Ordinary Zen Sangha - Dharma Talks: Recent Episodes
Will Rauschenberger
Dharma Talks at the Ordinary Zen Sangha, a Zen Meditation Practice Center located in Sarasota, Florida. Ordinary Zen Sangha Inc. is a non-profit corporation with 501 (c) (3) status as a public charity. Please help us if you can. We welcome financial donations of any size, at any time. Our programs and events are only made possible by donations from our supporting members. Your contributions are tax-deductible.Thank you for listening,Will Rauschenberger, Abbot
The Dharma talk from Sunday 10/2/2022, 4 days after Hurricane Ian. It included a reading from A Bird in Flight Leaves No Trace: The Zen Teaching of Huangbo. Unobstructed Wisdom
[A monk] asked, “Did the Buddha bring an end to ignorance or not?”
The master replied, “Ignorance is the very site where all buddhas attain the Way."
Master Subul, Seon. A Bird in Flight Leaves No Trace: The Zen Teaching of Huangbo with a Modern Commentary
Fran Kaplan shares her retreat experience at the Springwater Center for Meditative Inquiry in upstate New York.
All Day Retreat in Nature, Saturday, November 19, 2022! Join Ordinary Zen Sangha for our all-day retreat at Myakka River State Park. Mark your calendars!
- The gateless gate is your own mind, there is no other.
- How to be free in this moment.
- What does a good teacher do?
"Verses of the Mind King" is attributed to Fu Dashi (a famous Chinese sixth-century Lay Buddhist). The poem, having referred to the Mind King, who, for all his importance, is not evident to the senses, goes on to say: The salt put in water / the glue put in paint - Certainly these are present / But we cannot see their form. The Mind King is also thus / Abiding within the body, Going in and out the (gate of the) face / In response to things, acording to their feelings. Freely and without hindrance / All his undertakings are accomplished.
This evening, Alice Greenspan reads one of her poems. "May it bring peace and joy in some small way." Humble as a grain of sand, Tender like a baby's hand, Peaceful as a blade of grass, Transparent like a looking glass, Gentle like the spotted doe, Dazzling as old winter's snow, Quiet like the early morn, Hopeful as the new day's dawn, Spacious as a clear blue sky, Loving like a lullaby, Sacred as a holy grail, Breath-filled like tall boats that sail, Joining hearts, Emerging strong, We're the notes in nature's song.
Today's Dharma Talk includes a reading from "The Record of Linji" - translation and commentary by Ruth Fuller Sasaki. "I believe that Zen, particularly Rinzai Zen, has a significant role in the present world. Modern people are adrift amid the great confusion and uncertainty of contemporary life. The Linji lu can give us a foundation on which to construct a new and powerful view of human existence." --Yamada Mumon