Episodes
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Recorded November 16, 2024.
“A Zen Life of Bodhisattvas” by Rafe Martin“The Gateless Barrier: The Wu-Men Kuan (Mumonkan)”, Translated and with a Commentary by Robert Aitken“The Odyssey,” Robert Fitzgerald translation
With this teisho Roshi Martin looks into the nature of painful failure: “Is it wonderful indeed” as the koan of “Manjusri and the Young Woman” (“Gateless Barrier” 35) proclaims? If so, how? Roshi Martin begins with the opening lines of "The Odyssey” pointing out how they reveal that it is Odysseus’s failure that sets the epic of a man overcoming difficulties and temptations to return to his true home, in motion. Then he reads and comments on Chapter 5 of his recent book “A Zen Life of Bodhisattvas,” which explores the koan of how the great Bodhisattva of Wisdom fails to awaken a young woman. The koan’s conclusion that “the failure is wonderful indeed” merits special exploration. What does it mean?!
Books referenced:
Books by Roshi Rafe Martin Talks on YouTube More information at endlesspathzen.org
Photo: Manjusri and students at Endless Path Zendo by Rafe Martin -
Recorded November 9, 2024.
The Collected Poems. W.B. Yeats.Storehouse of Treasures: Recovering the Riches of Chan and Zen. Nelson Foster
In this first post-Nov. 5th election teisho, Roshi Martin opens with two poems of W.B. Yeats, speaking from the Irish “Troubles,” then moves on to read from and comment on Chapter Seven —“The Resource of Shame” — in Nelson Foster Roshi’s new book: Storehouse of Treasures: Recovering the riches of Chan and Zen.
Some bits to savor:
The great T’ang era Zen master Chao-chou (Joshu) was once asked — “What place to you accord an individual entirely without shame?” “Not among us,” the master answered. The questioner persisted, How about if one suddenly appeared? “Throw him out!” said Chao-chou.
And from Mencius, 372-289 BC, “Cunning opportunists have no use for shame. Unashamed of being inhuman, what humanity to they have?”
Or this — from Nelson — “Recognition that you’ve erred [i.e. shame] becomes an indicator of which way your ethical compass points, lending shame an ennobling aspect.”
In short, shame has nothing to do with “shaming,” or with guilt — or with beating ourselves up. But as a matter of scrupulous honesty and character, it helps us proceed along the ancient Way of the maturing Human Being — whatever comes. Not to own up to the uneasiness caused by one’s own errors and shortcomings, and not to resolve to correct our mistakes and do better would be rather . . . shameful.
Books referenced:Photo credit: “door/way,” Rafe Martin
Books by Roshi Rafe Martin Talks on YouTube More information at endlesspathzen.org -
Missing episodes?
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Recorded October 26, 2024.
Roshi Rafe Martin examines the important koan of Pai-chang and the Fox (case 2 of the Gateless Barrier), in light of both Halloween and the ghostly anxieties of our pre-election week.
The Gateless Barrier: The Wu-Men Kuan (Mumonkan), Translated and with a Commentary by Robert Aitken
Referenced:Photo : Hungry Ghost Altar, Endless Path Zendo 10/2024, by Rose Martin
Books by Roshi Rafe Martin Talks on YouTube More information at endlesspathzen.org -
Teisho by Roshi Rafe Jnan Martin, 10/15/2024 Vermont Zen Center
Books by Roshi Rafe Martin Talks on YouTube More information at endlesspathzen.org
Recorded October 15, 2024.
In this teisho, the final teisho of the October 2024 Jataka Sesshin at the Vermont Zen Center, Roshi Martin tells an ancient jataka (past life tale of the Buddha) that's very much like a sci-fi story! He then examines it from the perspective of Zen practice. In the story, which the Buddha told near the time of his approaching parinirvana (death), shows him attempting to satisfy desire. And how that necessary failure changed him.
