Upaya Zen Center's Dharma Podcast

Episode Description: In this third talk of the Rohatsu sesshin, Sensei Kaz begins by speaking about "enlightenment." An assumption that the word often carries is that enlightenment is a state of being, in which a person has become perfect, divine. If, however, we follow the Zen teachings of Dogen, enlightenment is a dynamic process and not a state. We have the responsibility to actualize enlightenment in each moment of practice and in our daily lives. Roshi Enkyo then steps in and discusses the "five realms" we can visit in our practice: those of the gods, the humans, the angry titans, the hungry ghosts, and the hell realm. She then speaks about the interconnectedness of all that is through the metaphor of Indra's Net, making the point that we are each responsible for being aware of our constant interaction with everything around us. We are interdependent, and our interdependence free us from our dependence on the old stories and sense of self that limit us. When we appreciate our freedom, our ability to "be anything," we begin to appreciate the freedom of others. From this, compassion arises, as well as a responsibility to tend to our nexus of the net and all we encounter. For teacher BIOs, please visit Part 1. To access the entire series, please click on the link below: Rohatsu: Morning Star Series: All 6 Parts

Episode Description: Sensei Kaz opens this second talk of the sesshin with a brief discussion about authenticity in Zen. The word "authentic" implies both a truthfulness to tradition and a truthfulness to ourselves and our culture. In the first sense of the word, we practice Zen forms that derive from 12th and 13th Century Japan, and from even earlier in China. In the second sense of the word, we accept our responsibility to create a practice that meshes with our time. In this way, Zen can flourish as a rooted, dynamic organism. In the second part of the talk, Roshi Enkyo takes up the topic of "coming home." In order to come home to ourselves we often need to go somewhere else, such as on pilgrimage or to Upaya on retreat. We "move through space to find ourselves." Any pilgrimage or retreat is challenging; we encounter constant "thorns." We also realize that what we seek in our journey is "never far away from where we are right now." Roshi Enkyo shares a couple wonderful stories about Zen Master Yuan Wu, illustrating this idea that what we seek is, "after all, always so close," if we can only "drop the gates" and come home to "just this." Roshi Enkyo ends the talk with a gatha, or short verse: "It is always so close, so close we can miss it. How do we recognize it? Breath by breath. Winter vegetables, and morning star." For teacher BIOs, please visit Part 1. To access the entire series, please click on the link below: Rohatsu: Morning Star Series: All 6 Parts

Series Description: Rohatsu Sesshin marks the enlightenment of the Buddha. It is a powerful gathering of practitioners and friends who are dedicated to realizing the way. Roshis Joan Halifax and Enkyo O'Hara, and Sensei Kazuaki Tanahashi explore the enlightenment of the Buddha, the story and its meaning in our lives today, during this powerful annual retreat. Episode Description: Sensei Kaz opens this first talk of the Rohatsu sesshin with a brief synopsis of Shakyamuni Buddha's life and fundamental teachings on suffering. Kaz also discusses the role of the Morning Star in Buddha's awakening and the nature of breakthrough. Roshi Joan expounds upon Kaz's introduction be delving further into the role of suffering as well the metaphorical significance of the Morning Star. She continues by talking about Keizan's Denkōroku (literally "Transmission of the Light"), sharing the first story which is of Buddha's own awakening. Roshi offers her own commentary on the case's wonderful verse: "A splendid branch issues from the old plum tree; At the same time, obstructing thorns flourish everywhere." Roshi then turns her attention to the nature of our practice, believing that we practice "imperative Buddhism." "To not feed the delusion of ourselves or the delusion of others, but to wake up!" BIO : Roshi Joan Halifax is a Buddhist teacher, Zen priest, anthropologist, and author. She is Founder, Abbot, and Head Teacher of Upaya Zen Center, a Buddhist monastery in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She has worked in the area of death and dying for over thirty years and is Director of the Project on Being with Dying. For the past twenty-five years, she has been active in environmental work. A Founding Teacher of the Zen Peacemaker Order, her work and practice for more than three decades has focused on engaged Buddhism. Of recent, Roshi Joan Halifax is a distinguished invited scholar to the Library of Congress and the only woman and buddhist to be on the Advisory Council for the Tony Blair Foundation. She is Founder and Director of the Upaya Prison Project that develops programs on meditation for prisoners. She is founder of the Ojai Foundation, was an Honorary Research Fellow at Harvard University, and has taught in many universities, monasteries, and medical centers around the world. She studied for a decade with Zen Teacher Seung Sahn and was a teacher in the Kwan Um Zen School. She received the Lamp Transmission from Thich Nhat Hanh, and was given Inka by Roshi Bernie Glassman. A Founding Teacher of the Zen Peacemaker Order, her work and practice for more than three decades has focused on engaged Buddhism. Roshi Pat Enkyo O’Hara is a Zen Priest and certified Zen Teacher in the Soto tradition and is currently the Abbot of Village Zendo in New York City. She studied with John Daido Loori Roshi of Zen Mountain Monastery and Taizan Maezumi Roshi of the Zen Center of Los Angeles/Zen Mountain Center. In 1997 she received Shiho (dharma transmission) from Roshi Bernie Tetsugen Glassman and in June, 2004, she received inka from him in an empowerment ceremony held at the House of One People in Montague, Ma. Roshi currently serves as Co-Spiritual Director of the Zen Peacemaker Family, a spiritual, study and social action association. Enkyo Roshi’s focus is on true self-expression, peacemaking and HIV/AIDS activism. She holds a Ph. D. in Media Ecology and taught Multi-media at New York University for over 20 years. “Coming back to the live moment is the greatest healing, the greatest compassion” – Roshi Pat Enkyo O’Hara. Sensei Kazuaki Tanahashi, born and trained in Japan and active in the United States since 1977, has had solo exhibitions of his calligraphic paintings internationally. He has taught East Asian calligraphy at eight international conferences of calligraphy and lettering arts. Also a peace and environmental worker for decades, he is a Fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science To access the entire series, please click on the link below:

