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Daily Zen has been a contemplative haven for online visitors since 1998 offering a unique blend of Eastern quotes for each day of the year, Zen-inspired e-cards, and a meditation room where at any moment a visitor may be meditating with any one of our companion Wayfarers each day. The Journal, called On the Way, is published once a month and this podcast has been created to turn those Journals into an auditory experience allowing listeners to contemplate its ideas in another way.

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Check latest episodes from The Daily Zen Teisho podcast

West Mountain Evening Talks - Part 2

2026/11/06

Muso’s story of his experience is an honest account of the many starts and turns into blind alleys that sound familiar. Who hasn’t been lost at times in the study of Buddhism? Read the Journal while listening

Bloodstream Sermon - Part 4

2026/11/03

Bodhidharma is considered the founder of Zen, bringing the teaching to China from India in 520 AD. The story of his life and teachings is almost mythological in that most of his teachings were not written down. Read the Journal while listening

Avoiding Foxes and Dogs

2026/10/29

Occasionally, readers write that they have difficulty understanding some of the journals and seem a bit perplexed about what to do when they hit something they don’t immediately get. What I like about this selection is that Yuan-hsien hands us some very concrete directions about “looking into a saying.” Read the Journal while listening

"Do not grasp another's bow"

2026/10/27

Whenever we are reading part of a letter to a practitioner written hundreds of years ago, we are attempting to bridge time and cultural barriers. Because we all share the same sense of adventure and quest for truth, no matter how many years intervene, we share the same spark that drives explorers everywhere. Read the Journal while listening

The Living Method of Turning the Light Around

2026/10/20

While this method of “turning the light around” seems very simple and direct, there is still some room for further translation. All the various approaches to meditation seem to have a technique that gives us something to hold onto: counting one’s breath, then watching one’s breath; using mantra, asking “Who am I?”; visualization, all as means to focus one’s attention. Read the Journal while listening

Letter to Masanori Yuno, February 1977

2026/10/11

Yokoyama was one of the most unusual Soto Zen monks whose life reminds one of another ordained monk, Ryokan, who is best known for his poetry and love of playing with children. Neither one of them served as head of a temple or trained other monks. Their choice to live without ceremony or pretension demonstrated a purity of practice expressed through everyday life Read the Journal while listening

The Wise Ones of Old

2026/10/05

To say too much about Taoism can interfere with another’s own direct experience of intuitive understanding. Having read this piece many times in the past, I see how often it takes multiple readings to reveal deeper insights. Read the Journal while listening

Five Points in Buddhist Practice

2026/10/01

Shosan was born into a warrior family in 1579 and lived through one of the most war-torn times of Japanese history. At age 12, he was adopted by a member of a seventy-man horse troop and thus began his life as a samurai. Read the Journal while listening

The World of Intensive Practice

2026/09/29

Reading this piece reminds me of listening to a piece of classical music. Each movement transitions so skillfully into the next that we are barely aware that we have just entered a new room filled with new tempos and phrasing, all skillfully balanced around the theme of zazen as the bedrock of our lives. Read the Journal while listening

Sermons

2026/09/24

Some pieces are overwhelming as we try to absorb the depth communicated. Ma-tsu is delivering a sermon to monks who, just like us, have been practicing for various numbers of years. Read the Journal while listening

Sermons - Part 2

2026/09/19

There are numerous sutras, teachings of the Masters, and enlightenment stories in the history of Buddhism and Zen. There are times when we read these writings and feel a million miles away from enlightenment, Nirvana, or equanimity. Read the Journal while listening

The Wayseeker

2026/09/14

Dropping gaining mind in practice is a huge step; in the beginning, we are all awonder at these marvelous “results” of meditation and when they might appear. Read the Journal while listening

Readings from Sun Face Buddha

2026/09/02

I’ve built a grass hut where there’s nothing of value. After eating, I relax and enjoy a nap. When the hut was completed, fresh weeds appeared. Now it’s been lived in-covered by weeds. The person in the hut lives here calmly, Not stuck to inside, outside, or in-between. Read the Journal while listening

The Ryumon-ji Sermons – The Unborn pt 3

2026/08/26

For those of us who have read the stories of Zen masters’ lives, Bankei’s enlightenment story is among the more powerful ones. His dedication is inspiring, and his insights shared from that ground give us a rich perspective on his deceptively simple-sounding teaching. Read the Journal while listening

The Fundamental Expedient Teachings

2026/08/20

This translation comes from the Tun-huang documents discovered in Cave 17 sometime around 1900. While we don’t usually explore where these translations actually come from, this story deserves some attention. Read the Journal while listening