into the non-duality of Simply Being through the gateless gate of silence.By Andrew Tootell