Episode Description: In this powerful talk, Gina uses the question "what are we waiting for?" posed by Norman Fischer in his book Sailing Home: Using Homer's Odyssey to Navigate Life's Perils and Pitfalls, to discuss her own practice of repeatedly returning home to herself, waiting for something to ripen within. Through a series of beautiful personal anecdotes, Gina describes a practice of waiting, feeling, ripening, and expressing. In many ways, coming to feel ourselves deeply, to really meet our suffering, is the heart of practice. We wait for our feelings to gather and ripen, and then we express ourselves, over and over again. Gina ends her talk with a poem. Bio: Gina Jiryu Horrocks, a resident at Upaya since 2008, was ordained as a novice priest by Roshi Joan Halifax in 2011. Currently she is serving as the Tenzo, as well as working to complete the requirements as a candidate in Upaya's chaplaincy program. Jiryu takes great joy in walking with her magical dog Lucy, through the hills and arroyos surrounding Upaya. She is a writer and a healer.

Episode Description: In this final dharma talk of the Fall Practice Period and Fall Sesshin, Shinzan shares about his personal experience with Dogen and the practice of shikantaza, or "just sitting." Shinzan speaks in particular about Dogen's Fukanzazengi or, Universal Promotion of the Principles of Zazen . He also discusses the Genjokoan, which advises, "to study the Buddha way is to study the self, to study the self is to forget the self, to forget the self is to be actualized by myriad things." We often come to Buddhism with the desire to study books, to learn from teachers, to train as residents but sooner or later we see that we simply need to deeply investigate "who we really are." And this requires nothing but silence and intimacy with ourselves. As we investigate we get tired. We begin to forget the self and realize the lack of separation between ourselves and all phenomena. In the end, Shinzan asks, why do we practice zazen? We practice because we are human beings, and because this "endless, profound" practice is an expression of our deepest nature. Bio: Shinzan Palma was born in Veracruz, Mexico. He has been practicing Zen since 1996. He met his former teacher, Korean Master Samu Sunim, in Mexico City and trained under his guidance for 8 years. He did a residential training for 4 years at the Zen Buddhist Temple in Toronto, Canada and was ordained as a novice priest by Samu Sunim in 2004. After leaving Canada, he was invited by Roshi Joan Halifax to come to Upaya in 2006. Shinzan asked Roshi to be her student and he was re-ordained as a Priest in 2007 by Roshi Joan Halifax. Since then, he has been at Upaya practicing with the community. He is now Head Priest and Temple Coordinator, giving guidance to the residents on Zen training. He became Dharma holder in March, 2010. He has a sincere and strong heart committed to the Dharma.

