In this sixth episode in the series Indian Buddhist Philosophy: Progressive Stages of Insight into Emptiness, Sono discusses the Two Truths of Nagarjuna, the important insight into the “emptiness” of emptiness and how these philosophical insights shape how we practice.Av Andrew Tootell

Meditation: A Still Forest Pool, by Shinsho by Andrew TootellAv Andrew Tootell

Zen Buddhism can be understood as a form of performance art.In this recording, Sono performs the song by the 17th century monk Hakuin, called “Song of Zazen”.Av Andrew Tootell

How does our practice help with this work?When we come from love rather than anger and fear, without creating enemies, we avoid anxiety and burnout. We can rely on our zazen practice to step back and see clearly with a compassionate lens. Together with the fundamental truths of Buddhism, this allows us then to step up and into wise action as is req…

In this talk I discuss socially engaged Buddhism and how the paths of personal and social transformation are interdependent.As David Loy states: ‘Engagement in the world is how our individual awakening blossoms, and how contemplative practices such as meditation ground our activism, transforming it into a spiritual path”.…

In this meditation we contemplate the question: Why do you sit?Like a Koan there is no right answer. Are we “Performing our vows”?“Renewing our commitment”? “Embodying the practice principles?” What kind of engagement with life is Zazen? The practice of nonseparation?The practice of leaving everything alone? Nonthinking is a kind of letting be – le…

In this lecture/discussion, Sono explains the concept of dependent arising in Buddhism, emphasizing that things only exist conventionally and do not have inherent existence. This idea, also known as emptiness, was clarified as the absence of something rather than the presence of something else. Sono further discussed how this concept relates to the…

From the Buddhist perspective, the understanding and realisation of emptiness is the key to liberation from suffering – because the roots of suffering stem from primordial confusion as to the nature of reality – to be free from suffering we need to eliminate ignorance – to eliminate ignorance is to understand emptiness – hence the realisation of em…

The divine abodes are loving kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity. These are both fruits of a practice of meditation and can be doorways to the deepening of that practice. In this guided meditation we explore the connection between romantic love and loving kindness. Romantic love hints at the universal love we can experience and embody whether …

This talk explores the benefits of these often tricky challenges and what Buddhism and relational science offer us in dealing with them. Idealised or romantic love is dualistic and relates to the other, Harmonic love relates with the other. Rather than being in love, we become love.Av Andrew Tootell

This session focuses on the meaning of Emptiness in the Pali Buddhist sutras and the Abhidharma philosophy school.Av Andrew Tootell

Opening To Love, by Jack Wicks by Andrew TootellAv Andrew Tootell

Awakened awareness is not about special experiences – it is about recognising the simplest form of conscious experience that is available to everyone. Joko called it “Simple Mind”, Shunryu Suzuki called it “Beginners Mind” or we could simply call it awareness of awareness or “Pure Awareness”.We could say that the purpose of meditation, both silent …

This guided meditation offers a chance to gain clarity around our thoughts and emotions. Taking a few deep breaths, we can name our experiences. Then we gain an opportunity to fully experience them without being overwhelmed by them. We can then move on the investigate them if it feels safe to do so. Remembering to nurture ourselves by coming back t…

This session gives an introduction to the Buddha’s first discourse on Turning the Wheel of the Dharma. In this discussion we focus on the four truths or practices.Av Andrew Tootell

In this guided meditation Sono introduces three types of Zazen:Mindfulness of a mental object;Mindfulness of the field of all objects; andJust-SittingAv Andrew Tootell

This session gives an introduction to why it is important to study philosophy and an overview of the course.Av Andrew Tootell

In this talk I reflect on the “Voice from the Heart”, why the referendum lost and what has to happen next. It provides a brief historical background to the Voice and it includes some reflections on the One and the Many from a Zen perspective and applies the concept of “spiritual bypassing” at the collective level when a nation denies the truth of i…

Our original nature can be described as Awareness or Heart-Mind. This Awareness that we are, which ultimately constitutes our original nature, has a number of essential qualities. As an introduction to this guided meditation, I discuss the four faces of Universal Love. In Buddhism they are called the Four Brahma Viharas (divine dwellings): In the l…

This talk guides us through a journey of embodying the connections we have with our place here …the earth, the elements, and the beings we share life energy with. Exploring the fundamental Buddhist truths that everything is connected and everything is impermanent. Being present with the emotions that arise and coming to the spaciousness that allows…

This meditation guides you from the experience of your breath to some old zen parables. The first story is a re-telling of “A Parable” from Zen Flesh, Zen Bones by Paul Reps and Nyogen Senzaki. Two koans are featured, both are from The Gateless Gate by Koun Yamada. These are, Case 30 “Mind is Buddha”, and Case 36 “Meeting a Man Who Has Accomplished…

This guided meditation was taught by Gurdjieff to his students. Through each round of body sensing we are guided into self-remembering – the “I am” of awareness.Av Andrew Tootell

This guided meditation is all about finding or recognising and then stabilising in your essential nature, your inner “treasury”. I have titled the meditation “Appreciate this Life” after the book by the same title by Maezumi Roshi. Even though we cannot “see” our essential nature we can simply be, knowingly, our essential nature. We need to recogni…

Joshu(Peter Thompson) founder of the Wombat Sangha in Sydney gives a introduction to the importance of Yoga Nidra practice and how it complements our Zen practice.Av Andrew Tootell

ZAZEN YOGA NIDRAThis guided meditation integrates zazen and yoga nidra. Both zazen and yoga nidra are gateways into the subjective sense of the body and ultimately the realisation of self as nondual awareness.Av Andrew Tootell

