Dharma talk and Q&A after Zen Day on January 28, 2025 in Vienna. Thank you all for practicing together! The first question was about achieving strong concentration. This has to do with the energy we generate because, after a retreat, we often feel full of energy. We hear, smell, taste, see, and feel differently than […]
In Februay 2018 Jo-Alma Potter was interviewed by the Austrian Buddhist Society (ÖBR) How did you get to the Dharma Path? Walking on the Dharma path is a moment by moment decision-ever-changing– and as my life has progressed, the question which led to searching the Dharma Path, has changed words, but never its direction and […]
Zen Master Hakuin lived in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. He is said to have created the now-famous question: “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” Hakuin believed that the understanding arising out of practice in everyday life was deeper than the understanding that could come from practicing in the monastery, since […]
Have you noticed that we often talk about Buddha as someone else? Strange to talk about yourself as if you are talking about someone else. Buddha is not someone you will someday be If you only practice hard enough maybe you will then be the Buddha or like the Buddha. You already are the buddha… […]
Sangha is a community of people sincerely wishing to find their true nature. We pay homage to the Buddha, The Dharma and the Sangha. Each a precious valuable jewel. Sangha is where all of us together fit. Buddha is your true nature. Dharma is all the things that surround us. Sangha is us. Sangha is […]
A very interesting Kong-an that we sometimes work on in the interview room is called: Chong Nyo’s Soul leaves. Oh Jo asked a monk: Chong Nyo and her soul are separated. Which is the true one? In this Kong-an we look at two things: Chong Nyo and her soul. The story of this Kong-an is […]
Ein zentrales Thema im Zen ist das Leiden. Der Buddha lehrte uns, dass es drei Hauptgründe für unser Leiden gibt: Begierde, Wut und Unwissenheit. Aber warum gibt es überhaupt Leiden in unserer Welt, auf unserem Planeten? Wie hat es begonnen? Hat es eine Funktion? Die eigentliche Frage lautet: Woher kommt es ursprünglich? Warum haben wir […]
Some things never change— even change itself never changes. No stopping, beginning or ending. It just flows along. Buddha named this phenomena impermanence and pointed to this as a fundamental principle of existence. But even if the Buddha had never said a word about impermanence, human beings would have observed it. Mostly we don’t pay […]
