Línjì Yìxuán (b. ? – d . 866, also romanized as Lin-chi) was a Tang dynasty Mahayana Buddhist who founded the Linji (Rinzai) school of Chan (Zen) Buddhism. His teachings are preserved in the Línjì yǔlù (record of Linji). In this excerpt, famed translator Burton Watson (1925 – 2017) provides a basic explanation of the Mahayana Buddhist notion of karma and a classic example of Linji’s apparent rejection of such ideas. –Frederick M. Ranallo-Higgins Although Chan often characterizes itself as a teaching that is not dependent on the written word but represents a separate transmission outside the ..read more

Tea bowl, Otagaki Rengetsu (aged 85). The poem: “In this world / things that mature well / produce happy thoughts / ripe eggplants are a matter of celebration.” When I moved to Japan, I became enamored of the life and work of the fascinating  Buddhist nun Otagaki Rengetsu (1791–1875). She was a martial artist, go player, poet, calligrapher, painter, and potter. Her life was marred by one tragedy after the other.  By the time she was 42, Rengetsu had suffered the loss of two husbands, all her children (at least four), her five brothers, and her parents. After the death of her second h ..read more

Faith, along with effort, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom, are collectively known as the five spiritual faculties, or the five powers. This framework gives you a sense of where faith is found in the teachings so you can understand its relationship to other things, and also to show that the dharma is alive with all of these lists illuminating the interdependence and the interconnectedness of this path. I like the word “power” to describe these five. When we hear the word “power,” we often think of a great force, possession, control, authority, or power over other people. But there’s ano ..read more

Jack Kerouac’s two most popular books—On the Road and The Dharma Bums—showed people they could live a completely different way of life: a bohemian existence at odds with postwar American consumerism. Both books are about freedom. Both depict a life free from thirty-year mortgages, nine-to-five jobs, conventional relationships, and family responsibilities. They present the liberating idea that you could do whatever you want with your life—what you want to do, not just what you were supposed to do. For many readers, this idea was profound. Yet despite their similarities, the books are quite dif ..read more

Between-States: Conversations About Bardo and Life In Tibetan Buddhism, “bardo” is a between-state. The passage from death to rebirth is a bardo, as well as the journey from birth to death. The conversations in “Between-States” explore bardo concepts like acceptance, interconnectedness, and impermanence in relation to children and parents, marriage and friendship, and work and creativity, illuminating the possibilities for discovering new ways of seeing and finding lasting happiness as we travel through life. *** “I hope my last word is a big, loud laugh!” says Sandra Cisneros. “We worry ab ..read more

In 2013, Richard Bryan McDaniel grew bored while recovering from a series of surgeries and decided to start writing about Zen. After having jotted down stories about Zen ancestors in a little bound book, he decided to arrange them in chronological order. “I was doing this solely to entertain myself, because I had nothing else to do,” McDaniel says. His daughter, Madeline Elayne McDaniel—an established author who has published books under the pen name Madeline Elayne—helped McDaniel write a pitch letter, and before long, he had a publisher for his first book, Zen Masters of China: The First St ..read more

Hồ Xuân Hương—her given name means “Spring Essence” or “Spring Perfume”—was born around 1780 at the end of the second Lê dynasty, a period of calamity and social disintegration. Her fame in Vietnam as a poet and cultural figure continues to this day. A concubine, although a high-ranking one, she followed Chinese classical forms in her poetry but preferred to write not in Chinese but in chữ Nôm, “the Southern Characters” that represented Vietnamese speech. And while her prosody followed traditional Chinese classical forms, her poems were anything but conventional. Whether mountain landscap ..read more

“Lightness” is a virtue in haiku. The deeper the poem, the more likely it is to seem like nothing special. An observation made in passing. A moment of reflection that at first seems only playful but on second thought might just be profound. The winning and honorable mention poems for last month’s challenge read as spontaneous utterances, even if the poets may have labored to achieve that effect. Renee Cassese offers a portrait in miniature of a world beyond suffering in her description of a tulip “tilting in the wind.” Judith Lavelle’s neighbor uses the language of flowers to send a simple m ..read more

We often hear the fight for justice described as a “struggle.” But Dr. Kamilah Majied believes that this struggle can be and has been joyful. In her view, justice is inextricable from joy, and it involves accessing the inner joy that is available to us when we treat ourselves and others as enlightened beings. Dr. Majied is a mental health therapist, clinical educator, and consultant on advancing equity and inclusion through contemplative practice. In her new book, Joyfully Just: Black Wisdom and Buddhist Insights for Liberated Living, she draws from Black cultural traditions and the teachings ..read more

With its complex tapestry of political intrigue, war, sandworms, desert messianism, and otherworldly spice, Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel Dune continues to be one of science fiction’s most influential works and an enduring pop culture phenomenon. And while the epic franchise might seem like an unlikely place to find the teachings of the Buddha, an undercurrent of Zen flows throughout. At the heart of the novel is the planet Arrakis, also known as Dune, the exclusive source of the spice (“Melange”) that grants its users prolonged life and heightened awareness. The story unfolds against the backdr ..read more