Episode Description: In this wonderful talk, the fourth of the Fall Practice Period, Brian discusses the writings and ideas of the 12th Century CE Chinese Zen Master Hongzhi. Hongzhi lived just before Dogen, the founder of the Japanese Soto Zen school, and had a major influence on the language and philosophy of Soto Zen. For instance, Hongzhi uses nature metaphors and writes with a reverence for the natural world, tendencies which infuse Soto Zen. He also expresses gratitude and respect for the ancestral lineage, expounds the philosophy of the Relative and the Absolute, and writes primarily with poetic language. This is important because poetry is the "language of the heart," awakening is a process of the heart, and therefore poetry is the language of awakening. In the first half of the talk, Brian reads a number of passages from the book Cultivating the Empty Field, a beautiful translation of Hongzhi's writings by Taigen Dan Leighton. In the second half of the talk, Brian takes up the question of "so what?" What is the use of all the poetry, the silence, the sitting, doing nothing and going nowhere? Brian contends that in fact, Zen practice is a vital way of living in the real world but it is easy to get caught by notions of non-attainment and calmness. The danger of Zen is that we can become bored, "self-satisfied, tranquilized, uninsightful, and unresponsive." However, if we remain utterly open to life, open to all of its complexities, pay close attention to our minds, our relations to others, and the world, Zen becomes a way of life in which we "graciously share ourselves" with others, "seeking insight only insofar as it serves the needs of others." Bio: Joshin Brian Byrnes is a novice priest at Upaya Zen Center and president and CEO of the Santa Fe Community Foundation. He worked at the Boston AIDS Action Committee, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, and was CEO of the Vermont Community Foundation and Managing Director at Tides Foundation. His nonprofit career spans over twenty years, where he has led complex organizations through profound change processes, organizational growth, and repositioning them for increased social impact, financial sustainability, and organizational learning. Currently, he is involved with a number of of national philanthropic projects including being the chair-elect of CFLeads: Community Foundations Leading Change, and is a member of the Community Foundation Leadership Team at the Council on Foundations. His academic background includes undergraduate and graduate work in philosophy at St. Meinrad College, theology at the Aquinas Institute at St. Louis University, early music performance at New England Conservatory of Music, and medieval musicology at New York University. He has also studied and practiced organizational development with Peter Senge (The Fifth Discipline), and has been trained in Organizational and Relationship Systems Coaching. He is cultivating a “back and forth” practice, moving between the zendo and the larger world of social service, organizational leadership, and social engagement.

Episode Description: In the Fall Practice Period at Upaya, we are exploring the Zen tradition of Silent Illumination through a series of Dharma talks centering on key teachers and teachings from the lineage. We have already considered the importance of Practice Periods and were introduced to the practice of Silent Illumination. We next studied the legend and teachings of Bodhidharma. In this third talk of the Practice Period, Shinzan discusses the life and practice of the 7th Century CE Chinese Zen Master Huineng. Huineng came from a poor family, lost his father early on, was illiterate, and had to work from a young age to support his mother. Despite this difficult beginning, Huineng had an awakening experience and traveled to the monastery of the 5th Zen Patriarch Hungjen to receive teachings. Hungjen recognized Huineng's bright mind and great potential, eventually giving Huineng Dharma transmission. In this way, Huineng became the 6th Zen Patriarch. Huineng's teachings represent the core of our Zen tradition. Some of the main principles of his teaching include: "sudden awakening," the direct experience of the heart/mind, the intrinsic Buddha nature of all beings, and the practice of non-duality, beyond concepts and pairs of opposites. In his life and practice, Huineng embodied the notion that anyone and everyone can awaken. We all contain the seed of Buddha nature, and have the ability to touch the "big mind" beyond suffering. Bio: Shinzan Palma was born in Veracruz, Mexico. He has been practicing Zen since 1996. He met his former teacher, Korean Master Samu Sunim, in Mexico City and trained under his guidance for 8 years. He did a residential training for 4 years at the Zen Buddhist Temple in Toronto, Canada and was ordained as a novice priest by Samu Sunim in 2004. After leaving Canada, he was invited by Roshi Joan Halifax to come to Upaya in 2006. Shinzan asked Roshi to be her student and he was re-ordained as a Priest in 2007 by Roshi Joan Halifax. Since then, he has been at Upaya practicing with the community. He is now Head Priest and Temple Coordinator, giving guidance to the residents on Zen training. He became Dharma holder in March, 2010. He has a sincere and strong heart committed to the Dharma.

