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PODCAST

Earth Dreams: Zen Buddhism and the Soul of the World

Zen Buddhist teachings point to a profound view of reality--one of deep interconnection and non-separation. Awakening is a word used to describe the freedom, creativity and love of our original nature. This podcast explores the profound liberating teachings of Zen Buddhism at the intersection of dreamwork and the soul. The intention is to offer a view of awakening that explores our deep interconnection with the living world and the cosmos as well as to invite a re-imagining of what human life and

religion & spirituality buddhism

All Episodes

37:58

The Failure is Wonderful Indeed

Earth Dreams: Zen Buddhism and the Soul of the World ·

2025/06/06

One can, the other cannotBoth are freeA god mask, a demon maskThe failure is wonderful indeed —Mumon’s poemIf I reflect back on my life, it is possible to see a series of failures, mistakes, broken dreams and incomplete projects. Relationships that I probably should have left before they ended, others that I probably shouldn’t have even pursued, still others that I could have worked harder to repair.One Zen teacher said at the end of their life—one continuous mistake.Ever feel this way?From one

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38:33

Getting Unstuck

Earth Dreams: Zen Buddhism and the Soul of the World ·

2025/05/30

I have been contemplating being stuck. You know that feeling that something else should be happening. Something more, or different, or better. The sense that whatever is happening is somehow wrong, or bad, or amiss in some way.The sense of being stuck can even manifest as an over-identification with the hope for growth or healing in a particular area of life.I want to share a koan from the mumonkan. It’s an old buddhist folktale, that offers some playfulness and insight to this dynamic of being

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28:41

Meeting the Ancestors

Earth Dreams: Zen Buddhism and the Soul of the World ·

2025/05/25

Greetings Friends,I am returning from a 10-day stay at my former home—Great Vow Zen Monastery. While I was there I had the opportunity to co-lead a sesshin (weeklong silent meditation retreat). The sesshin’s theme was The Light of the Ancestors.Yunmen said to the assembly of practitioners, “Everyone has a light. When you look for it, its dark, dark, hidden. What is this light that everyone has?”What is this light that everyone has?I find this to be a wonderful question. One I carry around with me,

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14:17

Conversations in a Dream

Earth Dreams: Zen Buddhism and the Soul of the World ·

2025/05/01

Are you dreaming? How is your experience, like a dream?In one sense, the words you are reading, the sounds you are hearing, the thoughts racing through your mind and the ones seeming to linger in the background, the worries, and any other emotion that you might be experiencing, including experience itself—all are un-pin-down-able, you can not grasp them, you can not even find a single unchanging sensation that you can call yourself.All appearance is as ephemeral as a dream.In Zen practice we are

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36:17

Dream as Medicine, Dream as Love

Earth Dreams: Zen Buddhism and the Soul of the World ·

2025/04/20

Dream as Analogy for RealityThis world is psychoactive. So much so that we don’t even realize how are fundamental beliefs and unquestioned assumptions shape our sense of who we are and what the world is.One of those assumptions is the referent to this simple, and often thought/spoken phrase I am.Its innocuous, we think it constantly. I am hungry, I am tired, I am sad, I am lonely, I am scared, etc.When we say “I am” —this thought or sensation goes unquestioned, and so we build our life or our sense

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39:46

What's Real?

Earth Dreams: Zen Buddhism and the Soul of the World ·

2025/04/11

What is real? What is true?These questions are fundamental to the spiritual path, to the path of awakening.There is much confusion in our world right now. Blatant lies or mis-truths are being thrown around about immigrants rights, dei, trans and queer people, how the economy works, science, climate change, you name it…The question of what is real in a spiritual sense invites us to look into the basic assumptions we make about the nature of reality. This is relevant in our considerations of the real

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40:19

Ryonen Scars Her Face

Earth Dreams: Zen Buddhism and the Soul of the World ·

2025/04/01

Hello Friends,Happy April 1st! Here we are, its Aries Season, it’s Spring, Mercury and Venus have both been retrograde for a while now (which can give a certain feeling of friction or underworld journey to our days), there is much happening in our geo-political world that I (we) wish wasn’t happening. And still the magnolias are blooming, the songbirds are back, tulips are pushing through the mulch in our front yard, the sun is rising earlier and setting later.Aries season reminds us that our life

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27:20

Will it be destroyed?

Earth Dreams: Zen Buddhism and the Soul of the World ·

2025/03/22

Book of Serenity #30: Dasui's Aeonic FireA monk asked Dasui: When the fire at the end of an aeon rages through and the whole universe is destroyed, is this destroyed or not?Dasui said: Destroyed.The monk said: Then it goes along with that?Dasui said: It goes along with that.A monk asked Longji: When the fire ending the aeon rages through and the whole universe is destroyed, is this destroyed or not?Longji said: Not destroyed.The monk said: Why is it not destroyed?Longji said: Because it is the same

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40:43

Dharma Practice in times of Uncertainty

Earth Dreams: Zen Buddhism and the Soul of the World ·

2025/03/03

Greetings friends~As we be together in this political moment, I wanted to offer some of the dharma teachings and practices that I have been leaning into. One of which is sharing poetry, so first a poem.For When People Ask by Rosemerry Wahtola TrommerI want a word that meansokay and not okay,more than that: a word that meansdevastated and stunned with joy.I want the word that saysI feel it all all at once.The heart is not like a songbirdsinging only one note at a time,more like a Tuvan throat

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33:00

Prajna Paramita's Great NO!