Referenced: Before Buddha Was Buddha by Rafe Martin
Image: Galaxy painting by Rafe Martin -
Recorded on October 12, 2024
This teisho was presented by Roshi Martin on the first day of the recent, Oct. 11-16th 2024, 16th Annual Jataka sesshin at the Vermont Zen Center. In it, Roshi Martin first puts on his hat as an award-winning author and storyteller, giving a dramatic reading of his book, The Banyan Deer: A Parable of Wisdom and Courage (Wisdom Publications, 2010). Then, putting his Zen teacher hat back on, he comments on this ancient Buddhist jataka tale from the perspective of actual ongoing Zen practice-realization! Enjoy!
Image: Cover art for Rafe Martin's "The Banyan Deer" (Wisdom Publications), by Richard Wehrman
Books by Roshi Rafe Martin Talks on YouTube More information at endlesspathzen.org -
Recorded 10/05/2024.
Books by Roshi Rafe Martin Talks on YouTube More information at endlesspathzen.org
Roshi Martin comments on case 41 in The Gateless Barrier — “Bodhidharma and Peace of Mind,” the core of which is as follows:
Bodhidharma sat facing the wall. Huike, the Second Ancestor . . . said, “Your disciple’s mind has no peace as yet. I beg you, master, to please put it to rest.”
Bodhidharma said, “Bring me your mind, and I will put it to rest.”
The Second Ancestor said, “I have searched for my mind, but I cannot find it.”
Bodhidharma said, “Then I have completely put it to rest for you.”
Buddhist practice is not simply a matter of study, of amassing learning, of finding psychological nuance, or of gaining “merit.” At its core where Zen resides is the practice of realization, actually awakening to Mind itself. Bodhidharma’s Zen was and is radical – in the primary sense of aiming for the root.
The Zen brought to life by Bodhidharma, shifted the Buddha’s teaching from the cosmological/philosophical to the practical. It’s aim remains to help us come to the end of suffering and realize Peace. At some point we all recognize the difficulties and challenges of this life, and are anguished by them. This is where we begin. To find Peace all we need do then, as Bodhidharma insisted, is bring forth our troubled mind so it can be pacified. That shouldn’t be too hard should it? What do you think? -
Recorded September 21, 2024.
Books by Roshi Rafe Martin Talks on YouTube More information at endlesspathzen.org
Roshi Martin reads from (and comments on) "A Zen Life: D.T. Suzuki Remembered" focusing on the important, indeed, seminal role Dr. D.T. Suzuki (NOT Shunryu Suzuki) played in the transmission of Zen to the West. In his reading aloud from the book he focuses on the chapters written by his own teachers -- Philip Kapleau and Robert Aitken -- as well as the chapter by Gary Snyder, all of whom reveal that Suzuki was absolutely central to their own personal turn to the actual practice of Zen. It made for an inspiring morning, putting our own connection with Zen tradition within a larger context. -
Recorded September 7, 2024
Books by Roshi Rafe Martin Talks on YouTube More information at endlesspathzen.org
Roshi Rafe Martin speaks about the deep meaning of the 11-headed, many-armed Bodhisattva of Great Compassion and his/her relevance to our own lives and times right now.
Referenced:
"The Record of Lin-chi" Ruth Fuller Sasaki (translation and commentary)
"A Zen Life of Bodhisattvas" by Rafe Jnan Martin -
Recorded July 27, 2024.
Books by Roshi Rafe Martin Talks on YouTube More information at endlesspathzen.org
In this teisho, Roshi Martin concludes his reading from "Throw Yourself into the House of Buddha" and offers his comments on the stirring autobiography and inspiring teachings of Tangen Roshi.
Tangen Harada Roshi, (the monk, Tangen-san, in "The Three Pillars of Zen") was an extraordinary human being and extraordinary Zen teacher, one with particularly close ties to the Endless Path Zendo's Kapleau-Roshi lineage. As the preface to the new book of his life and teachings "Throw Yourself Into the House of Buddha" says: “He didn’t travel the world to spread the Dharma.; he just sat in his small temple nestled in the shadow of a little mountain on the outskirts of a fishing town by the Sea of Japan. Yet slowly word of him spread around the world, bringing thousands of people from all continents to practice there.” -
Recorded July 20, 2024.
