Shows / Thousand Harbours Zen
Thousand Harbours Zen
Dharma talks by Koun Franz at Thousand Harbours Zen in Halifax, NS. If you find these talks beneficial, please consider joining Thousand Harbours Zen or making a donation at https://thousandharbourszen.com/support. Your support makes the practice and teachings available to others. Thank you.
Episodes
- Thousand Harbours Zen
Episode 226: THZ 226 - Where Jizo (and we) Can Go
Jizo can go anywhere—including to hell. Where can we go? Where are we afraid to go?
- Thousand Harbours Zen
Episode 225: THZ 225 - The Power of Asking Questions
The Buddha started with a question. Dogen started with a question. What's yours?
- Thousand Harbours Zen
Episode 224: THZ 224 - We Vow to Mature Into the Awakened Way
A re-examination of the fourth bodhisattva vow: "The awakened way is unsurpassable; I vow to embody it.".
- Thousand Harbours Zen
Episode 223: THZ 223 - We Vow to Learn Infinite Skillful Means
A re-examination of the third bodhisattva vow: "Dharma gates are infinite; I vow to enter them."
- Thousand Harbours Zen
Episode 222: THZ 222 - We Vow to Cut Through Kleshas
A re-examination of the second bodhisattva vow: "Delusions are inexhaustible; I vow to put an end to them."
- Thousand Harbours Zen
Episode 221: THZ 221 - We Vow to Free Us All
A re-examination of the first bodhisattva vow: "Beings are countless; I vow to free them all."
- Thousand Harbours Zen
Episode 220: THZ 220 - Don't Stop There (Racism and the Bodhisattva Path)
In the face of injustice, don't let compassion be an endpoint. Don't let not-knowing be an endpoint. Move, somehow—that's what a bodhisattva does.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
Episode 219: THZ 219 - For As Long As Space Endures
On Shantideva's Prayer, and what it means to commit to something—to really commit—forever.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
Episode 218: THZ 218 - Ritual is How We Hold the World
Those who are staying at home right now may find themselves falling into little rituals meant to make things feel regular, and safe; in this practice, ritual…
- Thousand Harbours Zen
Episode 217: THZ 217 - Does a Virus Have Buddhanature?
Does Covid-19 have buddhanature? Do you? Why do we even ask things like that?
- Thousand Harbours Zen
Episode 216: THZ 216 - Can You Feel Yourself Falling?
Dogen likened the spiritual life to the experience of falling off a horse. Can you feel it happening?
- Thousand Harbours Zen
Episode 215: THZ 215 - When It Feels Like Too Much
It can feel like it's all too much, too much to hold. We need to look at that.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
Episode 214: THZ 214 - The Three Treasures are Teflon (Tenth Precept)
On the tenth precept, "Not defiling the three treasures." The three treasures are just fine, but still, we forget who we are in relationship to them.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
Episode 213: THZ 213 - Freedom
Freedom—the freedom we want (perhaps especially in the age of social distancing), and the freedom we already have.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
Episode 212: THZ 212 - Fearlessness is Generosity
Fearlessness is one of the four types of generosity. Why? And how do we get there?
- Thousand Harbours Zen
Episode 211: THZ 211 - The Practice of Not Touching Your Face
A simple act of refraining, like not touching your face in a pandemic, can be both a practice of mindfulness and an act of generosity.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
Episode 210: THZ 210 - Everything is Old, Everything is New
Buddhism offers what looks like two contradictory ways of meeting our mind in each moment. But maybe we can hold both.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
Episode 209: THZ 209 - Act Like You're Dying
If you knew you were dying, how would that change how you see others? Because you are.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
Episode 208: THZ 208 - The Intoxication of Anger (Ninth Precept)
On Precept 9 (not indulging in anger)—it doesn't say there aren't good reasons to feel anger, just that we should learn not to be seduced by it.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
Episode 207: THZ 207 - Offer It All Up (Eighth Precept)
On Precept 8 (not withholding dharma assets), clinging vs. letting go, and realizing what you're capable of giving.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
Episode 206: THZ 206 - You Don't Know What You Would Do (Seventh Precept)
On Precept 7 (not elevating yourself and blaming others). We have more capacity for sympathy—and for delusion—than we're comfortable admitting.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
Episode 205: THZ 205 - You're Just Like Everyone Else (Sixth Precept)
On Precept 6 (not speaking of the faults of others) and how the keyword isn't "faults," it's "others."
- Thousand Harbours Zen
Episode 204: ZNS 204 - We're All Addicted (Fifth Precept)
On Precept 5 (not indulging in intoxicants) and the ways in which we feed our addictions.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
Episode 203: ZNS 203 - What Do You Think You're Protecting? (Fourth Precept)
On Precept 4 (not lying) and the reasons why we lie. What narrative are we trying to control?
