The Buddha saw a star and got enlightenment. That's the myth of the Buddha, that's the story that's been told for 2,500 years. Buddha had this experience. Zen Master Man Gong said, "I saw a star too and I lost enlightenment." Everybody thinks "Got Enlightenment" is what we want. But Man Gong says...

We talk about the Buddhist teaching, but the talk is to help us actualize the teaching, the practice, and our own true nature in the very moment of our lives. In many ways, this is a pretty radical teaching because everybody can do it. It's not like you have to attain some special knowledge, or...

The first of the Buddha’s Eightfold Path is clear view, or right view. Right view means clarity. Right view means letting go of "my" view to be able to perceive the moment. We all know what this is like. There are times we are involved in an argument, and in the middle of it we start...

Zen Master Seung Sahn, our founding teacher, with his stick, used to poke us right here (pointing the stick at navel). He'd poke us and say, "Make your center Stronger....Stronger! Stronger! You must believe in yourself 100%!"

But what does that mean, believe in yourself? Make your center...

Mind makes everything. If we don't get underneath that, it's all playing with the branches and the leaves. We can have a better life, but not really getting to the base of it. Our teaching is keep a great question. The great question in Zen practice is "What Am I?". "What Am I?", you could say,...

Faith is a tricky word. For me, I have to bring Great Question to the word faith, because it's not, traditionally in Western religion when we think of faith, like faith in God, faith in some supernatural thing, or experience outside of ourselves.

Faith in Buddhism has nothing to do with anything...

Many people who start practicing Zen want all the bad thoughts and feelings to go away and only want to keep the good ones. There is nothing wrong with that, and that is what can lead us to practice. If we stick with it and practice correctly, we see the struggles we are experiencing as less...

When you fall asleep, your conditioning runs the show. You just play things out the way conditioning would play it out. It’s only through being alive, aware, and awake in the moment that we are in, that there’s a possibility to change that. In Buddhist terminology, we say if you fall...

Correct is not conventionally correct, because it’s not about right versus wrong. The Buddha talked about Clear Seeing, being able to perceive the moment as it is. When we talk about correct situation, we’re talking about perceiving the moment as it is, without adding to it our own...

Like or dislike is what creates a prison that we live in. So if you only practice when you want to practice and then don’t practice when you don’t want to practice, that’s a fundamental problem. You are following the winds of your desire, and that’s what leads to...

The Diamond Sutra says that all formations are always appearing and disappearing. If you view all appearances as non-appearances, then you can see Buddha.

If you want to see Buddha, Buddha has already disappeared. If you don't want to see Buddha, then seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, tasting...

During the Buddha’s time, there was a farmer who had many problems. He told the Buddha all about how difficult his life was. The weather never cooperated with what he wanted. It was too wet or too dry, so his crops often failed. His wife was very critical of him, and his children didn't...