Books by Roshi Rafe Martin Talks on YouTube More information at endlesspathzen.org
In this teisho, Roshi Martin continues reading from "Throw Yourself into the House of Buddha" and comments on the stirring autobiography and inspiring teachings of Tangen Roshi.
Tangen Harada Roshi, (the monk, Tangen-san, in "The Three Pillars of Zen") was an extraordinary human being and extraordinary Zen teacher, one with particularly close ties to the Endless Path Zendo's Kapleau-Roshi lineage. As the preface to the new book of his life and teachings "Throw Yourself Into the House of Buddha" says: “He didn’t travel the world to spread the Dharma.; he just sat in his small temple nestled in the shadow of a little mountain on the outskirts of a fishing town by the Sea of Japan. Yet slowly word of him spread around the world, bringing thousands of people from all continents to practice there.” -
Recorded July 13, 2024.
Books by Roshi Rafe Martin Talks on YouTube More information at endlesspathzen.org
In this teisho, Roshi Martin continues reading from "Throw Yourself into the House of Buddha" and comments on the stirring autobiography and inspiring teachings of Tangen Roshi.
Tangen Harada Roshi, (the monk, Tangen-san, in "The Three Pillars of Zen") was an extraordinary human being and extraordinary Zen teacher, one with particularly close ties to the Endless Path Zendo's Kapleau-Roshi lineage. As the preface to the new book of his life and teachings "Throw Yourself Into the House of Buddha" says: “He didn’t travel the world to spread the Dharma.; he just sat in his small temple nestled in the shadow of a little mountain on the outskirts of a fishing town by the Sea of Japan. Yet slowly word of him spread around the world, bringing thousands of people from all continents to practice there.” -
Recorded June 29, 2024.
Books by Roshi Rafe Martin Talks on YouTube More information at endlesspathzen.org
In this sixth teisho, Roshi Martin continues reading from "Throw Yourself into the House of Buddha" and comments on the stirring autobiography and inspiring teachings of Tangen Roshi.
Tangen Harada Roshi, (the monk, Tangen-san, in "The Three Pillars of Zen") was an extraordinary human being and extraordinary Zen teacher, one with particularly close ties to the Endless Path Zendo's Kapleau-Roshi lineage. As the preface to the new book of his life and teachings "Throw Yourself Into the House of Buddha" says: “He didn’t travel the world to spread the Dharma.; he just sat in his small temple nestled in the shadow of a little mountain on the outskirts of a fishing town by the Sea of Japan. Yet slowly word of him spread around the world, bringing thousands of people from all continents to practice there.” -
Recorded June 22, 2024.
Books by Roshi Rafe Martin Talks on YouTube More information at endlesspathzen.org
In this fifth teisho, Roshi Martin continues reading from "Throw Yourself into the House of Buddha" and comments on the stirring autobiography and inspiring teachings of Tangen Roshi.
Tangen Harada Roshi, (the monk, Tangen-san, in "The Three Pillars of Zen") was an extraordinary human being and extraordinary Zen teacher, one with particularly close ties to the Endless Path Zendo's Kapleau-Roshi lineage. As the preface to the new book of his life and teachings "Throw Yourself Into the House of Buddha" says: “He didn’t travel the world to spread the Dharma.; he just sat in his small temple nestled in the shadow of a little mountain on the outskirts of a fishing town by the Sea of Japan. Yet slowly word of him spread around the world, bringing thousands of people from all continents to practice there.” -
Recorded June 16, 2024.
