Yanguan Qi'an

The Eight Winds

In this talk, we examine the true nature of “bearing witness”. This is not some sort of detached, impervious position found “outside” our circumstances, but a willing capacity to “bear with” whatever comes. To explore this more deeply, we wake up the old Chinese formulation of "The eight winds", which are traditionally parsed as gain, loss, defamation, grief, praise, slander, pain and joy. The full gamut of human experience, you might say! So how do we face our winds? What do the ancestors have to say about meeting them completely? This talk was given as part of Zen Open Circle’s Taking Part in the Gathering Term 2 of practice. Note that the first few minutes of this talk were not recorded.

Sho Sai Myo Kichijo Dharani

In this talk, we take up the “Sho Sai Myo Kichijo Dharani”. DT Suzuki famously said that, “Properly speaking, the dharani has no legitimate place in Zen.” So why do we chant it? What is a magic spell for “averting calamities” doing in our sutra book? And if nobody knows what the words actually mean – only approximate translations can be summoned from the sounds – then what is its value? Since the 5th Century in China, dharanis have been recognised for their profound “holding power” (dharani comes from the Sanskrit root dhr, which means “to hold or maintain”). So to chant the Sho Sai Myo Kichijo Dharani, which we do three times after the Heart Sutra, aligns us with something prior to meaning and interpretation. Might a refamiliarization with what cannot be known or pinned down avert the greatest calamity of all, our propensity to have fixed ideas about the world and its bounty? Dharani

Know The Tune

The world can be a noisy place. We battle for attention, but in the process can lose our capacity for listening. In this talk, we examine what it means to become a zhiyin - someone who “knows the tune”. Do we really know the tune of our partners, children, friends, neighbours and fellow workers, asks Nelson Foster? Because only then can we respond to them “appropriately and beneficially.” So how do we become a zhiyin? And what is this tune that we are tuning into? This talk was given in Castlemaine on 21/6/26.

5. Great Ocean Sesshin 2026 - Character

When Yamada Roshi was asked what Zen practice is for, he said, “The perfection of character.” In this talk we track the evolution of the teacher Deshan, from young firebrand to mellow custodian of the Way, to explore the importance of character in a world that often seems to sneer at gentleness and compassion.

4. Great Ocean Sesshin 2026 - Just Enough

Laotzu taught that “knowing enough’s enough is enough to know". How do we practice this “knowing enough”? And what might we learn from our own meal ceremony and liturgy to help us live a simpler and more embodied life?