Category: Stories

In the early days of the Meiji era there lived a well-known wrestler called O-nami, Great Waves. O-nami was immensely strong and knew the art of wrestling. In his …

Dzogchen is an ancient spiritual teaching developed in Tibet within the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. It does not belong to a school or religious system. Dzogchen is a set of …

The Zen Poet Ryokan Taigu (1758–1831) is one of the most beloved figures of Japanese Soto Zen, regarded also as one of the greatest poets of the Edo Period, …

Gudo was the emperor’s teacher of his time. Nevertheless, he used to travel alone as a wandering mendicant. Once when he was on his way to Edo, the cultural …

 Tenzo Kyokun was compiled by Dogen Zenji when he was thirty-eight and was living at Koshoji in Uji. This is a book of instruction for the “Tenzo”, who is …

Nichiren Buddhism is a Japanese Buddhist movement in the Mahayana tradition. Nichiren Buddhism differs from other schools of Buddhism in focusing on this world, and in its view that …

Yvon Myoken Bec is a Soto Zen Master and the founding abbot of Mokusho Zen House in Hungary and Romania. Just before his death in 1990, Master Mokusho Zeisler …

*by Norman Fischer (originally published at Buddhadharma Magazine – Spring 2014.) From the beginning, Norman Fischer never had much use for Zen teachers—and he still doesn’t. But after years of being …

Obedience The master Bankei’s talks were attended not only by Zen students but by persons of all ranks and sects. He never quoted sutras nor indulged in scholastic dissertations. …

Anyone who is familiar with Mahayana Buddhism, in general, and Soto Zen, in particular, is also familiar with the term Bodhisattva. But what does it really mean? In Soto school, …