The OzZen Podcast

Like a weed, suffering seems to grow regularly and crosses our paths frequently.

Often it is mildly annoying and occasionally it becomes troublesome and painful.

Although suffering is inevitable, it is possible to activate the seeds of awareness by practicing the first eight of the Buddha’s foundations of mindfulness. Here we prime the ground for suffering to be transformed. Developing the art of suffering we can grow lotus flowers from the mud.

Bodhidarma sat facing the wall. The second patriarch [Shenguang, later called Huike], standing in the snow, cut off his arm and said, “Your disciple’s mind is not yet at peace. I beg you, Master, give it rest.”

Bodhidharma said, “Bring your mind to me; I will put it to rest.”

The patriarch said, “I have searched for the mind but have never been able to find it.”

Bodhidharma said, “I have finished putting it to rest for you.

From Case 41 of the Gateless Gate: Bodhidharma Puts the Mind to Rest.

In this meditation we go in search of the Mind (or Self). What did you find?

“Each moment, Life as it is, the only Teacher”.

In our tradition, we regularly acknowledge “Life” as it is as being our only teacher, but how often do we really appreciate how astonishing it is to be alive? This guided meditation is all about awakening to this wonder of being alive and truly appreciating our life, just as it is, here and now.

Core Beliefs and the Self-Centred Dream by

We can only truly be open and loving when we are truly kind to ourselves.

Here we explore some ways of bringing an inner smile into our lives and to observe how being compassionate brings happiness to both ourselves and others.

In this talk I return to the question, what is enlightenment? I begin with a working definition of enlightenment as a developmental process rather than a one-off event (or series of events). I then explore two primary lines of development: “know thyself” and “returning home” or “original OK-ness”.

In this meditation Rhys leads us through an exploration of sitting with suffering because, as Rhys states, this is a lot of what sitting is. For all of us, for a fair bit of the time, this is what we’ll be doing when we practice Zazen: we’ll be sitting with some form of suffering, of discomfort, of dis-ease. Sometimes this suffering will be gross and obvious, like physical pain or emotional upset. At other times, perhaps a lot of the time, we’ll experience more subtle forms of suffering, like dissatisfaction, or striving, or boredom, or a sense of lack, or simply just discomfort in our bodies. Sometimes this can be very subtle; so subtle that it can take us a long time to even recognise that we’re experiencing it.

This meditation focuses on the dance between being a separate self, bounded by the body, occupying a particular space-time point, and a self completely interdependent, depending on our environment, and our relationships. Dancing between the two, we hold these two seemingly paradoxical positions with love and compassion.

In this second enchanting, guided meditation, Pingala explores again the mysterious heights and depths of the presence of mountains.

This meditation starts with a reading of the Wild Swans at Coole by WB Yeats as an introduction to the contemplation of “mujo” or impermanence. We then segue into a contemplation of finding our way home in the world.