Kathie Fischer on The Platform Sutra
In the spring of 2020, Kathie Fischer gave a series of 4 talks at Dharma Seminar on the Platform Sutra and the teachings of the sixth ancestor Hui-neng. As we embark on our own study of this text for Practice Period, these talks are freshly relevant, expanding our engagement with this seminal text.
Norman on Dōgen
Last December, Norman gave a series of talks on Dōgen’s “Dharma Blossoms Turn Dharma Blossoms.” The fascicle is about the Lotus Sutra, the focus of last fall’s Practice Period. But as Norman explains, it is based on a saying in the Platform Sutra, our topic for the 2021 Practice Period. These talks thus form a bridge between the two Practice Periods.
The Sandokai 2021
Norman gives a series of 12 talks on the Sandokai, “The Harmony of Difference and Sameness” (or “Merging of Difference and Equality”), referencing commentaries by Shohaku Okumura and Suzuki Roshi. This poem, by eighth Chinese Zen ancestor Sekito Kisen, is a fundamental text of the Soto school of Zen.
The Hidden Lamp
A series of teachings on The Hidden Lamp: Stories from Twenty-Five Centuries of Awakened Women This revolutionary book brings together many teaching stories that were hidden for centuries, unknown until this volume. These stories are extraordinary expressions of freedom and fearlessness, relevant for men and women of any time or place.
2021 Practice Period
The theme for this year’s Practice Period was the Teachings of the Platform Sutra. Primarily based on Red Pine’s great translation of this text, these teachings contemplate and discuss its direct relevance to our practice as we try to live the Dharma in the contemporary world of Everyday Zen.