Books by Roshi Rafe MartinTalks on YouTubeMore information at endlesspathzen.org Books by Roshi Rafe Martin Talks on YouTube More information at endlesspathzen.org
In this fourth teisho recorded at the June 4-day sesshin (June 12-16, 2024) at Endless Path Zendo, Roshi Martin reads from "Throw Yourself into the House of Buddha" and comments on the stirring autobiography and inspiring teachings of Tangen Roshi.
Tangen Harada Roshi, (the monk, Tangen-san, in "The Three Pillars of Zen") was an extraordinary human being and extraordinary Zen teacher, one with particularly close ties to the Endless Path Zendo's Kapleau-Roshi lineage. As the preface to the new book of his life and teachings "Throw Yourself Into the House of Buddha" says: “He didn’t travel the world to spread the Dharma.; he just sat in his small temple nestled in the shadow of a little mountain on the outskirts of a fishing town by the Sea of Japan. Yet slowly word of him spread around the world, bringing thousands of people from all continents to practice there.” -
Recorded June 15, 2024.
Books by Roshi Rafe Martin Talks on YouTube More information at endlesspathzen.org
In this third teisho recorded at the June 4-day sesshin (June 12-16, 2024) at Endless Path Zendo, Roshi Martin reads from "Throw Yourself into the House of Buddha" and comments on the stirring autobiography and inspiring teachings of Tangen Roshi of Bukkoji.
Tangen Harada Roshi, (the monk, Tangen-san, in "The Three Pillars of Zen") was an extraordinary human being and extraordinary Zen teacher, one with particularly close ties to the Endless Path Zendo's Kapleau-Roshi lineage. As the preface to the new book of his life and teachings "Throw Yourself Into the House of Buddha" says: “He didn’t travel the world to spread the Dharma.; he just sat in his small temple nestled in the shadow of a little mountain on the outskirts of a fishing town by the Sea of Japan. Yet slowly word of him spread around the world, bringing thousands of people from all continents to practice there.” -
Recorded June 14 2024.
Books by Roshi Rafe Martin Talks on YouTube More information at endlesspathzen.org
In this second of the four teishos recorded at Endless Path Zendo's June 2024 four-day sesshin (June 12-16th), Roshi Martin continues to read from and comment on “Throw Yourself into the House of Buddha" the stirring autobiography and profoundly inspiring teachings of Tangen Harada Roshi of Bukkoji.
Tangen Harada Roshi, (the monk, Tangen-san, in "The Three Pillars of Zen") was an extraordinary human being and extraordinary Zen teacher, one with particularly close ties to the Endless Path Zendo's Kapleau-Roshi lineage. As the preface to the new book of his life and teachings "Throw Yourself Into the House of Buddha" says: “He didn’t travel the world to spread the Dharma.; he just sat in his small temple nestled in the shadow of a little mountain on the outskirts of a fishing town by the Sea of Japan. Yet slowly word of him spread around the world, bringing thousands of people from all continents to practice there.” -
Recorded June 13, 2024.
Books by Roshi Rafe Martin Talks on YouTube More information at endlesspathzen.org
Tangen Harada Roshi, (the monk, Tangen-san, in "The Three Pillars of Zen") was an extraordinary human being and extraordinary Zen teacher, one with particularly close ties to our Kapleau-Roshi lineage. As the preface to the new book of his life and teachings "Throw Yourself Into the House of Buddha" says: “He didn’t travel the world to spread the Dharma.; he just sat in his small temple nestled in the shadow of a little mountain on the outskirts of a fishing town by the Sea of Japan. Yet slowly word of him spread around the world, bringing thousands of people from all continents to practice there.”
In four teishos recorded at the June 4-day sesshin (June 12-16, 2024) at Endless Path Zendo, Roshi Martin reads from "Throw Yourself into the House of Buddha" and comments on the stirring autobiography and inspiring teachings of Tangen Roshi.
This is the first of the four teishos offered. It opens up Tangen’s autobiography from his earliest childhood and his mother’s sacrifice of her own life in bringing him into this world, through the announcement of end of the war just as he was about to get into the cockpit and take off on his first — and last — kamikaze flight. And the subsequent dedication of his life to the welfare of all. -
Recorded June 8, 2024.
