Learning Center ->Study -> Zen -> Masters and teachers
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Zen Is...
History
Bodhidharma
Sengsan's Hsin Hsin Ming
Huineng and The Platform Sutra
Mazu
Dogen Zenji
Linji
Hakuin
Ikkyu
Bankei
Taizan Maezumi Roshi
Shunryu Suzuki Roshi
Hakuun Yasutani Roshi
Nyogen Senzaki
Kosho Uchiyama Roshi
Master Seung Sahn
Robert Aitken Roshi
Shodo Harada Roshi
Zoketsu Norman Fisher
John Daido Loori
Roshi Bernie Glassman
dennis Genpo Merzel
Sojun Mel Weitzman
Other contemporary teachers
Learning Center ->Study -> Zen -> Teachings 
Web sites with extensive teachings
Web sites with audio teachings 
The teachings of the masters
Bodhidharma
His devotion to meditation was his legacy to China. He was later honored as father of the Chinese Dhyana—or "Meditation"—school of Buddhism, called Chan.
The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma

Red Pine, translator (Wisdom Publications - 2003)
Daruma-ki Bodhidharma and his teachings
From SotoZenNet's Zen Friends Zen quarterly
Bodhidharma.com
An introduction to Bodhidharma, his journey and his legacy
The Bodhidharma Anthology: The Earliest Records of Zen
In question-and-answer style Bodhidharma fields questions from his students on dharma, the mind, and reality. 
Jeffrey Broughton (U. California Press - 1999)
Sengsan's Hsin Hsin Ming
Sengsan, the third ancestor, is best know for his beloved poem, the Hsin Hsin Ming ("The great way is not difficult for those who do not pick and choose...").
Master Sheng Yen's teaching on the Hsin-hsin ming
Trust in Mind
Mu Soeng (Wisdom Publications - 2003)
A page about the poem and Sengsan
Richard Clarke's translation
Commentary by Robert Blyth
The Eye Never Sleeps
Dennis Genpo Merzel (Shambhala - 1991)
Faith in Mind: A Guide to Chan Practice
Master Sheng Yen (Dharma Publishing - 1987)
Huineng and The Platform Sutra
The Sixth Patriarch's Dharma Jewel Platform Sutra: With the Commentary of Venerable Master Hsuan Hua
- Buddhist Text Translation Society
The sixth ancestor
How Huineng Became the Sixth Patriarch
Philip Yampolsky's translation of The Platform Sutra
The Platform Sutra - translated by The Buddhist Text Translation Society
The Platform Sutra
With the commentary of Tripitaka Master Hua
Carl Bielefeldt and Lewis Lancaster on the Platform Sutra
The Dharma of Mind Transmission: Zen Teachings of Huang-po and dharmaweb - no source
The Sutra of Hui Neng old translation
Mazu
Mazu Daoyi (Ma-tsu Tao-i) (709-788), is celebrated for being the source of what was to become, through his famous descendent Linji, Rinzai Zen. Mazu's uncompromising methods foreshadowed those of Linji.
From the Ashoka online course The Story of Zen
Dogen Zenji
The Soto master and founder Dogen (1200-1253) is probably the most revered figure in all Japanese Zen. It was Dogen who first insisted on intensive meditation, who produced the first Japanese writings explaining Zen practice, and who constructed the first real Zen monastery in Japan, establishing a set of monastic rules still observed. Moreover, the strength of his character has inspired many Zen masters to follow.
Understanding Dogen
When students approach the work of Dogen Zenji, they find enigma and obscurity, as well as blinding clarity. Taigen Dan Leighton, Bonnie Myotai Treace, Steven Heine and Norman Fischer help us penetrate Dogen's teachings. With an introduction by Carl Bielefeldt.
Are There Any Who Are Not Beginners?
