Actualizing Our Gestural Imagination: Telling Stories that Live!

Recorded 5/30/2026. Wu-men’s commentary to Case 42 of The Gateless Barrier, “Manjusri and the Young Woman in Samadhi” says“The comedy Old Shakya puts on the stage here is a great hodgepodge. Just tell me now; Manjusri is the teacher of the Seven Buddhas – why couldn’t he get the young woman out of …

Recorded June 6, 2026. In preparation for the Jukai (receiving the precepts) on 6/20/2026, before leaving for the American Zen Teachers Association gathering, Roshi Martin read and commented on Aitken Roshi’s opening chapter of “The Mind of Clover: Essays in Zen Buddhist Ethics” — “The Nature of th…

Recorded May 9, 2026. Roshi Rafe Martin reads and comments on Chapter 2 of "A Zen Life of Bodhisattvas."  In Japan, the Buddha sits in the Buddha Hall, but Manjusri, Bodhisattva of Wisdom, presides over the zendo where he’s often shown seated on a noble and courageous lion -- symbol of ou…

Recorded on July 11, 2026. Asked to write something about the Bodhisattva of Great Compassion, Hakuin penned: “Even if the rivers and seas all receded and became dry land,/ Her vow to save all sentient beings still would never cease.” In other words even if the world turns upside down and seas beco…