All Episodes
Ordinary Mind Zen School — 514 episodes
Why people drop out of practice.
The Practice of Solitude
The Paradox of Practice
The Imperfect Path
Just Hearing Just Seeing
From Humiliation to Humility
Free Will and Ethics
Classical Science, Quantum Science and Zen
The Joy of Missing Out
Sesshin Day 2: Integrating Emotion in Practice
Sesshin Day 1: The Habituated Mind
“Ordinary Wonder!”
“The Satori Disaster”
The Practice of Wabi Sabi in Everyday Life
Resistance in Practice
Sesshin Day 4: The Priest and the Fox
Sesshin Day 5: Wu Tsu’s Buffalo Passes Through the Window
Sesshin Day 3: Joshu’s Dog. Working with the first Koan Mu
Sesshin Day 2: Seizei Alone and Destitute.
Sesshin Day 1: Zen and the Art of Living
The Lamp and the Light
Strong Back-Soft Front
Forgetting the Self
Intention and No Intention in Practice
Core Beliefs
Mountains and Rivers and the Death of a friend
Hunters and Gathers. Our Pre Taoist and Buddhist Past
Thich Nhat Hahn’s revision of the Heart Sutra
Responding to life as it is happening
Like a White Bird in the Snow
The Non Doing of Love
The Tao of Dealing with Conflict
Wu Wei - Non Doing
Taoist Roots of Zen 2
Taoist Roots of Zen
The ABC of Core Beliefs
No Fixed Views
Gender Equality, Gender Harmony
Finding peace in disillusionment
Working with Cricticism
Zazen is an act of sincerity
Sesshin Day 2: The Play of Opposites
Sesshin Day 1: Zen and the Transformation of Character
An Enlightened Person Falls Down a Well
Sesshin Day 5: Transitions
Sesshin Day 4: The Intimacy of Eating
Sesshin Day 3: Confessions of a Foolish Mind
Sesshin Day 2: Let Go of Everything!
Sesshin Day 1: Ancestry and Gratitude
True Words
The process of forming right intention
The way of the bodhisattva
Single focus and Expansiveness
Life Koans
Zen Simplicity. Intellectual Complexity
Meeting others with Openness
Death and Nuclear War
Having goals but not attaching to outcomes
The Identity of Insight and Practice
Intention and Vow
The Transformation of Character
Praise and Beyond Praise
Wave and Ocean
Survival and Flourishing
Sesshin Day 2 - Working with the Precepts in Practice
Sesshin Day 1 - Working with Emotions in Practice
Intimacy with all Things
The place where there is no Right or Wrong
10,000 mistakes!
Psychedelics, No Self, and Zen.
Aimlessness
Karma. Habit Pattern and Meditation.
Sesshin Day 5 - The Wonderful Emptiness of Everyday Life.
Sesshin Day 4 - Love in Zen
Sesshin Day 3 - Transform Bad Circumstances into the Path
Sesshin Day 2 - No Fixed Self
Sesshin Day 1 - Stuckness and Flow
The Life of Soen Roshi
Bearing Witness
Neutrality and Indifference
Resilience, Flow, Big Picture.
Curative Fantasies
Working with Emotions in Meditation and Everyday Life
Unconditional and Conditional Worthiness
Life is not a problem
The Myth of Normal. A critique.
Healing not Curing
Pleasure and Contentment
The Authentic Self
Zen and consumer culture
The Wisdom Of The Unconscious
Zazen - Sitting Meditation
The Myth of Certainty
This Very Place Is The Lotus Land
Being grateful for everything that comes our way
Bearing Witness
The Storytelling Mind
The Ten Zen Precepts. Guidelines for Cultivating Moral Intelligence
Samadhi and the Awakened Life
Don’t meditate. Just sit!
Sesshin Day 5 - Core Beliefs
Sesshin Day 4 - The Fully Enlightened Person Falls down a Well
Sesshin Day 3 - Coming to our Senses
Sesshin Day 2 - Judgement and Assessment
Sesshin Day 1 - Birth, Death and the Space Inbetween
Clarifying the confusion of thinking and experience
Connection is always here
Bearing Witness and Stopping Harm
The Middle Way and Creative Tension
Muddy Water
Discipline and Spontaneity
Manifesting Simplicity
Being just this moment compassions way
Each moment life as it is, the only teacher
Holding to Self Centred Thoughts exactly the dream
Caught in the Self Centred Dream
The Banging Door
Working with Confused states of Mind
Buddhist Ethics
Oneness and Differentiation in Relationships
The Middle Way
Being Walking
Practicing with Aging
At Home in the Muddy Water
Altered States of Consciousness?