Earth Dreams: Zen Buddhism and the Soul of the World ·

2025/02/21

As we began 2025, I returned to the teachings of the Heart of Great Perfection Wisdom Sutra. In times of chaos, something in me turns toward what is most true. The Heart Sutra is one such text that invites this kind of turning.Moving through the Heart Sutra we arrive at a set of stanzas that read as a series of negations.Therefore, given emptiness, there is no form, no sensation, no perception, no formation, no consciousness; no eyes, no ears, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind; no sight, no

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37:21

coming home to ourselves

Earth Dreams: Zen Buddhism and the Soul of the World ·

2025/01/26

Greetings Friends,I remember when I first entered a space dedicated to dharma practice, after sitting in the zendo that first night my body felt like I was home.Which was strange because the building and atmosphere was so foreign to me, the spicey smell of incense, the monotone chanting, the long black robes that the monks wore, being told to sit still and face a wall. None of these things were reminiscent of any kind of home that I was familiar with and yet, I felt at home.The homecoming wasn’t

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35:56

The Hands and Eyes of Great Compassion

Earth Dreams: Zen Buddhism and the Soul of the World ·

2025/01/19

Greetings Friends,As we begin this new year, I want to spend sometime with the Heart of Great Perfect Wisdom Sutra. This chant is one that is chanted across Mahayana Buddhist traditions, within our own Zen school, it is chanted daily in most monasteries and regularly in many practice communities.It’s a pithy teaching that cuts to the heart of our practice. And it starts with the Bodhisattva of Great Compassion (the archetype of compassion) practicing Prajna Paramita (which translates as wisdom

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30:17

Our Dream of The World

Earth Dreams: Zen Buddhism and the Soul of the World ·

2024/12/31

A monk asked Hongzhi, “What about the ones who have gone?”Hongzhi said, “White clouds rise to the top of the valleys, blue peakslean into the empty sky.”The monk asked, “What about the ones who return?”Hongzhi said, “Heads covered in white hair, they leave the cliffs andvalleys. In the dead of night they descend through the clouds to themarket stalls.”“What about the ones who neither come nor go?”“The stone woman calls them back from their dream of the world.”As the year comes to an end, I have been

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37:40

The Dark Side of Enlightenment

Earth Dreams: Zen Buddhism and the Soul of the World ·

2024/12/21

When we enter the path of practice, two paths open up simultaneously—first we have the path of what we think we are doing. This is the practice method, the conceptual framework, the spoken vow that we turn towards, that we make effort at, that we can talk about more or less.The other path is the path of what is actually happening. It is darker, more mysterious, often below the level of consciousness, embodied in our soma. This path is before words, before concepts and identification, its a path that

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28:46

Eight Realizations of Great Beings

Earth Dreams: Zen Buddhism and the Soul of the World ·

2024/12/15

As the calendar year comes to an end, I offer this poem as a re-write of a text that one of my Sanghas has been studying. The text is called The Eight Realizations of Great Beings, one story says it was one of the last teachings given by the Buddha before passing into PariNirvana.I re-wrote the teaching as a way of distilling and remembering the practices we did together during our Autumn Ango. The teaching is about liberation and the profound realization of our interconnected life. I offer it as a

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34:18

Let's Awaken Together

Earth Dreams: Zen Buddhism and the Soul of the World ·

2024/12/08

While sitting under the bodhi tree through the night, Shakyamuni Buddha saw the morning star, was enlightened and said:I, together with the great earth and all sentient beings, simultaneously attain the way.In the Zen tradition today is Bodhi day. The day that we commemorate the Buddha’s awakening and celebrate our buddha nature. Last night, locally, people from the Zen Columbus Sangha, Mud Lotus Sangha and Grove City Zen held a meditation vigil and sat into the dark of the night at the Pragmatic

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45:42

A Sensuous Solidarity

Earth Dreams: Zen Buddhism and the Soul of the World ·

2024/12/03

What do you want?What do you really want?The cyber Monday sales have been flashing items, workshops, experiences that we could possibly want, that we should want, that we somehow need.In one of my Sanghas we are exploring a text called The Eight Realizations of Great Beings. This past week we have been exploring the nature of desire.The invitation to explore is part of what I love about the Zen Buddhist tradition. What is it like to bring a non-judgmental attention to the ordinary and natural

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37:54

What Haunts You?

Earth Dreams: Zen Buddhism and the Soul of the World ·

2024/11/22

Greetings Friends! In these last few weeks I have been reflecting a lot on the story of Matchig Labdron and the roots of a practice known as Chod, a practice that works directly with fear through generosity. I want to share some of these reflections about fear, generosity and the awakened feminine. I also want to share that Jogen and I are facilitating our next session of Sky+Rose on Sunday Dec. 1. Sky+Rose is an emergent practice community blending soul + spirit work. More information is at the

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27:34

Fierce Hope

Earth Dreams: Zen Buddhism and the Soul of the World ·

2024/11/15

It’s beautiful to be taking refuge together in all the various places we find ourselves.Ah. Here we are. Survivors of the election. Spiritual warriors attempting to live a vow-fueled life. Hearts turned towards love larger then fear. Even if fear is rattling in your gut, or anger is raging strong in your body or numbness has you hiding out.Whatever you are feeling is welcome.Whatever you are feeling is wisdom.Its your body telling you something—That something might be: This isn’t ok. NO! I don’t

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41:26

Hidden in the Shadows

Earth Dreams: Zen Buddhism and the Soul of the World ·

2024/10/31

A couple weeks ago I heard a sound near our back screendoor, as if an animal were wrestling with a large bag of cat food. I assumed my cat Sasha was trying to break into her bag of treats, and noted the sound but didn’t respond right away.A few minutes later, the sound long faded, I went to check on Sasha to see how far she got with trying to claw her way into her treat bag. As I approached the backdoor I did not find Sasha, nor a clawed open bag of treats. Our screen door was open to the size of

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