- Thousand Harbours Zen
Episode 202: ZNS 202 - Let's Talk About Sex (Third Precept)
On Precept 3 (not misusing sex) and the messiness of intimacy.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
Episode 201: ZNS 201 - What We Think is Ours (Second Precept)
On Precept 2 (not stealing) and the question of what we have been offered versus what we just think belongs to us.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 200 - Being Clean is Not the Point (First Precept)
On Precept 1 (not killing) and the mindset we can bring to all the precepts. It's not about becoming more pure.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 199 - Falling into Refuge
Imagine that taking refuge in buddha, dharma, and sangha isn't about choosing to enter some new space, but rather that it's an act of falling without any hope…
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 198 - Get Clear About What You Need to Do
A reflection on climate activist Greta Thunberg and others who have shaped their lives around a singular intention. How do we root ourselves that deeply?
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 197 - Are the Precepts Artificial?
On taking up a path that has boundaries that were created by people centuries ago—why do we do it, and how do we do it sincerely?
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 196 - The Three Poisons
The three poisons—attachment, aversion, and ignorance—and how sometimes ignorance is at the centre.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 195 - Inspiration and the Three Pure Precepts
What do we need to take with us on this path? If that's different from what we want, how do we reconcile the two?
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 194 - Traps of Identity
There is a difference between how we address the complexity of identity in ourselves, and how we relate to it in others. The approach can't be the same.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 193 - Actualizing the Buddha Ancestors
We chant, "Now, actualizing the buddha ancestors means to bring them forth and look at them respectfully. It is not limited to the buddhas of past, present…
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 192 - Being a Teacher, Being a Student
Every teacher and every temple have different ideas about the student-teacher relationship; Koun shares some of his perspective on the complexity of it all.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 191 - A Special Transmission Outside the Scriptures
Bodhidharma famously described Zen as a "special transmission outside the scriptures". What does that mean and why does it matter?
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 190 - Awakening vs Awakened Activity
The ground of this practice isn't what we experience, or what we feel, or even what we see—it's what we do, regardless of the rest.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 189 - Being Awake is Enough
We talk a lot about some experience called "awakening," but the real task is simply to be awake.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 188 - Feeling Trapped
On how we work with the feeling that there's no way out of wherever we are, or whatever we're experiencing.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 187 - We're All Sarah Connor Now
In the Terminator movies, Sarah Connor has the burden of knowing what's coming and having to cultivate someone who can address it. We're in the same position.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 186 - You're Going to Lose it All
There isn't anything you have now that you won't eventually lose. So why not start letting go now?
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 185 - Why Do We Do Any of This?
Zen usually frames itself in terms of "goallessness", or at least of a practice without object. But that doesn't mean there isn't a method to it.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 184 - The Noble Eightfold Path (8 of 8) - Right Resolve
The last of eight talks on the Noble Eightfold Path - Right Resolve.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 183 - The Noble Eightfold Path (7 of 8) - Right View
The seventh of eight talks on the Noble Eightfold Path - Right View.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 182 - The Noble Eightfold Path (6 of 8) - Right Concentration
The sixth of eight talks on the Noble Eightfold Path - Right Concentration.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 181 - The Noble Eightfold Path (5 of 8) - Right Mindfulness
The fifth of eight talks on the Noble Eightfold Path - Right Mindfulness.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 180 - The Noble Eightfold Path (4 of 8) - Right Effort
The fourth of eight talks on the Noble Eightfold Path - Right Effort.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 179 - The Noble Eightfold Path (3 of 8) - Right Livelihood
The third of eight talks on the Noble Eightfold Path - Right Livelihood.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 178 - The Noble Eightfold Path (2 of 8) - Right Action
The second of eight talks on the Noble Eightfold Path - Right Action.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 177 - The Noble Eightfold Path (1 of 8) - Right Speech
The first of eight talks on the Noble Eightfold Path - Right Speech.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 176 - Proper Care and Feeding of Delusions
We don't just get rid of delusions, as much as we may want to. So how do we treat them?
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 175 - No Hope, No Despair
Hope and despair both come from the same place — no need to trust either one.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 174 - The Emotions You Think You Don't Want
How do we deal with panic, fear, sadness, anger? Buddhism isn't therapy—it doesn't take any of it away. But it does raise some worthwhile questions about how…
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 173 - When Arrow Points Meet
In both "Precious Mirror Samadhi" and "Harmony of Difference and Equality," there are references to arrow points meeting. This is how it works.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 172 - Compassion
Zen traditionally doesn't talk so much about compassion, yet we chant about it a lot. What are we chanting about? Why?
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 171 - You're Holding It All
Zazen as a moment of silence in which we just hold everything. We're doing it already, but we can also choose to.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 170 - What Practice Is and Isn't
We have a tendency to take ordinary activities like walking, insert a spiritual feeling, and call it "walking practice." But what this tradition asks us to…
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 169 - You Don't Know What This Moment Offers
Zen practice is outside of any measurement—it's not a place where you can succeed or fail. So how to proceed?
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 168 - Resolve - Just Don't Move
What is at the core of resolve? We think of it as a decision to do something, but we can also understand it as a choice to plant ourselves where we are.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 167 - Opening the Eyes of the Buddha
Following an eye-opening ceremony at ZNS's new location, a discussion of how we see the Buddha, and how buddhas see.