Joshu (Peter Thompson) is a founding member of the Sydney Zen Centre and a founder of the Wombat Sangha based in Sydney. In this talk Joshu develops a founding narrative for contemporary Zen practice based upon Evolution. Joshu says, “An important part of the story and mystery of our evolution and being here is the existential reality of alienation…

This talk is continuing our conversation about nonduality. One of the core dualities we are trained into is subject and object duality. The theme of this talk – recognising our essential self as awareness – and some of the experiential exercises are taken from a book called “Standing as Awareness” by the nondual philosopher Greg Goode. Last month I…

This guided meditation leads us into the non-duality of Simply Being through the gateless gate of silence.Av Andrew Tootell

This talk, based on an old koan, continues our exploration of psychological or mind-generated suffering and the ending of this suffering through seeing how psychological suffering is always synonymous with getting caught in conventional duality of “me” and “not me” and not seeing from the alternative perspective of unbounded awareness.Here is the o…

This talk continues with the theme suffering and the ending of suffering. It introduces two complementary practices for ending suffering: self-inquiry and nonseparation.Av Andrew Tootell

In our OzZen sangha, when receiving the precepts, recipients also give a Jukai talk, reflecting on their experience of studying the precepts in the monthly study group over the past year. Recipients are encouraged to personalise their experiences.Av Andrew Tootell

Tonight, we will discuss the practice of “taking refuge” as it relates to the question of suffering and the ending of suffering. During discussion I want us to clarify the difference between psychological suffering and what we might describe as our natural emotional responses that arise from being creatures who become attached to each other. I don’…

How do we find constancy amid constant change? When we let go of attachment to form: attachment and aversion, we find our freedom in the formless field of benefaction.Av Andrew Tootell

If we are attached to form: body, feelings, perceptions, personality, as night follows day, we are going to suffer. Liberation from suffering is found through the gateway into the formless.Av Andrew Tootell

The middle way practice of non-attachment to desire is not to give-in to desire or to repress desire. We allow desire to naturally arise and pass away, without clinging. Sometimes can do this and sometimes we can’t. Yet this is our practice.Av Andrew Tootell

Like a weed, suffering seems to grow regularly and crosses our paths frequently.Often it is mildly annoying and occasionally it becomes troublesome and painful.Although suffering is inevitable, it is possible to activate the seeds of awareness by practicing the first eight of the Buddha’s foundations of mindfulness. Here we prime the ground for suf…

Bodhidarma sat facing the wall. The second patriarch [Shenguang, later called Huike], standing in the snow, cut off his arm and said, “Your disciple’s mind is not yet at peace. I beg you, Master, give it rest.”Bodhidharma said, “Bring your mind to me; I will put it to rest.”The patriarch said, “I have searched for the mind but have never been able …

“Each moment, Life as it is, the only Teacher”.In our tradition, we regularly acknowledge “Life” as it is as being our only teacher, but how often do we really appreciate how astonishing it is to be alive? This guided meditation is all about awakening to this wonder of being alive and truly appreciating our life, just as it is, here and now.…

Core Beliefs and the Self-Centred Dream by Andrew TootellAv Andrew Tootell

We can only truly be open and loving when we are truly kind to ourselves.Here we explore some ways of bringing an inner smile into our lives and to observe how being compassionate brings happiness to both ourselves and others.Av Andrew Tootell

In this talk I return to the question, what is enlightenment? I begin with a working definition of enlightenment as a developmental process rather than a one-off event (or series of events). I then explore two primary lines of development: “know thyself” and “returning home” or “original OK-ness”.Av Andrew Tootell

In this meditation Rhys leads us through an exploration of sitting with suffering because, as Rhys states, this is a lot of what sitting is. For all of us, for a fair bit of the time, this is what we’ll be doing when we practice Zazen: we’ll be sitting with some form of suffering, of discomfort, of dis-ease. Sometimes this suffering will be gross a…

This meditation focuses on the dance between being a separate self, bounded by the body, occupying a particular space-time point, and a self completely interdependent, depending on our environment, and our relationships. Dancing between the two, we hold these two seemingly paradoxical positions with love and compassion.…

In this second enchanting, guided meditation, Pingala explores again the mysterious heights and depths of the presence of mountains.Av Andrew Tootell

This meditation starts with a reading of the Wild Swans at Coole by WB Yeats as an introduction to the contemplation of “mujo” or impermanence. We then segue into a contemplation of finding our way home in the world.Av Andrew Tootell

In this talk I share some understandings of enlightenment that have in the context ongoing dialogue with Joko Beck through her books and Barry Magid as my teacher. I begin my discussing two common curative fantasies of what enlightenment is. I then share one understanding of enlightenment that is found in both Joko Beck and Barry Magid - what I wil…

This guided meditation directs our attention to the quality of our attention to our experience. How our attention is uncovering reality. Zazen is a kind of experiential research into our experience of self and world that can be shared with others to arrive at common understandings. Attention can be understood as a form of taking care of ourselves a…

In this talk I introduce the proposal that we all must discover what enlightenment means to us. Like the historical Buddha, we must be a lamp unto ourselves, not accepting any authority other than the authority of our own experience refined in the context of dialogue with dharma friends.Av Andrew Tootell

Most people, whether long-term meditators or not, engage in some kind of judgemental, negative, self-talk. We may not even be fully conscious of how we criticise ourselves and reject certain parts of ourselves. We are so used to doing it that we may not even know we are doing it. Sometimes it can be loud and sometimes very quiet and ubiquitous in t…

In this enchanting guided meditation, Pingala invites us to experience ourselves as a Mountain.Av Andrew Tootell