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
ZNS 166 - You'll Never Get it Right
How do we commit to doing our best while honestly confronting the impossibility of getting it just right?
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 165 - Listen With This Attitude
From Dogen's Zuimonki 6-17: "Forget not only the different views on the dharma, but also worldly affairs, and hunger and cold as well... When you listen with…
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 164 - Bodhidharma
On the legend and legacy of Bodhidharma, the first Zen ancestor in China.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 163 - Let Go of Inspiration
We all want to be inspired, but inspiration can only get us so far. What do we feel, beyond inspiration, that drives us?
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 162 - Reality is a Fabrication
We know there's delusion, but what do we think we see if we see completely past delusion? Layer after layer, it's still our own creation. What do we do with…
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 161 - Why Do We Practice?
Why do we practice? Why do we gather in this way, sit in this way? Why do any of it? It starts with not knowing why.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 160 - How Not to Hold the Precepts
How we hold the precepts and what we might get wrong.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 159 - No Need to Get Unstuck
On Buddhism, plateaus, and the idea that there are tools we can use to progress in the practice.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 158 - The Rocks in Our Pockets
On the stories we carry with us and don't know how to let go.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 157 - Answer Only on the Basis of the True Dharma
Dogen said, "When someone asks about the dharma or the essentials of practice, Zen monks must reply on the basis of the true dharma. Do not answer on the basis…
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 156 - It Starts With What You Do
Dogen said, "If you first change your physical behavior, your mind will be reformed as well."
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 155 - Don't Lie About the Burning House
On the parable of the burning house, skillful means, and lying.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 154 - Who is the Teacher?
On Buddhist teacher scandals and the notion that we should "not confuse the teachings with the teacher." Can we even do that? And if not, then what?
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 153 - Start From a Hopeless Place
Dogen in "Record of Things Heard": "You must practice the Way with the attitude of a person owing a vast debt and being forced to return it despite being…
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 152 - No Excuses
“I desire to practice the Way, but the world is in its last period (which is degenerate) and I have only inferior capabilities. I cannot endure the formal…
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 151 - How Did We Get Here from There?
Causation: how did we get here from there? And now what?
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 150 - Don't Rely on the Words of the Ancients
"We should not necessarily rely on the words of the ancients, but we should grasp just true reality." From Dogen's "Record of Things Heard" 4-2.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 149 - Buddhahood and Artificial Intelligence
Buddhahood, artificial intelligence, and how we see ourselves in others.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 148 - Mist and Dew
“Associating with a good person is like walking through mist and dew; though you will not become drenched, gradually your robes will become damp.” From Dogen's…
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 147 - The Big Thing
What is the Big Thing? And how do we not lose sight of it?
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 146 - Awakening With the Body
From Dogen's "Record of Things Heard," 2-26: "As long as we only think about the buddhadharma with our minds, we will never grasp the Way, even in a thousand…
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 145 - Beyond Sitting
An explanation of what we call the "private ceremony," a service we can perform at home every day.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 144 - What is the Most Important
From Dogen's "Record of Things Heard," 2-17: "You should spend your time carrying out what is worth doing. Among the things you should do, what is the most…
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 143 - Cool Your Mind
From Dogen's "Record of Things Heard," 1-15: "A student of the Way must cool his mind as if he were giving up his life, and consider if what he is about to say…
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 142 - The Toad - Buddha and the Hundred Foot Pole
From "Record of Things Heard" (Zuimonki) 1-13. Dogen: "You should believe your teacher if he says that buddha is nothing but a toad or an earthworm, and throw…
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 141 - The Snake in the Box
On the motivations and expectations we bring to practice—and what we actually find.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 140 - Inside the Walls
What's the gap between what we see and what's really there? On the Zen imperative to look beyond simple appearances.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 139 - Spiritual Heroes
How do we open ourselves to being inspired by our heroes without losing sight of them, and ourselves, as three-dimensional beings?
