A talk on insight meditation

and

Separating work and leisure when working full time from home.

This month's question:

What is the best way to help someone who is dying and afraid?

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In this podcast:

• Jung's letter to the bereaved mother and finding meaning in death.
• The personal and the mythic, the phenomenal and the eternal.
• Prince Gotama and the question of 'loss'.
• Passing through the opposites of birth and death Vedas x 3
• Dying as a natural process.
• Sudden death and the landscape of Spring.
• Being with the dying - staying out of the way of the process.
• Listening not alleviating the situation
• Being with the dead

At home - what is it to feel 'at home'. How can we use mindfulness to explore this concept?

1.

The herdsman had already come home on the back of the bull.

Now the bull is forgotten and the man is at ease.

He may still sleep though the sun is high in mid-heaven.

Whip and rein are now useless, and put away under the eaves.

2.

Though the herdsman has brought the bull down from the mountain, the stable is empty.

Straw coat and bamboo hat, too, have become useless.

Not bound by anything and at leisure, singing and dancing,

Between heaven and earth he has become his own master.

3.

The herdsman has returned home. Now home is everywhere.

When both things and self are wholly forgotten, peace reigns all day long.

Believe in the peak 'Entrance to the Deep Secret' -

No man can settle down on this peak.

(The Bull and his Herdsman: The Ten Traditional Pictures, Zen Master D.R. Otsu, pub. Zen Centre, London 1989)

…

In this podcast:

• Going beyond the psychological into the spiritual
• The one way of the Arhat path to Nirvana leading to the Bodhisattva path to Buddhahood
• How the images of the herdsman and bull also must be laid down.
• Discipline as a means to an end and also how it forms us into rounded human beings
• A heart that can travel anywhere and call everywhere a home.
• The profound and deep mystery at the heart of religion.

This month's question is:

What is 'mu-shin', and what is the importance of it in Zen training?

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In this podcast:

• Etymology of 'mu-shin', and its appearance in the Mumonkan.
• Good and bad translations of sunyata.
• The Buddha's dilemma under the Bodhi tree.
• The Bodhisattva Path and the practice of the paramitas
• The centrality of Prajña in The Platform Sutra - 'Wisdom and zazen is of one essence'.
• Torei's "There begin's a different life."

1.

Not for a moment may the herdsman drop whip and rein

Or the bull would break free and stampede into the dust.

But once patiently trained and made truly gentle,

He follows the herdsman without halter or chain.

2.

Now the bull may saunter through the hill forests,

Or else walk the much travelled roads, covered in dust.

Never will he touch fodder from another man's meadow.

Coming or going requires no effort - the bull quietly carries the man.

3.

In patient training the bull got used to the herdsman and is truly gentle.

Should he walk right into dust, he now no longer gets dirty.

Long and patient gentling! In one sudden plunge the herdsman has won his whole fortune.

Under the trees, others encounter his mighty laugh.

(The Bull and his Herdsman Comments and pointers by Zen Master D.R. Otsu pub Zen Centre London 1989)

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In this podcast:

• How the traditional entrance begging of the monk's is a test of aspiration for the training.
• Sesshins (Zen Retreats), help cultivate inner strength.
• Gentling through trust rather than through control
• The six dusts and the afflictions of the Heart-Mirror
• The warmth of the Mahayana as part of Heart's aspiration

First talk of 2020, a review of where we have been and looking ahead to where we are going.

A podcast talk to take us into 2020. This month takes its name from the Roman God Janus, a threshold deity with two faces, one looking backwards at where we have come from and one forwards to where we are going. This podcast takes a closer look at Buddhist daily life practice and offers suggestions for going forward.

In this podcast:

• The importance of reflection in developing insight wisdom.
• The three aspects of all Buddhist practice.
• Meditation practice, cultivating the mind of meditation on and off the cushion.
• Ethical conduct, precept practice, turning the Noble Eightfold Path into practice, the importance of realising 'ethos'.
• Wisdom practice and using scripture and the Zen canon as a basis for speaking with the Buddha-Heart.

This month's questions:

• Buddhist practice places an emphasis on ones own training, but how can this help when faced with all the very real problems in the world such as war, environmental catastrophes, injustice etc.?
• As a Buddhist should I celebrate Christmas?

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In this podcast:

• The problem of 'Right View' and the Wisdom pillar.
• Ananda becomes and arhat.
• The story of The Wooden Sword - Karma and the butterfly wing.
• Buddhism as a traveling religion and how it relates to indigenous faiths.
• A season of goodwill and the Four Brahma Viharas

1.

With great effort the herdsman succeeded in catching the bull.

But stubborn, wilful and strong, this bull is not easily gentled!

At times he breaks out and climbs up to the high plains,

Or rushes down into foggy marshlands to hide himself there.

2.

Hold the rein tight and do not let go.

Many of the subtlest faults are not yet up-rooted.

No matter how gently the herdsman pulls at the nose-rope,

The bull may still rear and try to bolt back to the wild.

3.

Though caught where the sweet-scented grass reachers sky-high,

The herdsman must not let go of the rein tied to the bull's nose.

Though the way home beckons clearly already,

The herdsman must often halt with the bull, by the blue stream or on the green mountain.

(Gentling the Bull: The Ten Bull Pictures, A Spiritual Journey by Myokyo-ni; pub. Zen Centre London)

………………………….

In this podcast:

• The symbolism of the rope, how the Bull and the herdsman are always conjoined either consciously or unconsciously.
• Neglected aspects of consciousness continue to have an impact in our lives and the need for integration.
• The heart of transformation is the sincerity of the relationship rather than brute force.
• The lifelong process of discovery between the conscious and unconscious aspects of being.
• The need for discipline as a revealer of truths.

You can download this podcast here.

You will find the previous podcasts in this series here.