Zen Peacemakers
A Zen Perspective on Karma
“Educating the Heart”
The Absolute Nature of Emotions
No Gain and Maturing in the Practice
Humiliation and Violence
The Inner War
Friendship
Sesshin Day 5 - Three Teachings for Everyday Life
Sesshin Day 4: Death Meditations
Sesshin Day 3: The Virtuous Narcissist
Sesshin Day 2: The Scribbly Gum Sutra
Sesshin Day 1 The Awakened Life
Equanimity in Relationships
No Fixed Identity
There is nothing fundamentally wrong with us
On Having No Worth
The Buddhist and the Ethicist. A book review.
The Core Belief
Grievance and Gratitude
Just Falling
Breathing - the rhythm of life
The Gentle Art of Pausing
Self-Centred to Life-Centred
The Transformation of Energy
The Middle Way
The Dharma of Contradictions
Zen is Prosocial
No hope
The Parting Glass
Kindness
Sesshin Day 5: The Discipline of No Gain
Sesshin Day 4: Kicking Over The Water Bottle
Sesshin Day 3: The Hardest Teaching
Sesshin Day 2: Balancing equanimity and compassion in relationships
Sesshin Day 1: A Red Dawn and the Splash of Raindrops
Monkey Mind and ADHD
Sesshin Day 3: On Not Taking Oneself So Seriously
Sesshin Day 2: Beginners Mind and the Heart Sutra
Sesshin Day 1: The Stress Response. Relevance To Zen Training And Human Morality
Equanimity
The Heart Sutra and Beginners Mind
Can you do too much therapy? A zen perspective
Ignorance
Grasping
Aversion
Competition and Cooperation
The Stress Response
Neuroethics and Zen
Closure Acceptance and Letting Go
The Virtue of Being Useless
Dilemmas
Practicing with Anxiety
Concentration and Mindfulness
Ignorance and Not Knowing
Attachment, Detachment, Non attachment
No Fixed States of Mind
Rinzai Zen/Soto Zen
The Power of Thought Labelling
Reflection and Presence 3
Trusting Nature. The Call of the Reed Warbler
Persecutor Victim Rescuer
Dissatisfaction and Technology Addiction
Sesshin Day 5 - Giving and Receiving
Sesshin Day 4 - On not taking oneself so seriously
Sesshin Day 3 - Courage and Fear
Sesshin Day 1 - Looking into our Dark Side
Reflections on Death
The dark side of virtue signalling
Think neither good nor evil
When life can no longer humiliate you.
Melting the frozen block of emotion thought
Hakuin
Psychedelics and Zen
Breathing Our Way Into The Unknown
The Train Journey of Forgiveness
Tasting the Bitter and the Sweet
Strong back. Soft front.
Zen and our emotional lives
Practising with disappointment
Razzle dazzle and serenity
Not Harbouring Anger
Not Criticising the Faults of Others but Speaking with Loving Kindness
Zen and Tea
Sesshin Day 5 - Dwelling Nowhere Let the Heart come Forth
Sesshin Day 4 - The Paradoxical Nature of Suffering
Sesshin Day 3 - Bells and Blowflies
Sesshin Day 2 - Temperament and Transformation
Sesshin Day 1 - The Three-Legged Stool of Zen
The Freedom of Form
Feeding Emotion - Thoughts
Sesshin Day 3 - Samadhi Power
Sesshin Day 2 - “Gouging a wound in healthy flesh”
Sesshin Day 1 - Sacredness
Zen Mudras
“The sacred forms of the tathagatha’s never failing essence“
No Universal No Personal
Moral Philosophy and Zen
Spiritual Bypassing
Black Coal/Brown Coal
The Empty Canoe
The Virtue of Solitude
Dying On The Cushion
Cutting Off Old Grievances
Surface Calmness and Deep Serenity
A Tangled Knotty Mess
Building Moral Intelligence
Precepts and Psychology
Right and Wrong
Wise Ethics
Faith in Mind - Openness to Life
The Practice of Zen in a Toxic Culture
Mindfulness and Precepts
Emotions and Precepts
Like a Buffalo Passing Through a Latticed Window
An Appropriate Response!
