thezensite:zen teachings:commentaries and teishos

BuddhaNet File Library: huge collection of zipped files on Zen. I have the same link on the ZenEssays page.

Modern Zen Teachers: this site, A Buddhist Library, has a large collection of teishos by a wide variety of teachers, from Deshimaru to Sheng Yen, Shodo Harada to Uchiyama and many more. A venerable site worth exploring.
This site also has a large number of Zen teachings of the ancients (many are excerpts from previously published works). These include works by Dogen, Lin-chi, Bodhidharma, Hui Hai, Chi I and many more. Explore the site; you won't be disappointed.

Female teachers of Zen: this site lists some 37 female Zen teachers, many with links to their home pages or talks or sanghas. Worth visiting for those who believe Zen teaching does not include women.

Dharma Tallks by Korean Zen (Seon) Masters: This site has talks by 15 Korean Seon masters. More Korean Buddhist teachers are here.

Robert Aitken: On the Ten Grave Precepts. A dharma talk by one of America's best-known teachers.

Augusto Alcalde: teishos on the Shobogenzo.

Subhana Barzaghi: teisho on Dogen's Mountains and Waters sutra

Ross Bolliter: commentaries on T'ung Shan's First Rank and T'ung Shang's Fourth Rank.

Diamond Sangha teishos: a collection of teishos, mostly by Diamond Sangha teachers including Robert Aitken, Ross Bolleter, Pat Hawk, John Tarrant, Susan Murphy and others.

Empty Cloud:
Master Hsu (Xu) Yun (Empty Cloud): an eclectic collection of materials by the Zen Buddhist Order of Hsu Yun, one of the greatest Zen masters of the 20th century. Includes essays, sutras, visual arts, dharma talks by a variety of authors, poetry and readers' contributions. Best accessed from here.
The Essentials of Ch'an Practice A translation by Ven. Guo-gu Bhikshu of a discourse by the modern Ch'an patriarch Master Xuyun (Hsu Yun) (1839-1959), also known by his English name, Empty Cloud. Daily Lectures at Two Ch'an Weeks, Edited, Translated and Explained by
Lu Kuan Yu [Charles Luk]
Empty Cloud: the Teachings of Xu Yunm as compiled from the notes and recollections of Jy Din Shakya (93 pages in .pdf) available here.
More of Hsu Yun teachings here, as well as other teachers. Scroll down.
A couple of photos of this remarkable Master are here; unfortunately, not captioned.
Some great photographs of the old master here.

Zoketsu Norman Fischer: (as well as others of the Everyday Zen Foundation), former abbot of the San Francisco Zen Center. There are dozens of talks here by someone who studied at the SFZC for nearly 30 years. Here's a talk about the teachings of Suzuki Roshi: Suzuki Roshi's Way

James Ishmael Ford: dharma talks by the teacher of Boston's Boundless Way Zen centre.

Ruben Habito, from the MKZC in Texas, offers up some talks and teishos. Habito is from the Yasutani lineage.

Hakuin: Some Talks by Hakuin; a sample of Hakuin's unique style.
.
Thich Nhat Hanh: a talk on Impermanence. A short talk titled Bathing a New Born Buddha. In 2002 Thich Nhat Hanh gave a talk at Naropa University. You can see and hear this one-hour talk here. Just follow the link.
Thich Nhat Hanh gave a public talk on September 25, 2001 at the Riverside Church, New York. How can one address great tragedy with great compassion? Very important talk from one of the great compassionate teachers. See also an interview with Hanh about this issue, "What I would say to Osama bin Laden." For another point of view, see this essay by an anonymous author from Soka Gakkai.

Shodo Harada Roshi: The Way of Zazen, a teisho

Master Hsing Yung: There are links to 4 talks here. Master Hsing Yung is the leader of the sect that built the Nan Tien Temple in Woolongong, NSW, Australia.

