Zen Guides

The Great Koan Collections This is part of a series of articles on the arc of Zen thought, practice, and history, as presented in The Circle of the Way: A Concise History of Zen from the Buddha to the Modern World. You can start at the beginning of this series or simply explore

Chan/Chinese Zen

Zen Buddhism: A Reader’s Guide to the Great Works

Zen Buddhism: A Reader's Guide to the Great Works There have been surprisingly few clear introductions to the full range of the East Asian tradition of what is popularly commonly referred to, in its Japanese variant, as Zen Buddhism but also known as Chan, Soen, and Tien in original Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese. All these

Practices of Direct Pointing

Spreading Out the Vision An Excerpt from Hidden Zen Gazing at Distant Mountains The first practice we will examine is a bodily method of direct pointing. Specifically, it uses the eyes and vision to change our way of experiencing. In Zen training, and particularly during zazen, the eyes are used in a specific manner that

Remembering Yvonne Rand

Yvonne’s dear friend and colleague, Zen priest and teacher Jisho Warner, composed the following obituary of Yvonne Rand. You can also view our profile of Yvonne here. Yvonne Rand, September 23, 1935 – August 19, 2020 no wind, yet the windbells keep on ringing —Kokan Shiren Yvonne Rand (née Boye), a significant member of

Thich Nhat Hanh on Dying…and Living

Thich Nhat Hanh on Dying...and Living For more from Thich Nhat Hanh, who passed away on January 22, 2022, see his author page with books, audiobooks, cards, as well as anthologies where his teachings are included. Becoming Truly Alive What would you do if your doctor told you that you only had three months to

Shambhala Publications and the Global Health Crisis

We know your lives have been profoundly changed by the impact of the ongoing global health crisis. We know you are concerned for yourselves, for your loved ones, for your communities. We know so many people are suffering right now, and are afraid. And we want to help. We want you to know that though we

Stephanie Kaza in Conversation about Green Buddhism

Stephanie Kaza, author of GREEN BUDDHISM: Practice and Compassionate Action in Uncertain Times, in conversation about her life as a UC Santa Cruz biologist, a writer, a professor, and a Buddhist. Green Buddhism$18.95 - PaperbackBy: Stephanie Kaza Add to Cart4 reviews on Amazon Books by Stephanie Kaza See All Books

Tea Masters | An Excerpt from The Book of Tea

The Essence of Art An excerpt from The Book of Tea By Kakuzo Okakura Related Books The Book of Tea$14.95 - PaperbackBy: Sam Hamill & Kakuzo Okakura Add to Cart4 reviews on Amazon The Book of Tea$12.95 - PaperbackBy: Kakuzo Okakura Add to Cart Striving to Become Art Itself In religion the future is behind us.

Food & Drink

Japanese Arts & Culture

Japanese Culture

Japanese Zen

Zen

A Brief History of Chan | An Excerpt from Zen Master Yunmen

Yunmen in Context Setting the Stage for Chan Long before Buddhism arrived in China around the beginning of the Common Era, Chinese thinkers taught ideas whose orientation was of striking similarity to some central tenets of that foreign religion that had yet to arrive. These teachings, ascribed to the ancient sages Laozi (Lao-tzu) and Zhuangzi

We Won’t Last Forever | An Excerpt from Let the Whole Thundering World Come Home

Death A Long Distance Call On a Wednesday morning, sitting in my old blue Volvo in a parking lot after just getting a facial—my cheeks redolent with cream, all pores clean—I called the Cancer Center in Santa Fe, persuaded an oncologist to look up my chart. The oncologist I was assigned to was on vacation,

Biography

Buddhist Biography/Memoir

General Health & Wellness