AZC Weekly talks

"The buddhas of past, present and future do not know it, but cats and cows know it." In this teisho we look at what animals know.

Texts: Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home by Rupert Sheldrake

Being a Beast by Charles Foster

The Animal Dialogues: Uncommon Encounters in the Wild by Craig Childs.

The power of generosity -- like the rays of the sun.

Source: The World Could Be Otherwise by Norman Fisher.

Beginning to explore the Dāna Pāramitā.

Main Source: The Practice of Perfection by Robert Aitken.

Description: Non-Attachment.

Source: The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma by Red Pine.

Description: Buddhas and cause and effect.

Source: The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma by Red Pine.

Description: Mind is Buddha.

Source: The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma by Red Pine.

Description: A selection ōf Dōgen's encouragement talks to inspire our practice.

Main sources: Dogen's Extensive Record: Eihei Kōroku, translated by Taigen Dan Leighton and Shohaku Okumura (same as yesterday)

The Art of Just Sitting edited by John Daido Loori.

Description: A selection ōf Dōgen's encouragement talks to inspire our practice.

Main sources: Dogen's Extensive Record: Eihei Kōroku, translated by Taigen Dan Leighton and Shohaku Okumura.

Description: Mind is Buddha.

Source: The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma by Red Pine.

To think of practice as having a goal takes us away from the present moment. We can become impatient when we don't see the desired results of our zazen, and this impatience can become a hindrance in our practice.

Texts: The Gateless Barrier, Robert Aitken

The Three Pillars of Zen, Philip Kapleau.

The Kshanti Paramita. Active patience or forbearance as an antidote to anger.

The Sangha assembled on Vulture Peak to hear a discourse by the Buddha. The Buddha simply held up a flower. Only Mahakashyapa smiled.

Texts: The Gateless Barrier, Robert Aitken

Disciples of the Buddha, Zenno Ishigami.

Some reflections of the 10 cardinal precepts and some questions to discuss.

Source: The World Could Be Otherwise, Imagination and the Bodhisattva Path by Norman Fischer.

A look at the three pure precepts and the first five cardinal precepts.

Source: The World Could be Otherwise by Norman Fischer.

Exploring the 16 precepts in preparation for Matariki Jukai.

Source: The World Could be Otherwise by Norman Fischer.

This koan takes the form of a folktale. An ancient teacher gives the wrong answer regarding cause and effect and must live 500 lives as a fox.

Text: Shaping Text: Philosophy and Folklore in the Fox Koan by Steven Heine

Of the Same Root: Animals and Our Relationship with them by Philip Kapleau.

Ahimsa, not-harming, is a fundamental principle of both Hinduism and Buddhism, and is embodied in the first of our Ten Cardinal Precepts, "Not to kill but to cherish all life". In this teisho we look at different aspects of ahimsa: kindness, altruism and not eating meat.

Text: To Cherish All Life: a Buddhist Case for Becoming Vegetarian and Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk.

Some thoughts on making the most of a Term Intensive.

Sources: Silent Illumination by Guo Gu, Self-help for your Nerves by Claire Weekes, and Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg.

Peace must always be given precedence, in particular making peace with ourselves. But war is always present; there has never been a time in human history when a war has not been waged on some part of our planet. So, in this teisho we take a clear-eyed look at war as well.

Text: Essay by James Hillman, "Wars, Arms, Rams, Mars: On the Love of War".

This is the third in a series of koans centred on the natural world. The koan is Case 38 in the Mumonkan

Books used in the teisho:

Zen's Chinese Heritage by Andy Ferguson and The Gateless Barrier by Robert Aitken.