Finding Your Buddha Smile - Part 8: How Do I Find Peace of Mind?

Recorded March 7, 2026.This teisho opens with a brief recounting of the legend of the Bodhisattva of Great Compassion and issues of failure, despair, and compassion in our own times. Then Roshi Martin moves on to the essence of Zen — realizing peace of mind. In the koan of “Bodhidharma and Peace of Mind,” (Gateless Barrier #41) Hui-k’o, climbs up to Bodhidharma’s cave on the mountain seeking peace of mind. Bodhidharma doesn’t make it easy, but insists on making it real. “Bring forth your troubled mind and I’ll pacify it for you,” he says. Simple, right? But there’s a hitch. And how does that hitch itself resolve the problem? But what IS peace of mind anyway?Like John Lewis in our own time, these two old-worthies together made “good trouble,” revealing the Buddha Way to be intimate and open to all, rather than philosophical, far off, or reserved for a special few. At some point we all wake to life’s difficulties. It is our start. To then find peace of mind all we need do, as Bodhidharma insisted, is bring forth our troubled mind so it can be set to rest. Which shouldn’t be too hard to do, should it? Ha! This dramatic teisho shows how it goes. Why not give a listen and see?Read Roshi Rafe Martin's latest book:  Finding Your Buddha Smile: Coming Home To What Zen is Really All About.  Available from Amazon , Sumeru Books, and Barnes & Noble Online.Photo of Smiling Buddha, Lung-men Caves, China, by Rafe Martin 2006Books by Roshi Rafe MartinTalks on YouTubeMore information at endlesspathzen.org