Words on
the way of Zen
Reflections on practice, tradition, and the everyday path of Zen.
The Purpose of a Practitioner’s Daily Recitation of the Four Great Vows
When a practitioner recites the Four Great Vows each day, they are in effect taking a fresh vow — but what does this act truly mean? It is a promise to all sentient beings that you will help them, a pledge to every living creature: “I wi...
ReadBuddhist Practice Turns on Awakening
The whole point of Buddhist practice is whether you awaken or not. Awaken, and you're a Buddha. Don't, and you're an ordinary person.
ReadZen Practice Encompasses the Entire Dharma
When a practitioner deeply understands the essence and methods of meditative concentration, the entirety of the Dharma naturally reveals itself.
ReadThe Novice Monk's Night Wandering
Chan education holds compassion as its mother, skillful means as its father, and teaches not through words but through quiet, lived example.
ReadBecoming the Self Only You Can Be
Chan Master Nanyue Huairang had a disciple named Mazu. While staying at Prajna Temple, Mazu spent his days sitting in cross-legged meditation, lost in deep thought. Master Huairang eventually approached him and asked, "What are you hopin...
ReadWhich Path Leads Out of the Mountains? Follow the Stream
After hearing Mazu Daoyi's teaching that "this very mind is Buddha," the monk Damei (752–839) awakened and withdrew into the wilderness. He built himself a simple grass hut right there on the mountain trail.
ReadContinually Sweeping the Dust from the Mind
Zen Master Dingzhou was walking through the monastery courtyard with a young novice when a sudden gust of wind swept through, sending a flurry of leaves tumbling from the trees. The old master bent down, picked them up one by one, and tu...
ReadIt Is None of My Concern
Master Yangshan Huiji asked Master Weishan Lingyou, “When a hundred thousand, a million phenomena arise all at once, what should be done?” “Blue is not yellow, long is not short,” said Weishan. “All dharmas abide in their own places; it ...
ReadThe Buddha's Afflictions
A devotee asked Chan Master Zhaozhou Congshen, "Does the Buddha have afflictions?"
ReadThe Way to Navigate the World
The Grand Academician Huang Shan Gu once heard that Chan Master Zuxin was always calm, unruffled, and completely at ease no matter the situation. So he traveled to visit the master in person to ask for his guidance on this so-called “way...
ReadVenerable Gangxiao Explains the Sixth Gatha of the Twenty Verses on Consciousness-Only
Sixth Gatha
ReadNo Words for It
Chan Master Shitou Xiqian asked the lay practitioner Pang Yun, “Since you first came to see this old monk, how have you been tending to your daily practice?”
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