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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

25:20

What Are You Devoted To?

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

2024/07/28

For whom do you bathe and make yourself beautiful?The cry of the cuckoo is calling you home;hundreds of flowers fall, yet her voice isn’t stilled;even deep in jumbled mountains, it’s calling clearly. —DongshanOne way of appreciating this experience we call life is to see it through the eyes of devotion. Whether we are conscious of it or not our lives are woven together through simple, ordinary acts of devotion. We are moved by our love, our sense of duty, our responsibilities and our

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29:53

Within there is a Jewel

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

2024/07/19

Our attention is a precious resource. We use it all the time, and so, might forget what a resource it is. Contemplative traditions throughout the ages recognized the preciousness of attention. And also recognized that if we don’t put in the effort to train our attention, our attention may get hijacked, scattered, frittered away by the thieves of time or thoughts of worry, disappointment, greed and hatred.With the election news blaring right now. It might feel easier then ever for attention to get

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35:52

Looking into the Source

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

2024/07/11

With this and that I tried to keep the bucket together, and then the bottom fell out.Where the water does not collect, the moon does not dwell.—ChiyonoThis is the awakening poem of Chiyono, a Japanese Zen practitioner in the early 17th Century. The poem comes after a much longer story about this person’s path of practice. In the story, Chiyono has a sincere aspiration to practice the dharma, but isn’t able to spend a lot of time in formal meditation practice because of her work responsibilities.She

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25:58

Bodhisattva Vision

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

2024/06/28

Between aspiration, practice, enlightenment and nirvana there is not a moment’s gap. Continuous Practice is the Circle of the Way. —Dogen ZenjiIn Dharma practice we are invited to reflect on our view—the beliefs that rest at the root of our hearts and influence how we perceive, make sense of and respond to our lives.For what we think and believe has a deep effect on what we see and perceive. Our thoughts have power. As anyone who has observed or studied conflict may know—so much of the violence in

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41:28

Engaged Buddhism: The World Wound

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

2024/04/30

This talk is part of a series of talks exploring the Engaged Buddhist Precepts of Thich Nhat Hanh and the Order of Interbeing. In this talk we explore how to practice with the suffering we encounter in ourselves, others and the world—recognizing that our suffering isn’t separate from the world’s suffering.The concept of the World Wound comes from Joan Halifax Roshi’s book A Fruitful Darkness, quoted below.As the environmental aspects of our alienation from the ground of life become increasingly

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38:55

Engaged Buddhism: Turning Towards Suffering

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

2024/04/30

In the Buddhist tradition we are invited to look into the nature of suffering. To do this we have to be willing to turn towards it. While this may seem obvious—we all have habits + behaviors for avoiding what is right in front of us, especially if what is right in front of us is painful, unpleasant or uncomfortable. For even a single-celled organism moves away from a painful stimulus.And yet, what teachers and practitioners throughout the tradition have found is that this moving away, fighting,

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33:38

An Engaged Buddhism

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

2024/04/30

The path of Zen meditation is a path grounded in love and the deep realization of our shared being, we often call these two aspects of the path—wisdom and compassion.During this Podcast Episode we meditate on the koan from Yunmen.What is Zen?An Appropriate Response.This question and response runs deep. An appropriate response isn’t something we find once and for all, and then live by it. It is an ongoing, alive inquiry that happens in the very situations of our lives, in our soma, our hearts, minds

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25:20

Sun Face Buddha; Moon Face Buddha

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

2024/04/17

Greetings!I am sending this Podcast Dharma Talk that I recorded last Monday, after viewing the Total Solar Eclipse. Which was spectacular, really beyond words, eerie, beautiful, humbling, I was struck with a deep sense of awe and gratitude.Below is the written version of the Dharma Talk. The exploration inspired by the eclipse is an active contemplation of the koan, Sun Face Buddha, Moon Face Buddha. Sending blessings with this post for your own transformations, and transformation in our world. May

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28:24

Within Darkness it is Most Bright

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

2024/04/07

We are in the midst of eclipse season. And while it happens twice a year, many of us living in the US are living close to the zone of totality or traveling to a place that falls in the zone of totality. During this dharma talk I explore the Zen teachings of the dark/light. Included is exploration of practice of bowing or touching the earth, the Dark Night of the Soul and the Koan: Everyone has their own Light. Here’s an excerpt…Touching the earth, is a practice of humility, grace, receptivity. It

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33:41

Being Tamed by Our True Nature

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

2024/04/01

I always consider it quite a blessing to have found my way to the Spiritual Path. I didn’t always feel this way. I remember early on in practice wishing that I could just be satisfied with the flow of everyday life—tv, movies, music, entertainment, a regular job. As an 18 year old, I wished that the urgency of my spiritual angst wasn’t so pressing. That I could go back to normal.I’ve heard this sentiment echoed a lot since the beginning of the pandemic. A desire for normal. When is it going to go