Episode Description: So, why did Bodhidharma come from the West? Joshin explores this and other famous koans related to the life of Bodhidharma, regarded as the First Patriarch of Ch'an (Zen) in China. Noting that much of what we know about Bodhidharma is probably more legend than historical fact, Joshin believes that is okay. It is the legend that speaks to us most intimately. That we are able to find a personal connection to Bodhidharma's journey through our own journeys. The simplicity and directness of the primary written teaching attributed to Bodhidharma, Outline of Practice, also touches us deeply. It contains four all-inclusive practices: suffering injustice, adapting to conditions, seeking nothing and practicing the Dharma. Bio: Joshin Brian Byrnes is a novice priest at Upaya Zen Center and president and CEO of the Santa Fe Community Foundation. He worked at the Boston AIDS Action Committee, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, and was CEO of the Vermont Community Foundation and Managing Director at Tides Foundation. His nonprofit career spans over twenty years, where he has led complex organizations through profound change processes, organizational growth, and repositioning them for increased social impact, financial sustainability, and organizational learning. Currently, he is involved with a number of of national philanthropic projects including being the chair-elect of CFLeads: Community Foundations Leading Change, and is a member of the Community Foundation Leadership Team at the Council on Foundations. His academic background includes undergraduate and graduate work in philosophy at St. Meinrad College, theology at the Aquinas Institute at St. Louis University, early music performance at New England Conservatory of Music, and medieval musicology at New York University. He has also studied and practiced organizational development with Peter Senge (The Fifth Discipline), and has been trained in Organizational and Relationship Systems Coaching. He is cultivating a “back and forth” practice, moving between the zendo and the larger world of social service, organizational leadership, and social engagement.

Episode Description: In this beautiful and inspirational talk, Joshin presents an introduction to practice period as well as an exploration of silence, the theme for this Fall Practice Period. What is practice period? Why do we seek it? Why do we feel called to practice, to silence? How do we embrace it? To investigate these questions, Joshin shares passages from Dogen Zenji's writings on summer practice period, "Ango." Dogen's profound insights, while certainly applicable to an extended period of intense study, are equally valuable for Zazenkai or even in our daily practice. Joshin concludes this talk by reciting Hung-chih Cheng-chueh's "Silent Illumination." Bio: Joshin Brian Byrnes is a novice priest at Upaya Zen Center and president and CEO of the Santa Fe Community Foundation. He worked at the Boston AIDS Action Committee, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, and was CEO of the Vermont Community Foundation and Managing Director at Tides Foundation. His nonprofit career spans over twenty years, where he has led complex organizations through profound change processes, organizational growth, and repositioning them for increased social impact, financial sustainability, and organizational learning. Currently, he is involved with a number of of national philanthropic projects including being the chair-elect of CFLeads: Community Foundations Leading Change, and is a member of the Community Foundation Leadership Team at the Council on Foundations. His academic background includes undergraduate and graduate work in philosophy at St. Meinrad College, theology at the Aquinas Institute at St. Louis University, early music performance at New England Conservatory of Music, and medieval musicology at New York University. He has also studied and practiced organizational development with Peter Senge (The Fifth Discipline), and has been trained in Organizational and Relationship Systems Coaching. He is cultivating a “back and forth” practice, moving between the zendo and the larger world of social service, organizational leadership, and social engagement.

Episode Description: In this talk Shinzan discusses The Three Marks of Existence as taught by Shakyamuni Buddha. The Three Marks being anicca or impermanence, anattā or not-self, and dukkha or suffering. Shinzan describes each of these aspects of existence and how they are related to each other. He emphases that this teaching is not intended to be philosophical. That we should practice with impermanence and non-self in our daily lives. Shinzan then suggests a number of practices which he makes use of in his own life. For example, when suffering comes, ask the question: "why am I suffering?" The answer, "because I have an I, a self." Leading one to question "what is it that I don't see clearly?" Shinzan also discusses the true self, one's Buddha nature. How can one explore this Buddha nature" How can we flip the hand, having one side suffering, the other side nirvana" Bio: Shinzan Palma was born in Veracruz, Mexico. He has been practicing Zen since 1996. He met his former teacher, Korean Master Samu Sunim, in Mexico City and trained under his guidance for 8 years. He did a residential training for 4 years at the Zen Buddhist Temple in Toronto, Canada and was ordained as a novice priest by Samu Sunim in 2004. After leaving Canada, he was invited by Roshi Joan Halifax to come to Upaya in 2006. Shinzan asked Roshi to be her student and he was re-ordained as a Priest in 2007 by Roshi Joan Halifax. Since then, he has been at Upaya practicing with the community. He is now Head Priest and Temple Coordinator, giving guidance to the residents on Zen training. He became Dharma holder in March, 2010. He has a sincere and strong heart committed to the Dharma.