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 138 - Genjo Koan - When One Side is Illuminated
From a one-day retreat, a talk on Dogen's Genjo Koan and the idea that there's something we're missing.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 137 - You Can't Just Act Ordinary
Zen upholds the "ordinary," but when we aim for that, we end up somewhere else.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 136 - Confusion vs Clarity
We imagine that clarity feels sure, and confusion feels uncertain, but there's another clarity in not knowing.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 135 - If It Isn't Real, What is It?
A reminder about interdependence and how we work so hard to convince ourselves that the things in our minds are real.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 134 - What We Do When We Don't Know What to Do
How can we respond to the things that are out of our control? What can we honestly offer?
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 133 - Institutions, Traditions and Fighting the Power
How Buddhism can either make us complacent or clarify how and where to push for change.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 132 - What is it to be Awake
Zen is not the work of awakening; it's awake work.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 131 - The Awakened Way is Unsurpassable
The fourth of the bodhisattva vows: "The awakened way is unsurpassable; I vow to embody it."
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 130 - Dharma Gates Are Infinite
The third of the bodhisattva vows: "Dharma gates are infinite; I vow to enter them."
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 129 - Delusions Are Inexhaustible
The second of the bodhisattva vows: "Delusions are inexhaustible, I vow to put an end to them."
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 128 - Beings Are Countless
The first of the bodhisattva vows: "Beings are countless; I vow to free them all."
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 126 - Dogen's "Buddha Nature" (5 of 5) - I Have a Name But It's Not an Ordinary Name
Talk #5 on Dogen's Shobogenzo Bussho ("Buddha Nature").
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 125 - Dogen's "Buddha Nature" (4 of 5) - If the Time Arrives, Buddha Nature Appears
Talk #4 on Dogen's Shobogenzo Bussho ("Buddha Nature").
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 124 - Dogen's "Buddha Nature" (3 of 5) - To Master That One is to Master This One
Talk #3 on Dogen's Shobogenzo Bussho ("Buddha Nature").
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 123 - Dogen's "Buddha Nature" (2 of 5) - Who Said That Buddha Nature Knows and Comprehends
Talk #2 on Dogen's Shobogenzo Bussho ("Buddha Nature").
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 122 - Dogen's "Buddha Nature" (1 of 5) - The Tathagatha Always Abides
Talk #1 on Dogen's Shobogenzo Bussho ("Buddha Nature").
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 121 - Newcomers Talk - Breathe Easy
Why do we make breathing in meditation so hard?
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 120 - What is Invisible and What is Not
On how spiritual practice sometimes convinces us that the invisible is more real or important than the visible.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 119 - What Scares Us
What we think is "scary" versus what actually frightens us most.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 118 - You Will Never Be Ready
On the bodhisattva path and the danger of setting prerequisites for success.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 117 - OK Has Nothing to Do With It
Whether or not we tell ourselves it is OK, we're missing the point.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 116 - How Does a Weak-Minded Person Change Bad Habits
What is the mind? What is it to be weak-minded? And what is there to change?
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 114 - Going Through the Motions
It's what we do that matters—don't get stuck in how it feels (or doesn't feel).
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 113 - Zazen Snowmen
From a half-day sit on a snowy day —Reflection on how we're all like snowmen, dissolving and making way for something new.
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 112 - How We Talk About Karma
How does karma work? How can we see our lives in terms of karma?
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 110 - Dogen's "Guidelines for Studying the Way" (13 of 13) - Immediately Hitting the Mark
The final talk from our series on Dogen's "Guidelines for Studying the Way."
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 109 - Dogen's "Guidelines for Studying the Way" (12 of 13) - Practice Throughout the Way
Talk #12 from our series on Dogen's "Guidelines for Studying the Way."
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 108 - Dogen's "Guidelines for Studying the Way" (11 of 13) - The Conduct of Zen Monks
Talk #11 from our series on Dogen's "Guidelines for Studying the Way."
- Thousand Harbours Zen
ZNS 107 - Dogen's "Guidelines for Studying the Way" (10 of 13) - For Those Who Long to Leave the World
Talk #10 from our series on Dogen's "Guidelines for Studying the Way."