Teachings by Dogen from a new collection of translations focusing on his advice to practitioners. Excerpts from Beyond Thinking: A Guide to Zen Meditation, edited by Kazuaki Tanahashi (Shambhala Pub - 2004)
Norman Fisher's talks on Fukazazengi, Bendowa, and Genjo Koan
Treasury of the Eye of the True Dharma, Book 29 - Mountains and Waters Sutra - translation by Prof. Carl Bielefeldt
Treasury of the Eye of the True Dharma, Book 28 - Getting the Marrow by Doing Obeisance - translation by Stanley Weinstein
Treasury of the Eye of the True Dharma, Book 13 - Ocean Seal Samadhi -translation by Carl Bielefeldt with Michael Radich
Treasury of the Eye of the True Dharma, Book 11 - Principles of Zazen -translation by Carl Bielefeldt with Michael Radich
Treasury of the Eye of the True Dharma, Book 31 - Not Doing Evils - translation by William Bodiford
Ashoka course on the Genjo Koan
Taught by Michael Weanger, San Francisco Zen Center
Genjo Koan - translated by Kaz Tanahashi and Robert Aitken
Shohaku Okumura wonderful lectures on Genjo Koan #7 #8 #9 #10 #11
Guidelines for Studying the Way. The first half - from Moon in a Dewdrop.
Reflections on Translating Dogen
Rev. Taigen Leighton
Moon in a Dewdrop: Writings of Zen Master Dogen
The True Dharma Eye: Zen Master Dogen's Three Hundred Koans
Beyond Thinking: A Guide to Zen Meditation
Linji
As the founder of the Linji school (in Japanese, Rinzai), Linji plays a key role in the history of Zen.
The Zen Teachings of Rinzai
Irmgard Schloegl's 1975 translation, now out of print
The Zen Teachings of Master Lin-Chi 
Thomas Burtom, translator
From the Ashoka online course The Story of Zen
Hakuin Ekaku (1685-1768)
Hakuin Ekaku possessed an unusual ability to convey the meaning of Zen to large numbers of people from all classes and religions. Though he chose to work at a small temple in the countryside, he was frequently invited to lecture, and his writings were published, eventually bringing him fame. His writings could be rough, humorous, or sometimes even shocking, intended to rouse his followers from their complacency into a deeper contemplation of religion and spiritual life. His copious writings continue to maintain pivotal importance within the Rinzai Zen sect. His work, both as spiritual leader and as painter, had a profound effect on all subsequent Zen study and Zen painting.
A selection of Hakuin's writings
Song of Zazen
Norman Waddell translation
Ode to Sitting Meditation
Essential Teachings of Zen Master Hakuin
Song of Zazen
Zen Buddhist Order of Hsu Yun translation
Hakuin's paintings
Hakuin's Letter in Answer to an Old Nun of the Hokke Sect Actually, two letters. In the first, Hakuin talks about the Lotus Sutra. In the second he discusses his own experiences. translated by Philip Yampolsky
The Ten Ox-Herding Pictures
Paintings by Master Jikihara, verses by Master K'uo-an
The Five, Ranks of The Apparent and the Real
The Orally Transmitted Secret Teachings
of the [Monk] Who Lived on Mount To
What Is the Sound of One Hand Clapping?
Zen Master Hakuin: Selected Writings
Translated by Philip Yampolsky
Wild Ivy: The Spiritual Autobiography of Zen Master Hakuin
Translated by Norman Waddell
Ikkyu (1394-1481)
Ikkyu Sojun was perhaps the most celebrated of the iconoclastic throwbacks to authentic Zen. A breath of fresh air in the stifling, hypocritical world of an institutionalized Zen, he seemed almost a reincarnation of the early Chan masters of the Tang.
Zen Rebel Ikkyu: Ikkyu was a Zen monk of Muromachi
Crow With No Mouth : Ikkyu–Fifteenth Century Zen Master
Wild Ways: Zen Poems of Ikkyu
Ikkyu and Koans
Alexander Kabanoff
Bankei (1622-1693)
Bankei has long been an underground hero in the world of Zen. At a time when Zen in Japan had become overly formalized, the eccentric master Bankei stressed natural spontaneity and Zen's relevance to everyday life. Bankei is best known for his talks on what he called "the Unborn."
