Animacy in Zen

In this episode of Living Zen, I reflect on Zen form — not as something merely procedural or symbolic, but as something alive.

This talk explores how breath, movement, sound, chanting, bells, incense, and shared attention all participate in the life of practice. Rather than treating form as a set of rules to perform correctly, the talk invites listeners to notice how the practice itself is already active, relational, and responsive.

Drawing directly from lived experience in the Zendo, this reflection looks at Zen ritual as something animated and participatory — a field we step into together — long before we "get to" sitting. It's a grounded, embodied inquiry into what is actually happening while we practice.

Living Zen is a podcast about Zen practice as it's lived — sincere, embodied, and woven into real human lives.

Links & Resources:

Zenwest — the Zen practice community where these talks arise

https://www.zenwest.ca

The Red Mountain Way (Patreon) — ongoing teachings, reflections, and recordings

https://www.patreon.com/redmountainway

Monarch Trancework — one-to-one guidance, mentorship, and practice support

https://www.monarchtrancework.com

If you find Living Zen meaningful, one of the simplest ways to support the podcast is by liking, subscribing, or sharing it. These small, cost-free actions help the podcast grow and reach people who may not yet know about it.

Wherever you're listening from, thank you for your time, your attention, and your practice.

This talk was recorded during our first sit of 2026 at the University of Victoria's Multifaith Centre. It's a reflection on Zen practice, play, and seriousness—and how we meet the great matter of life and death without becoming rigid or grim. Beginning again, again and again, is at the heart of practice.

Living Zen is a podcast about Zen as it's lived: sincere, embodied, and woven into real human lives.

Learn more about the Zenwest sangha, teachings, and practice community:

https://www.zenwest.ca

Support the podcast and ongoing teachings on Patreon — The Red Mountain Way:

https://www.patreon.com/redmountainway

Explore individual, one-to-one guidance and support at Monarch Trancework:

https://www.monarchtrancework.com

If you find Living Zen meaningful, liking, subscribing, or sharing the podcast is a simple way to help it grow and reach others who may be looking for this kind of practice.

In this episode, I explore one of the most treasured teachings in the Rinzai Zen tradition: Kōzen Daitō Kokushi Yuikai, the "Final Instruction" of National Teacher Daitō, founder of Daitoku-ji. This chant has accompanied my practice since 1995, and over the years its meaning has deepened in ways that continue to surprise me.

Together we look at the stories surrounding Daitō's life, the clarity and fierceness of his teaching, and the very human habits that distract us from the heart of practice — chasing benefits, clinging to forms, or imagining that poverty or ornamentation have anything to do with awakening. Again and again, the Yuikai returns us to this simple truth: nothing is missing, and diligence is the willingness to return to the Way in every moment.

To learn more about our community and practice opportunities, visit www.zenwest.ca.

If you'd like to support the teachings and access additional content, you can join me on Patreon at www.patreon.com/redmountainway.

In this talk, we explore one of the Buddha's most enduring teachings — the musician Sona and the image of practice as a stringed instrument. Too tight, the strings snap. Too loose, there's no sound. Somewhere between effort and ease, discipline and kindness, we find the middle way.

Drawing on this metaphor, we look at how our lives constantly shift the tuning of our practice: relationships, work, fatigue, weather, emotions. Form helps, but it isn't the music itself. The music is the living activity of the cosmos flowing through the instrument of your life — and learning to hear it requires honesty, compassion, and continuous adjustment.

If you'd like to learn more about Zen training or the community behind these teachings, you can visit www.zenwest.ca.

To support the teaching stream or access additional reflections, early releases, and behind-the-scenes practice notes, you're welcome to join me at www.patreon.com/redmountainway.

WARNING - Sudden loud sounds in this podcast.

In this episode, we explore the heart of embodied practice — how a single moment of presence can cut through all the noise and return us to the immediacy of our own lives. Zen form, the shout, the bow, the subtle choreography of entering the Zendo… each of these is a doorway back into awakening as a lived, physical reality.

If you'd like to dive more deeply into practice, teachings, and community, you're warmly invited to visit www.zenwest.ca, where you'll find information about training, membership, and ways to participate. And if you'd like to support this teaching stream or receive early access to new reflections and talks, you can join me on Patreon at www.patreon.com/redmountainway.

In this episode of Living Zen, Eshū reflects on two guiding phrases: the Zen teaching "To study the self is to forget the self…" and the Gàidhlig seanfhacal "Cuimhnich air na daoine às an tàinig thu" — remember the people you came from.

As he returns to regular practice at Zenwest, Eshū speaks candidly about the pitfalls of spiritual bypassing, the power of ritual technologies like zazen and chanting, and the importance of community as a container for awakening. He explores how our practice is rooted not in escaping the past, but in embracing it — recognizing that our lives, our questions, and even our suffering arise from deep interwoven relationships, both ancestral and present.

This talk invites us to turn toward our conditioning with compassion, to see practice as relational, and to remember those who brought us here — not just in blood, but in all the "selves" that shaped us along the way.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Free Orientation to Zen course: zenwest.ca

• Support Eshū's work and access more teachings: patreon.com/redmountainway

• Personalized mentorship and Zen training: monarchtrancework.com

This week there's no Dharma talk from the Zendo — UVic was cleaning the carpets on Sunday, so our usual sit was cancelled. But I didn't want to leave the Sangha hungry. Instead, I'm sharing this reflection on how Zen was "de-animated" when it came west — and how we might begin to re-animate it, in relationship with land, ancestors, and the many seen and unseen beings who share our world.

It's not doctrine; it's just some thoughts I found worth writing down. May they serve you in some way.

If this resonates (or even troubles you), I'd love to hear how. Zen has always been about companionship on the Way.

Zenwest Buddhist Society: www.zenwest.ca — a living Zen community on Vancouver Island

Monarch Trancework: monarchtrancework.com — for Zen orientation, mentorship, and integration work

Support this work on Patreon: patreon.com/redmountainway

In this episode, we explore the long arc of practice — how insight and awakening might come suddenly, but true transformation takes slow, organic time. Like digestion or composting, it can't be rushed. We reflect on moments of birth and death, on coming back to practice after seasons away, and on learning to pace ourselves at the endless feast of awakening.

Whether you're tasting your first bites or returning after time away, the Buddha's buffet is always open. It's good to be here together.

I'm Eshū, Abbot of Zenwest Buddhist Society, where we make Zen come alive in contemporary community. At Zenwest we offer a fully online Free Orientation to Zen program here

https://app.kit.com/landing_pages/77458?v=7

If you'd like support building a foundation for practice, I offer one-on-one Orientation to Zen Support here:

https://monarchtrancework.com/orientation-to-zen-support

For deeper mentoring and one-on-one guidance, you'll find my Zen Mentorship & Training program here:

https://monarchtrancework.com/zen-mentorship-training

You can also join me on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/redmountainway, where I share reflections, Zen resources, and more to support your path.

If this talk nourishes you, please help others find it by rating, reviewing, or sharing. It makes a real difference — especially for those practicing far from a Zen centre.