Working with the Precepts
Zen, Philosophy, and the Nature of Life
Zen and Philosophy
Other Validation, Self Validation and Life Validation
Reflection and Presence 2
Buddhism and Wholistic Health
Poem and Precept Group
Sesshin Day 5: Zen and the Moral Spirit
Sesshin Day 4: Throwing a Pebble in the Pond
Sesshin Day 3: Zen and the Creative Spirit
Sesshin Day 2: Tototsu’s Three Barriers
Sesshin Day 1: Non - Stop Flow
Self and Other
Oryoki for Life
Personal Responsibility and Non Judgementalism
Words, Words, Words
World Suffering, Compassion and Equanimity
A Day In The Life Of A Tree
Paradox
What is Koan Practice
The Art Of Feeling
Organic Intelligence
Discernment and Karma
Ordinary Mind is the Way
The Cricket Chirps in a Forgetful Way
Remembering Thich Nhat Hahn
Transitions
Aspiration and Expectation Revisited
Identifying with Thoughts and Feelings
The Art of Listening
Don't Be Deceived By Others
Meditation, Assertiveness and the Bodhisattva Way
Bypassing, Fixating and Numbing Out
Sesshin Day 2 - Halloween and a Dead Crow
Sesshin Day 1 - Rinzai’s Person of No Rank
Practicing With The Raw Energy Of Emotion
Equanimity Predictability and the Unexpected
Reflection and Presence
The Identity Project
Sesshin Day 4 - Breaking the addiction to the inner narrative
Sesshin Day 3 - Living in the spacious mind
Sesshin Day 2 - Approaching relationships with a beginners mind
Sesshin Day 1 - Experiencing life fully
Meditation and the Default Mode of Consciousness
The Observer - Participant
The mango is not stuck on the mango tree
Committment To A Practice
The Practice of Stillness
Zen Temple Lockdown
The Mirror Mind
Arousing the Desire for Practice
Gravitas, Charisma And The Old Tea Lady
Covid Lockdown As Dharma Practice
Ordinary Wonder - Book Review
Dogen’s Zen
Waking Up To Indifference
Dogen Mystical Realist
Zen training and music
Letting go of the struggle
Zen is Humanistic
“Only I alone and sacred”
Kicking over the water bottle
Being and Doing
Be Here Now (revisited)
Pointlessness
I Am Your Pain
Connections
Sesshin Day 5: The Dharma Of Breathing
Sesshin Day 4: Frozen Views (of Others)
Sesshin Day 3: Being an Open Spacious Response in Relationships
Sesshin Day 2: Don't Just Observe Impermanence, Be Impermanence
Sesshin Day 1: Gratitude
The Journey of Forgiveness
“An Open Spacious Response To Life.”
Self Righteousness
Alone and Destitute
Anger
The Pain of Being Me
The Non Judgemental and Discerning Mind
Acknowledgement of Country
Exaggerated Mannerisms
No Story, No View, No Belief
Being Attached To Being Non - Attached
Rohatsu - What Is Enlightenment?
Right Intention
Two Kinds of Intelligence
Giving And Receiving
Hooked!
“Is Everything Suffering?”
Sesshin Day 2 - The Transformation Of Character
Sesshin Day 1 - The Practice Of Patience
Old Country Flowing
Celebrating the Senses
Moral suffering
"Mr Duffy Lived A Short Distance From His Body"
Envy
Sesshin Day 4 - From No Self To Social Self
Sesshin Day 3 - Self Absorption And Flow
Sesshin Day 2 - Tokusan Carries His Bowls
Sesshin Day 1 - The Stubborn "I"
Pouring Your Heart Into Each Moment
Tokusan and the Old Tea Lady
Neither Wind Nor Flag
The Delusion of the Ideal Self
The True Nature Of Suffering
Zen is Relational
Kindness Compassion Joy and Equanimity
Joy
Resistance, Suchness and The Heart Sutra
"Exalted And Lowly Is Just A Matter Of Words"
The Oak Tree In The Courtyard
Joshu Examines The Two Hermits
A Non Attained Buddha
Tototsu’s Three Barriers
Stories
Not Knowing Revisited
Grasping Mind - Don’t Know Mind
Embodied And Disembodied Buddhism
Failing Forward
Clap - Ding!
Less Of Me, More Of The World
Existential Boredom
Monkey Mind
Samadhi Power
Being Nobody Going Nowhere
Practicing with the Past in the Present
Serene in the Cycle
Three Chords and the Truth
Love and Solitude in the Time of Corona
The Coronavirus Retreat
Taking False Refuge
A Zen Life is an Intimate Life
The Wisdom of Nonsense
No God, No Governor, No Ego
The Third Eye
No High or Low
For Whom The Bell Tolls
Coming Home
Bushfires
Frustration is Optional
The Spark that Lit the Dharma Candle
Attachment Detachment and Non attachment
Empathic Attunement
Pathological Self Reflection
Being Awake and Being Woke
Sesshin Day 3 The "Fifth" Noble Abode - Nov 2019
Sesshin Day 2 To Mature in Buddha's Wisdom - Nov 2019
Sesshin Day 1 The Last Troubadour - Nov 2019
Nansen Kills The Cat 2
Absorptions and Awakenings
Global Warming
“Holding And Rejecting, These Are But Skilfull Lies"
A thousand mistakes. Ten thousand mistakes!