Episode Description: Ray discusses what he considers a deep mystery: reality. What is reality? How do we perceive it? Even if we are able to perceive it, does it not last for just a moment? Ray begins his exploration of reality by looking at it is opposite: delusion. Delusion is all of our thoughts, dreams, illusions or ideas. Basically anything that we conceptualize is delusional. He discusses the role of media in promulgating delusion and why we are so content to live in this fantasy world. Ray then offers the story of Fayan's Not Knowing. Fayan was on a pilgrimage. Dizang asked, "What is the purpose of your pilgrimage?" Fayan said, "I don't know." Dizang said, "Ah! Not knowing is most intimate." Which points to the problem with unreality or delusion. It prevents us from truly being present, from catching the momentary bird song. In the Zen tradition we learn that reality is raw perception, it can be thought of as a blank slate. Ray then discusses the non-dual nature of delusion and reality, suggesting that we need both. We need reality to seek out the wisdom to live in a way that provides greater loving kindness. Delusion helps us to navigate the everyday, "bread and butter" world that we live in. BIO: Ray Olson an internist by training, was a longtime Professor of Medicine at the University of North Texas Health Science Center. He has been a Zen student for over 30 years and received Jukai in 1989. He was ordained as a Novice Priest by Roshi Joan Halifax in 2009 and was made a Dharma Holder at Upaya Zen Center in 2010. Ray serves as coordinator of Upaya's Prison Outreach Program, and in that capacity he corresponds with many inmates in prisons around the country, offering spiritual guidance to the incarcerated. He also makes weekly visits to inmates in the high security units of the local state penitentiary. Ray is long-married to Nancy; they have three grown children and four growing grandchildren.

Episode Descripton: In this talk, Upaya's Maia Duerr first explains what she means by the word "shine." In essence, it is our "buddha nature," our awakened selves. When we tap into this innate luminosity, we shine forth with "prosocial qualities" such as love, compassion, and altruism. Maia then discusses "what gets in the way" of our shining. The primary "culprits," for Maia, are fear and doubt. Finally, Maia offers six ideas for "overcoming" fear and doubt: First, to trust in our basic goodness; second, to have a spiritual practice; third, to deeply love what we do and to do it wholeheartedly; fourth, to focus on what we have, not what is missing; fifth, to embrace the wholeness of who we are; and sixth, to serve others, giving others a chance to shine. Maia ends with a pertinent quote from the Persian mystic Hafiz: "I wish I could show you, when you are lonely or in darkness, the astonishing light of your own being." Bio: Maia Duerr directs Upaya's Buddhist Chaplaincy Program. She serves on Upaya's Engaged Buddhism faculty. She is an anthropologist, writer, and editor. In 2012, Maia received lay ordination from Roshi Joan Halifax as a lay Buddhist chaplain. She is also a student in the Soto Zen lineage of Suzuki Roshi, and has lived and practiced at the San Francisco Zen Center, where she received jukai from Victoria Shosan Austin in 2008. From 2004 to 2008, Maia worked at the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, where she served as executive director and editor of Turning Wheel magazine. From 2002 to 2004, Maia was the research director of the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society, in Northampton, MA, where she led a study on the use of meditation and other contemplative practices in secular settings. She is the author of a number of articles on this topic, including "The Contemplative Organization," published in the February 2004 issue of the Journal of Organizational Change Management. Maia's writing can be found on her blog, The Liberated Life Project. She is also the author of a blog on socially engaged Buddhism called The Jizo Chronicles.