Excerpts from the Ashoka course The Story of Zen
The Unborn: The Life and Teachings of Zen Master Bankei
Norman Waddell (North Point Press - 2000)
Bankei Zen: Translations from the Record of Bankei
Peter Haskel, translator (Grove - 1997)
Contemporary Zen teachings
Taizan Maezumi Roshi
Maezumi Roshi received Dharma transmission from Hakujun Kuroda, Roshi in 1955. He also received approval as a teacher (Inka) from both Koryu Osaka, Roshi, and Hakuun Yasutani, Roshi, thus becoming a Dharma successor in three lines of Zen.
Maezumi Roshi devoted his life to laying a firm foundation for the growth of Zen Buddhism in the West. In 1967, he established the Zen Center of Los Angeles and later established six temples in the United States and Europe. He founded the White Plum Asanga and transmitted the Dharma to twelve successors: Bernie Glassman, Dennis Genpo Merzel, Charlotte Joko Beck, Jan Chozen Bays, John Daido Loori, Gerry Shishin Wick, John Tesshin Sanderson, Alfred Jitsudo Ancheta, Charles Tenshin Fletcher, Susan Myoyu Andersen, Nicolee Jikyo Miller, and William Nyogen Yeo. These twelve successors have further transmitted the Dharma to a number of "second-generation" successors. In America, Maezumi Roshi ordained 68 Zen priests and gave the lay Buddhist precepts to over 500 people.
Your Zazen Is The Zazen Of The Buddhas
What Are We Ignoring About Breathing?
Five teishos on breathing, energy and the practice of qi gong.
The Mind and Spirit of Zazen
Abundant Life
Commentary of Fukanzazengi
Appreciate Your Life: The Essence of Zen Practice
On Zen Practice: Body, Breath, Mind
Zen Center of Los Angeles
Life and Death
Shunryu Suzuki Roshi
Shunryu Suzuki, a Japanese Zen priest belonging to the Soto lineage, came to San Francisco in 1959 at the age of fifty-five. He was impressed by the seriousness and quality of "beginner's mind" among Americans he met who were interested in Zen and decided to settle here. As more and more people joined him in meditation, Zen Center came into being and he was its first abbot. Although an obscure figure on the Japanese Zen landscape, he is one of principle founders of Buddhism in America. Some of his edited talks have been collected in the books Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, Branching Streams Flow in the Darkness: Zen Talks on the Sandokai and Not Always So: Practicing the True Spirit of Zen.
Buddha Is Right Here
Two talks by Suzuki Roshi addressing the fundamental koan-the life we lead at this moment.
The Lamp of Zazen
The point of zazen, says Suzuki Roshi, is to live each moment in complete combustion, like a clean-burning kerosene lamp.
A talk on Buddha nature
Another talk on Buddha nature
The importance of accepting that we have buddhanature, beyond the realm of good and bad.
Zazen practice
Whole Body Zazen
A few quotes from Shunryu Suzuki Lectures
Suzuki Roshi's last talk
Norman Fischer on Suzuki Roshi's Way
Crooked Cucumber - an archival site on the life and world of Shunryu Suzuki and those who knew him
Branching Streams Flow in the Darkness: Zen Talks on the Sandokai
Hakuun Yasutani RoshiShunryu Suzuki Roshi
Yasutani Hakunn Roshi (1885-1973) studies under the great Zen master of both Soto and Rinzai linage, Harada Daiun Sogaku Roshi. Starting in the summer of 1962 Yasutani Roshi made the first of six trips to the United States, continuing to do so basically yearly up through 1969. Yasutani Roshi had a fervent drive to synthesize what he considered the strengths and best of the Soto and Rinzai sects, in the process creating a new linage of Zen called Sanbo Kyodan, 'The Fellowship of the Three Treasures,' emphasizing both the Koan andKensho backed by Zazan and Shikantaza. Yasutani's initial hard core 'Three Treasures' converts have gone on to establish and promote many highly successful Zen centers and Zendos throughout the U.S. and the world under the Diamond Sangha banner.
