“Kōzen Daitō Kokushi Yuikai” - December 2, 2025 - Dharma Talk

In this episode, I explore one of the most treasured teachings in the Rinzai Zen tradition: Kōzen Daitō Kokushi Yuikai, the “Final Instruction” of National Teacher Daitō, founder of Daitoku-ji. This chant has accompanied my practice since 1995, and over the years its meaning has deepened in ways that continue to surprise me.

Together we look at the stories surrounding Daitō’s life, the clarity and fierceness of his teaching, and the very human habits that distract us from the heart of practice — chasing benefits, clinging to forms, or imagining that poverty or ornamentation have anything to do with awakening. Again and again, the Yuikai returns us to this simple truth: nothing is missing, and diligence is the willingness to return to the Way in every moment.

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Tuning Practice - November 25, 2025 - Dharma Talk

In this talk, we explore one of the Buddha’s most enduring teachings — the musician Sona and the image of practice as a stringed instrument. Too tight, the strings snap. Too loose, there’s no sound. Somewhere between effort and ease, discipline and kindness, we find the middle way.

Drawing on this metaphor, we look at how our lives constantly shift the tuning of our practice: relationships, work, fatigue, weather, emotions. Form helps, but it isn’t the music itself. The music is the living activity of the cosmos flowing through the instrument of your life — and learning to hear it requires honesty, compassion, and continuous adjustment.

If you’d like to learn more about Zen training or the community behind these teachings, you can visit www.zenwest.ca.

To support the teaching stream or access additional reflections, early releases, and behind-the-scenes practice notes, you’re welcome to join me at www.patreon.com/redmountainway.

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Zen Shout — November 18, 2025 — Dharma Talk

WARNING - Sudden loud sounds in this podcast.

In this episode, we explore the heart of embodied practice — how a single moment of presence can cut through all the noise and return us to the immediacy of our own lives. Zen form, the shout, the bow, the subtle choreography of entering the Zendo… each of these is a doorway back into awakening as a lived, physical reality.

If you’d like to dive more deeply into practice, teachings, and community, you’re warmly invited to visit www.zenwest.ca, where you’ll find information about training, membership, and ways to participate. And if you’d like to support this teaching stream or receive early access to new reflections and talks, you can join me on Patreon at www.patreon.com/redmountainway.

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