Books by Roshi Rafe Martin Talks on YouTube More information at endlesspathzen.org
The first 18 minutes of this recording are the “teisho proper,” focusing on the essential worth — and challenge — of ongoing lay Zen practice.
If you stop there you’ll have a short and direct teisho. But the rest of the recording adds resonance. Roshi Martin then reads Kipling’s, “The Miracle of Purun Bhagat,” a tale that presents the essence of renunciation, the ancient traditional path of maturing beyond self-centeredness. We modern lay Zen practitioners must do the same, too BUT — and here lies our challenge —we must leave home without literally leaving home. For us, family, work, national and planetary citizenship are central to our path of maturing as whole human beings. Yet the fundamental awareness of what lies at the core are the same. The tale gives us a sense of that core.
In response to this teisho a senior Zen student wrote: ‘. . it is nice to leave the world of sesshin-style exhortation and just settle back into a good story whose connections with the first part are not explicit. The first part of the teisho is so forceful. The second part is like falling under a subtle mesmerizing spell.’ -
Recorded May 18, 2024
Books by Roshi Rafe Martin Talks on YouTube More information at endlesspathzen.org
If we mean to fulfill our life journey, our personal pilgrimage to maturity — which is the point of Zen practice — what we seek can’t be somewhere far off, but must be in our own back — or front — yard.
Gateless Barrier, (Wu-men Kuan, Mumonkan), Case 37: “Chao-chou: The Oak Tree in the Front Garden” goes like this:
The Case
A monk asked Chao-chou, “What is the meaning of Bodhidharma’s coming from the West?”
Chao-chou said, “The oak tree in the front yard.”
“Why did Bodhidharma come from the West?” is a traditional Zen way of saying, “What is the highest teaching of the Buddhadharma?” It means, why did Bodhidharma, at an advanced age too, choose to make the difficult crossing from Southern India to China? What was so important that it was worth risking his life to do it? And how does “the oak tree in the front garden” answer this question? Let’s take a look!
Photo credit: "Tree Heart" by Rafe Martin -
Recorded May 4, 2024.
Two Zen Classics: Mumonkan and Hekiganroku. Translated with commentaries by Katsuki Sekida
May 6, 2024 is the 20th Anniversary of the passing of Roshi Philip Kapleau. Rose and Rafe Martin were his personal disciples. They traveled with him, shared meals with him, watched movies with him, were his attendants for various formal functions, stayed with him by his invitation in Mexico, New Mexico, and Florida. Roshi Kapleau also chose Rafe to be his editor for his two final books.
On May 4th 2024 at our annual 1/2 day zazenkai/memorial for Roshi Kapleau at Endless Path Zendo, a recorded teisho originally presented by Roshi Kapleau’s at a 7-day sesshin at Bodhi Mandala in the Jemez Mountains of New Mexico in 1986 (which Rafe attended), was played. The teisho is on case 37 of the Blue Cliff Record, P’AN SHAN’S (BANZAN’S) “THERE IS NOTHING IN THE TRIPLE WORLD and the case is as follows:
"P’an Shan (Banzan) said to his disciples, 'There is nothing in the triple world; where then can Mind be found?'"
Roshi Martin adds: “Roshi Philip Kapleau was a unique man. Former Chief Court Reporter for the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal as well as the Tokyo War Crimes Trials, he came to Zen through a recognition of the horrors to which human beings can sink when lost from their True Nature, as well as through a sense that the Zen he first encountered while in Japan for the trials, offered a doorway to something of great value. We are the fortunate heirs of his determination to find out what that unknown "thing" of great value actually was."
Book cited:Photo credit: Roshi Kapleau, by Casey Frank
Books by Roshi Rafe Martin Talks on YouTube More information at endlesspathzen.org - Show more