Why do we recite Sutras?
A biographical note
Nyogen Senzaki
Kosho Uchiyama Roshi
Kosho Uchiyama Roshi (1912 - 1998), one of the most highly respected modern Japanese Zen Masters, was ordained as a Soto Zen priest in 1941 under Kodo Sawaki Roshi. Upon Sawaki Roshi's death in 1965, Uchiyama Roshi became the abbot of Antaiji, a monastery and temple then located in Kyoto, Japan.
On Zazen
Master Seung Sahn
The founding teacher of our School is Zen Master Seung Sahn, the 78th Patriarch in his line of transmission in the Chogye order of Korean Buddhism. In 1972 he came to the United States and started the Providence Zen Center, the first center in what is now the Kwan Um School. He and his students have founded over a hundred temples, centers, and groups around the world. His books include Ten Gates, The Compass of Zen, Dropping Ashes on the Buddha, Only Don't Know and The Whole World is a Single Flower -- 365 Kong-ans for Everyday Life.
What is Zen?
Zen Is Understanding Yourself
Dropping Ashes on the Buddha 
A New Zen is Appearing
Teaching Letters of Zen Master Seung Sahn
Over 100 talks by Seung Sahn - The Kwan Um School of Zen
Robert Aitken Roshi
Aitken Roshi established, with his wife Anne, the Diamond Sangha in 1959, which has zendos in Hawaii, California, and Australia. Aitken's introduction to Zen came in a Japanese prison camp during WWII. He was friends with D.T. Suzuki and studied with Nagakawa Soen Roshi and Yasutani Hakuun Roshi. In 1974 Aitken was given the title "Roshi" and authorized to teach by Yamada Koun Roshi. He is the author of The Mind of Clover, Taking the Path of Zen, The Gateless Barrier, The Practice of Perfection: The Paramitas from a Zen Buddhist Perspective, A Zen Wave and other books.
What's the Meaning of This?
Aitken Roshi on "The Meaning of the Ancestor's Coming from the West."
On Zen Teaching
Sila
Some Words About Sesshin For Newcomers To Zen Practice
The Future of Zen Buddhism in the West
The Mind of Clover
c Encouraging Words
The dragon who Never Sleeps
Zen Master Raven
A Zen Wave
Shodo Harada Roshi
Shodo Harada Roshi (born 1940) is abbot of Sogenji monastery in Okayama, Japan, where he has taught since 1982. Harada Roshi is heir to the teachings of Rinzai sect Zen Buddhism as passed down in Japan from Hakuin and his successors and his teaching includes the traditional Rinzai practices. Harada Roshi now teaches part-time at Tahoma One Drop Zen Monastery on Whidbey Island, Washington.
The Way of Zazen
Original Mind
Freshly Fallen Snow in a Newly Made Silver Bowl
The Key to Zen
A series of short teachings by SekkeiHarada Roshi
Zoketsu Norman Fisher
Norman Fischer, a Zen priest and abbot,is a poet and teacher with wide-ranging interests and passions. During almost 30 years at San Francisco Zen Center, he served as director, tenzo, tanto, operations manager and other positions. Norman retired as abbot of Zen Center in 2000 to take his teaching out into the world. Norman believes in the possibility of "engaged renunciation": living a fully committed religious life that does not exclude family, work, and a passionate interest in the world. Norman is also active in interreligious dialog.
There’s No Such Thing as American Zen
Some Zen Stories
Basic Zen Lectures
Many talks at Everyday Zen
Roshi Bernie Glassman
Zen Master (Roshi) Bernie Glassman is a world-renowned pioneer in the American Zen Movement. He is a spiritual leader, published author, accomplished academic and successful businessman with a PhD in Applied Mathematics. Bernie currently teaches and travels, giving talks and workshops on spiritual practice, socially responsible business and international peacemaking. He is the founder and co-spiritual director of the Zen Peacemakers.