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33:12

Caught by our True Nature

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

2024/02/17

We explore the confusion or doubt that can come in when we habits return after having a taste of awakening. We also talk about how the mind will often try to recreate the peak experience, and how to meet that inclination.The heart of this stage is a deepening of faith, an awakening of devotion for the path and perhaps even beginning to recognize that we can’t fall off the OX, we can’t possibly lose our true nature—for it has been here all along. We are never separate from it!This stage can also

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37:37

Seeing Our True Nature

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

2024/02/07

Greetings Friends,In the on-going exploration of the Ox-herding pictures, this podcast episode focuses on Kensho—the Japanese Zen Buddhist word for seeing into our true nature, which is the third of the ten ox-herding or bull-herding pictures. The image above is a bull painted in the Lascaux cave in France around 20k years ago. While maybe not as apparent to a modern person, the Ox and bull have a long relationship to human beings and in the history of religion and spirituality.When I first

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32:57

Traces of the Self

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

2024/02/04

The path of Awakening is sometimes referred to as the Great Unbinding and consists of un-learning our deeply conditioned habits of mind and perception in order to truly meet our Selves as we are—This is a recording from my free online Zen Meditation group that is hosted through the Zen Community of Oregon. All are welcome to join, we meet at 6P ET on Monday nights for a period of meditation followed by a Dharma Talk. We are exploring the 10 Ox-Herding Pictures, which is a metaphor for the path of

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35:16

What is your motivation?

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

2024/01/23

This is the first of a series of talks exploring the Ox-herding pictures, a set of teachings on the Zen path of Awakening. This first stage is foundational and is often called The Search, Arousing the Mind of Awakening or Awakening Bodhicitta.Each of the Ox-Herding pictures includes a stanza and a poem. The stanza reads as a teaching to accompany the image. What follows below is an excerpt of this Dharma Talk.The Ox has never really gone astray, so why search for it? Having turned his back on his

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28:14

Awakening the OX

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

2024/01/09

I originally started this Substack as a clear way to share my weekly dharma talks. Every Monday at 6P PT / 9P ET I host an online Zen gathering through the Zen Community of Oregon where I am one of the teachers.The gathering begins with two twenty minute periods of meditation, followed by a Dharma Talk.Dharma Talks are ways of connecting to the voice of the ancestors, the path of awakening that has been opened up and walked by real human beings over the course of millennia. Because our habitual

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29:52

Everyone Has Their Own Light

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

2023/12/22

KOAN:Yun Men imparted some words saying, "Everyone has a light; when you look at it, you don't see it and it's dark and dim. What is everybody's light?" He himself answered on their behalf, "The kitchen pantry and the main gate." He also said, "A good thing isn't as good as nothing.”POEM: Spontaneously shining, bathed in solitary light It is an open secretFlowers fall, the tree has no shadowLook! Who does not see? Seeing, not seeingRide the OX backward and enter the Buddha HallAs the world darkens,

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38:07

Prajna Paramita: Mother of the Buddhas

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

2023/12/11

The path of the paramitas leads to the shore of freedom, of liberation / love.OM ! Gate, gate, para gate, parasum gate, bodhi svahaGone, gone, gone beyond, gone to the other shore–Svaha! Oh what a realization!The zen buddhist path is a path of mystery as much as it is a path of awakening, when we speak of awakening, we usually invoke a sense of realization, understanding, wisdom, knowing—enlightenment.The path of mystery invokes the dark, unknowing, the hidden, the secretPrajna Paramita is

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37:58

Save a Ghost

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

2023/11/21

How do we practice saving a ghost, when that ghost seems to be everywhere?In the zen buddhist tradition we have the archetype of the hungry ghost—a being who is often depicted as having a large belly and a teeny-tiny throat and a tongue of fire. The hungry ghost is always wanting, yet never, never satisfied.Sound familiar?We all host parts of ourselves that seem to be constantly wanting & never satisfied—often these parts come with shame and perhaps secrecy.During this dharma talk we explore the

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38:01

Dana Paramita: Simple Generosities

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

2023/11/07

Offer flowers on a distant mountain to all beings —Dogen ZenjiIn this dharma talk we explore the beautiful practice of giving, generosity, on the three levels of experience, Inner, Outer and Secret.The invitation here is to open to the inherent generosity of life itself and explore ways we can cultivate and infuse generosity in our lives and practice.The talk opens with the poem below:simple generosities today I am appreciatingthe simple generositiesthe way things–in the act of beingJust as they

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29:06

Right in the Middle of Our Longing

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

2023/10/23

To follow one’s longing. Or even to listen to one’s longing–can be uncomfortable. It can be deeply inconvenient. Painful to feel this desire, this wanting, this longing for completion, wholeness, to love fully.We sense that to listen to such a longing can be destructive. Yes, mystical longing asks something from us. Sacrifice, surrender, giving up, letting go.We have this word in the Buddhist traditions–renunciation. And it’s an unpopular word. We want to believe we can have our awakening and our

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