Words on
the way of Zen
Reflections on practice, tradition, and the everyday path of Zen.
Upasaka Zhuang Chunjiang: *Fundamental Understanding of Buddhist Practice*, Chapter 7: Mahayana Bodhisattva Practice, Section 1: Bodhisattva Practice and the Development of Mahayana Buddhism
Shakyamuni Buddha was a fully liberated being. As the early Buddhist scriptures record, among the three types of liberated beings—the Buddha, the Pratyekabuddha, and the Arhat—only the Buddha is described as having attained anuttarā-samy...
ReadLay Buddhist Zhuang Chunjiang: A Basic Understanding of Buddhism, Chapter 6: The Stream of Noble Ones
In Buddhist practice, there's a milestone that matters more than most: "non-retreat" (avaivartika). What does it mean? It means you've entered a stage of practice so stable and so settled that from this point on, your progress can only c...
ReadLay Buddhist Zhuang Chunjiang: A Basic Understanding of Buddhism — Chapter 4: Understanding the Self, Section 2: The Development of Our Cognition
We often say that affliction and suffering arise from the body and mind’s reactions to what we encounter. More precisely, they emerge as our physical and mental responses develop in the moment we meet and make sense of a situation. The s...
ReadLay Buddhist Zhuang Chunjiang: Basic Understanding of Buddhist Practice, Chapter 5: Buddhism in Everyday Life, Section 2: Counteracting and Taming
As the six sense bases engage with their corresponding objects, we ordinary beings can't even stay in the state of "lucid contact" — letting contact remain just contact, without spiraling into defilement. Even stopping at the stage of "f...
ReadGuanyin Bodhisattva's Fourteen Kinds of Fearlessness
【World-Honored One! Through this hearing-refined, hearing-cultivated vajra samādhi and its unconditioned wondrous power, I share the same grief and longing for joy as all sentient beings across the six realms, ten directions, and three t...
ReadGe Ming: Why the Three Refuges Are Essential for Dharma Practitioners
The Three Refuges—taking refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha—are the most basic and essential gateway into Buddhist study and practice. Though outwardly a formal act, they reflect an inner transformation of heart, turning sc...
ReadVenerable Master Yicheng: A Brief Biography
Venerable Master Yicheng (1926 – December 21, 2017), lay surname Zhou, given name Yunsheng, was a native of Wangcheng, Hunan. He lived to the age of 91, and following his cremation, more than 600 sacred relics (śarīra) were recovered. Ma...
ReadSuzuki Roshi's 12 Guidelines for Zen in Everyday Life
Shunryu Suzuki Roshi was one of the pioneers who carried Buddhism and Zen practice into the Western world. The Tibetan Buddhist teacher Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche respectfully called Suzuki Roshi his "spiritual father."
ReadOnce Across, Let Go of the Raft; Not Yet Across, You Still Need the Boat
Verse One: Given to His Students
ReadWhy We Often Feel Lonely
Why Do We Often Feel Lonely?
ReadProf. Lin Chong'an: A Q&A on Insight Meditation
A: Vipassana—Chinese 内观 (nèiguān), "inner observation"—is what in English we usually call "insight."
ReadZen Practice Helps Us Learn How to Live (Akapa Rinpoche)
After attaining enlightenment, Siddhartha Gautama Buddha realized that beyond the cycle of birth, aging, sickness, and death that defines human existence lies what we call life itself: seemingly vast, boundless, and infinite. From that m...
Read