Interview
Bearing Witness: A Zen Master's Lessons in Making Peace
Instructions to the Cook: Living a Life That Matters
On Zen Practice: Body, Breath, Mind
with Hakuyu Taizan Maezumi
John Daido Loori
Daido Loori is the abbot of Zen Mountain Monastery in Mt. Tremper, NY, and the founder/director of the Mountains and Rivers Order. Dharma heir of Hakuyu Taizen Maezumi Roshi, he is author of The Eight Gates of Zen, The Heart of Being, and Two Arrows Meeting in Mid Air.
Mountains Meeting Mountains: Teaching of Mountains and Rivers
All-Pervasive Spiritual Knowledge
Thinking Non-Thinking
On the meaning of non-thinking and why Dogen said it "must become the eye through which you view phenomena."
Zen Art as Practice: Painting Spring
Dharma talks from Zen Mountain Monastery
Dennis Genpo Merzel
Dennis Genpo Merzel Roshi leads Kanzeon Sangha, an international group he named centered in Salt Lake City, Utah, with affiliates througout Europe. Genpo trained at the Zen Center of Los Angeles under Maezumi Roshi and became Maezumi Roshi’s second Dharma Successor in 1980. Genpo combines Zen tradition with the insights of such visionary western figures as Carl Jung, Fritz Perls, and Hal Stone, enabling virtually anyone to realize their true nature, a realization they can further deepen through meditation. He is the author of four books, The Eye Never Sleeps, Beyond Sanity and Madness, 24/7 Dharma, and The Path of The Human Being.
Big Mind: An Introduction
Facilitation of Ying-Yang Big Heart
An excerpt from a Big Mind workshop.
Sojun Mel Weitzman
Sojun Mel Weitsman began to practice at San Francisco Zen Center , and in 1969 was ordained by Suzuki Roshi as resident priest at the Berkeley Zendo. Sojun received Dharma Transmission from Suzuki Roshi's son, Gyugaku Hoitsu, at Rinso-in temple in Japan in 1984, and was officially installed as abbot of the Berkeley Zen Center in 1985. Currently abbot of Berkeley Zen Center, Sojun continues a long involvement with the San Francisco Zen Center and Tassajara, having served as co-abbot at these practice centers for nine years.
Zazen Is Vast Openness
Stages of Practice
The Form of Our Life
Other contemporary teachers
Talks by Kobun Chino
Talks by Taigen Dam Leighton
James Ford, Western Zen
Talks by Roshi Wendy Egyoku Nakao
Being Upright: Zen Meditation and the Bodhisattva Precepts 
Reb Anderson
Patience
Enter Zen From There
Gerry Shishin Wick
The Buddha We Are
Taitaku Pat Phelan
Thinking Mind and Correct View
Ven. Hyunoon Sunim
Alan Watts on Zen
For talks by contemporary Zen teachers see Talks On Zen Pracrice
Talks on Zen Practice - various (N Carolina)
Refuge
Peaceful Life
Dainin Katagiri
Precepts
The Ethical Precepts and Philosophical Tenets of Zen Buddhism
The Five Wonderful Mindfulness Trainings
Thich Nhat Hanh
The Bodhisattva Precepts in Soto Zen Buddhism
Rev. Shohaku Okumura
The Second Precept: Generosity
Thich Nhat Hanh
Zazen
Ashoka course on the Zen Meditation: Entering the Path
Taught by John daishin Buksbazen, Zen Center of Los Angeles
My Zazen Sankyu Notebook #6 #7 #8 #9 #10 #11 #12 #13 #!4
Rev. Issho Fujita
The Practice of Zazen
A brief illustrated guide.