Episode Descripton: In this Zazenkai Dharma Talk, Shinzan offers an introduction to the most fundamental teaching of The Buddha, The Four Noble Truths. However, do not think that this talk is only for beginners. In explaining The Four Noble Truths, Shinzan covers quite the breadth of Buddhist teaching such as The Three Marks of Existence, Three Levels of Understanding, Nibbana, The Noble Eightfold Path, Four Fundamentals of Mindfulness and the precepts. Shinzan opens with some suggestions for the Zazenkai participants to help their practice and avoid discouragement: "don't worry," "make a vow with yourself," and "inspire each other." He then continues on to explain that The Four Noble Truths are meant to be practiced. According to Stephen Batchelor they are best described as the The Four Noble Tasks. Not a static set of rules, but tasks that we have to perform in our daily lives. The first task is to understand, accept or embrace dukkha. Dukkha is commonly translated as suffering, but according to Buddha, dukkha is birth, death, aging, sorrow, lamentation, distress, despair, the desire for what we don't have, the fear to lose what we do have. Which leads us to the Second Noble Truth, the origin of dukkha. Why do we suffer? Shinzan explains that The Three Marks of Existence are at the core of this truth: impermanence, no-self and dukkha. The Second Noble Task is all about letting go. Letting go of our delusional view of permanence and self. Which in turn guides us to the Third Noble Truth: that there is a cessation to dukkha, a way to stop. And that the way to cease suffering is found in practicing The Noble Eightfold Path which is the Fourth Noble Truth. This Eightfold Path is comprised of Right View, Right Intention, Right Action, etc. As opposed to using the term right, Shinzan prefers saying complete or whole which are closer to the meaning of the original Pali word, sammā. Stephen Batchelor likes the term appropriate, which implies that what is "right" is not an absolute moralistic perspective, but changes based on the circumstances and conditions. Shinzan then describes the Eightfold Path in detail, explaining that it can be divided into three parts. Ethics comprised of appropriate action, appropriate speech and appropriate livelihood. Mental training composed of appropriate effort, appropriate mindfulness and appropriate concentration. Wisdom which is appropriate view and appropriate intention. Bio: Shinzan Palma was born in Veracruz, Mexico. He has been practicing Zen since 1996. He met his former teacher, Korean Master Samu Sunim, in Mexico City and trained under his guidance for 8 years. He did a residential training for 4 years at the Zen Buddhist Temple in Toronto, Canada and was ordained as a novice priest by Samu Sunim in 2004. After leaving Canada, he was invited by Roshi Joan Halifax to come to Upaya in 2006. Shinzan asked Roshi to be her student and he was re-ordained as a Priest in 2007 by Roshi Joan Halifax. Since then, he has been at Upaya practicing with the community. He is now Head Priest and Temple Coordinator, giving guidance to the residents on Zen training. He became Dharma holder in March, 2010. He has a sincere and strong heart committed to the Dharma.

Episode Description: This final episode begins with program participants sharing their poems about zazen. It segues into a final Q&A, in which Roshi Norman addresses such questions as: What does Dogen mean in his analysis of "whipping the cart" versus "whipping the ox?" How is it that, whether we practice zazen or not, in Dogen's view we are still all practicing zazen? In other words, why make any effort to practice at all if everyone is already Buddha? Roshi Norman concludes the episode and the program with thoughts about how we sit zazen not just for our own benefit but in order to benefit the whole world, and how Zen is very much a practice of human intimacy. For Series Description and teacher BIO, please see Part 1. To access the entire series, please click on the link below: Beyond Thinking: Dogen's Teachings on Zazen Series: All 8 Parts

Episode Description: In this episode, Roshi Norman goes through the final section of "The Point of Zazen." This section of the essay centers around a poem by Chinese Zen master Hongzhi entitled, appropriately, "The Point of Zazen." Several topics come up in Roshi's ddiscussion, including: How zazen is not simply a compartment of life but is life itself, and that to practice zazen is to access the "deepest way of being alive." The role of "ancestors" in Zen comes up. Also included in the discussion are different ways of "knowing," the idea of "making progress" in practice, the usefulness of words and concepts as means to "go beyond" words and concepts, and the idea that, ultimately, life is without boundary. When we sit zazen we are everywhere, and nowhere, and right here all at the same time. Dogen's essay concludes with a poem written by Dogen himself in response to Hongzhi's poem. He concludes the essay with the beautiful injunction: "All descendants of Buddha ancestors should practice zazen as the single great matter. It is the authentic seal, transmitted from person to person." For Series Description and teacher BIO, please see Part 1. To access the entire series, please click on the link below: Beyond Thinking: Dogen's Teachings on Zazen Series: All 8 Parts