Sesshin Day 5 The Courage to Practice the Precepts
Sesshin Day 4 Self Confidence and No-Self Confidence
Sesshin Day 3 Discovering The Obvious
Sesshin Day 2 The Flow of Everyday Life
Sesshin Day 1 Where did we come from? Who are we? Where are we going?
At Home in Solitude
Collective Delusions
What is Consciousness
Ten Thousand Mistakes!
Emotions and Precepts
Practicing with Injustice
A Simple Piece of String
Sesshin Day 2 - Playful Conflict
Sesshin Day 1 - Dropping Below The Surface
Meeting the Random
Sincerity Sincerity Sincerity
Connectedness and Community
Buddhanature is Organic
Not clinging to feelings and other states of mind
Self Compassion and Self Honesty
Untangling the Ego Knot
The Heron's Legs
First there is a mountain then there is no mountain then there is.
Entering the Market Place with Bliss Bestowing Hands
Unravelling
Character in Zen
Embodiment
The Pain Of Fantasy
Playful Intimacy
Coming Home
What is Wisdom?
Observing Mind
Sesshin Day 5 - The Dharma Of Sisyphus
Sesshin Day 4 - Listening With The Heart
Don't Try To Figure Others Out
Sesshin Day 2 - Broken Spider Webs
Sesshin Day 1 - Stoicism And Epicureanism
Autumn Winds
Are Mindfulness Apps Really Necessary?
External Mindfulness
From Wanting and Taking to Giving and Receiving
Stuckness and the Delusion of Escape
Silence Thinking and Right Speech
The Three Doors To Liberation
Don't Expect Applause
Understanding Unpleasant Experiences On The Path
Purposeless Awareness
Going Fishing With A Straight Hook
Back To Basics 2019
Are We Fundamentally Good?
Resistance To Life As It Is
The Art Of Golden Repair
Zen And Conflict Resolution
Opposing And Taking
Connection Disconnection Connection
November Sesshin Day 3 - Golden Repair
November Sesshin Day 2 - Cultivating Ethical Intelligence
November Sesshin Day 1 - A Peck On The Cheek
Glide And Smile
The Altruistic Instinct
Just This!
Just This Problem!
Sesshin Day 5 - Zen Ethics
Sesshin Day 4 - Meditation Is The Experience Of Being Everything And Nothing
Sesshin Day 3 - "Flows Like A River, Reflects Like A Mirror, Responds Like An Echo"
Sesshin Day 2 - Like A Leaf In The Wind
Sesshin Day 1 - The Development Of The Ego And It's Ongoing Self Deceptions
Drive All Blame Into One
Don't Get Stuck On Peace
Appreciation And Possession
The Empathic Witness
Cleaning House And Mind
Sangha. The Practice Of Mindful Community
No High Or Low
What's Love Got To Do With It?
Introversion Extroversion And Zen
Engaging In Sexual Intimacy Respectfully And With An Open Heart
Heartbreak
Taking Up The Way Of Letting Go Of Anger
Taking Up The Way Of Supporting Life
Taking Up The Way Of Only Taking What Is Freely Given
I Take Up The Way Of Speaking Truthfully
Taking Up The Way Of Treating Others With Openness And Possibility
The Power Of Vow
Zen Is Psychology. Psychology Is Zen
Hailstones!
What Are We Searching For?
Mindfulness And Flow In Zen Practice
Sitting Alone At Daiyu Peak
The Treasure Chest Of Precious Things
Stepping From The Top Of A Hundred Foot Pole
"A Cage Went In Search Of A Bird"
A Guide For Travellers On The Domestic Way
Self Compassion And Self Assertion
"Zen Hasn't Improved My Bowling" Sesshin Day 5
Assessing How You Are Going In Practice Sesshin Day 4
Existential Zen Sesshin Day 3
Returning To The Natural Way Sesshin Day 2
Form Is Emptiness. Emptiness Is Form Sesshin Day 1
Gratitude
How to Help By Not Helping
A Jewish Koan
Resentment And Revenge
Taking Responsibility For Your Life
Self Centred And Life Centred Emotions
Dharma Talks Are Meaningless
The Life Centred Individual
Alone And Together
The Illusory Cigarette Box Of Samsara
Order And Chaos
Caught In The Self Centred Dream Of Spiritual Identity
Arrogance and Timidity
What Is Taking Refuge In The Three Treasures?
When You Come To A Fork In The Road, Take It
How To Melt The Frozen Block Of Emotion Thought
The Right Intention-Karma Koan
The Frozen Block Of Emotion-Thought
We Get What We Resist
Remembering Forgetting And Returning To Intimacy - Sesshin Day 3
Zen Lessons On The Way To Sesshin - Sesshin Day 2