Texts and Sutras
Faith Mind Inscription (Hsin-hsin Ming)
See Sengsan above
The Heart Sutra
Compare 42 translations of the Heart Sutra
Edward Conze's translation
From the Japanese
Robert Aitken Roshi and Diamond Sangha's version
Talks on by Sojun Mel Weitzman
Translated and chanted by Allen Ginsberg
The Lotus Sutra
Zen And the Lotus Sutra
A Series of Seminars at the Berkeley Zen Center ~ 1999
Diamond Sangha Sesshin Sutra Book
Lankavatara Sutra
Introduction to the Lankavatara Sutra, D.T. Suzuki
The Lankavatara Sutra
These sites have extensive sutra translations:
Mahayana Buddhist Sutras in English
Sutras
Koans
Working with Koans
John Tarrant, Roshi
Norman Fischer
Talks and essays on koans at Everyday Zen
An Introduction to Zen with Stories and Riddles Told by the Zen Masters
The Gateless Gate
Ekai, called Mumon
The Gateless Gate
Translated by Eiichi Shimomisse
Is There a Zen Person Around Here?
John Daido Loori comments on koans from Dogen's Treasury of the True Dharma Eye.From The True Dharma Eye: Zen Master Dogen’s Three Hundred Koans, translated by Kazuaki Tanahashi (Shambhala Pub.)
Quick! Who Can Save This Cat?
"Nanchuan Cuts the Cat," that most controversial of koans
Zoketsu Norman Fischer
John Tarrant talks
Practice
Notes on Gassho and Bowing
Taizan Maezumi Roshi with John Daishin Buksbazen (On Zen Practice)
Schools
Rinzai Zen
The Rinzai Roku by Zen Master Rinzai The Sayings of Master Rinzai (A Selection)
D.T. Suzuki
Soto Zen
sotozen-net
History of the Soto Zen School
T. Griffith Fouke
White Plum Asanga
Harada-Yasutani School of Zen Buddhism
Diamond Sangha
Art
Sengai's Zen paintings
Hakuin Ekaku's Zen paintings
The Face of Buddhism and Shintoism in Japanese Art
Poetry
A Zen Wave: Basho's Haiku and Zen 
Robert Aitken
Zen Poems of China and Japan: The Crane's Bill 
Lucien Stryk, translator
Misc
Kamakura
Coming Down from the Zen Clouds: A Critique of the Current State of American Zen
Stuart Lachs
Liturgy Project - On Creating American Zen
By John Tarrant and Joan Sutherland source?
Purifying the Mind
By Nonin Chowaney
The Dharma of "Homeless Kodo"
Sawaki Kodo with commentaries by Uchiyama Kosho
Web sites with extensive teachings
Buddhist Library
The Zen Site
Dharmaweb
Everyday Zen
Web sites with audio teachings
Clouds in Water Zen Center talks
Audio Dharma Zen talks
Upaya Zen Center's Podcasts
Everyday Zen
The Pali Canon
The Tipitaka (Pali ti, "three," + pitaka, "baskets"), or Pali canon, is the collection of primary Pali language texts which form the doctrinal foundation of Theravada Buddhism. The Tipitaka and the paracanonical Pali texts (commentaries, chronicles, etc.) together constitute the complete body of classical Theravada texts.
The three divisions of the Tipitaka are:
The collection of suttas, or discourses, attributed to the Buddha and a few of his closest disciples, containing all the central teachings of Theravada Buddhism. (More than nine hundred sutta translations are available on this web site.) The suttas are divided among five nikayas (collections):
The collection of texts concerning the rules of conduct governing the daily affairs within the Sangha — the community of bhikkhus (ordained monks) and bhikkhunis (ordained nuns). Far more than merely a list of rules, the Vinaya Pitaka also includes the stories behind the origin of each rule, providing a detailed account of the Buddha's solution to the question of how to maintain communal harmony within a large and diverse spiritual community.
The collection of texts in which the underlying doctrinal principles presented in the Sutta Pitaka are reworked and reorganized into a systematic framework that can be applied to an investigation into the nature of mind and matter.