Ryotan Igarashi: Diverse Aspects of Complexity in Dogen Zenji's Shobogenzo Igarashi discusses complexity in Dogen's writing and looks at Master Kai's "mountains are mountains".

Rev. Master Jiyu-Kennett: Kyojukaimon and Commentary. Giving and Receiving the Teaching of the Precepts. a dharma talk on this Dogen essay source Another commentary, by David Powers, Reading the Kyojukaimon is here.

Jack Kornfeld: The Eightfold Path for the Household free e-book (143 pages in .pdf)

Sister Annabel Laity: Beginning Anew discusses the importance of listening in building a sangha. "…the practice of listening is a very deep one and it is very useful when you are building a sangha. To build a sangha means to make a community of practitioners and to build a sangha really is building work."

Rev. Master Daizui McPhillamy: (Former Head of The Order of Buddhist Contemplatives): When Mountains Are Mountains a teisho from the Zen Island Sangha

Mu: a teisho by Albert Low of the Montreal Zen Center on this seminal koan.

Pat Enkyo O'Hara: abbot of the Village Zendo, New York, affiliated with Maezumi's White Plum Linage. Dharma Talks; the link will take you to the archive. Here you'll find some talks about practice.

Kobun Chino Otagawa: Abbot of Jikoji (Los Gatos,CA), Hokoji (Taos, New Mexico) and Kaikyoshi of the Soto School in the USA. Short Dharma Talks

AMA Samy : Meditation and Therapy:Zen is therapeutic, not therapy
Life and Death: Amy Samy gives a teisho on "Tosotsu´s Three Barriers". "All religions deal with the question of death, so much so that someone has said that religions are a defense against or a denial of death...All of us have to face this question of dying, death, and what´s beyond death." Beautiful.
Why Did Bodhidharma Came from the West excerpt from his book. Covers practice, shikantaza and koan studies.
AMA Samy's Zen center in India, the Bodhi Zendo, is here.

Joan Sutherland: Talks & Essays Joan is the co-founder (with John Tarrant) of the Pacific Zen Institute. This link will take you to some of her talks and essays.

Harada Tangen Roshi: Tangen Roshi is master of Bukkokuji. Here you'll find 14 of his teishos in MP3 format with translations.

John Tarrant: You can find a collection of John Tarrant's talks here.
Working With Koans : John discusses a number of koans and how to work with koans generally

Alan Watts: talks, lectures and essays by one of the early "interpreters" of Zen Buddhism. He was very influential in his day. The Official Alan Watts website is here.

Sojun Mel Weitsman: talks by this teacher of the Berkeley Zen Cente here. His teishos on the Heart Sutra also available here.
Another talk by Weitsman on the Heart Sutra, The Heart Sutra and the Mantra of Our Life is available here.

Gerry Shishin Wick: Dharma Successor of Taizan Maezumi Roshi and leader of Great Mountain Zen Center has six short teishos here as well as access to GMZC newsletters.

Koun Yamada Roshi: Zazen and Christianity: a talk given by on May 9, 1975 at San-un Zendo in Kamakura, Japan.

Hakuun Yasutani Roshi: Why do we recite Sutras? A short Dharma talk

Nyogen Yeo Roshi: dharma heir to Maezeumi Roshi. Dharma talks. Includes podcasts, video, and transcribed talks.

Shinzen Young: Stray Thoughts on Meditation "Being an introductory overview of some techniques for mental development within the various Buddhist traditions of Therevada, Tantra and Zen and including reference to traditional Christian Contemplative practice." Shinzen Young is a Vipassana teacher.

Search thezensite

Updates to thezensite

Zen Book Reviews

Miscellaneous & Reading Lists
Book Sources

Zen Links

Journals and Acedemic Sites of Interest

Miscellaneous

Non-Zen Topics

Essays of Interest

Interesting Sites

Miscellaneous

humour
art

If you wish, you may make a small donation to help this site defray overhead costs.
Thank you.