Short Teachings by Vanessa Zuisei Goddard
WRITING
by Vanessa Zuisei Goddard
Zuisei offers short dharma teachings freely on Substack as Living Dharma by Vanessa Zuisei Goddard. Subscribe to receive these and the monthly Ocean Mind Sangha calendar directly in your inbox.
Below is a selection of Zuisei’s articles originally published
in Tricycle Magazine, Buddhadharma, and Lion’s Roar.
When we pair the three doors of body, speech, and mind with the three sila factors: right speech, right action, right livelihood, we have instructions for good and ethical living
The practice of right relationship rests on the acknowledgment of our interdependence
We suffer because we have what we don't want, we want what we don't have, or we have what we can't keep
The practice of contemplating the koan Mu as the vehicle for the realization of our buddha nature
Despite our insistence in finding fault everywhere, life is not but. Intrinsically, life is and
Emptiness isn’t a void; it’s a container brimming over with possibilities
The four bodhisattva vows are impossible—and it’s in this impossibility that their power lies
Stop, soothe, shift: three steps that help us do what helps, not what harms
Syzygy is the alignment of celestial bodies. In Buddhism, it’s Indra’s Diamond Net
Perhaps to be silent is to know that true intimacy can only be reached in silence
What did the Buddha mean when he taught: “This is not me, this is not mine, this is not myself”?
We all want to know that we are fundamentally okay, independently of others opinions and judgments
A bodhisattva needs to be both tender and fierce in order to use anger as a pure form of care
Interdependence is not unlike the entanglement of particles that “know” one another’s actions
We sit zazen, not to change the world, but so that the world, with is confusion and conflict, won’t change us
Sacred space is the place where, leaving safety behind, we create the unimagined.
What does it mean to “shelter in place” when the shelter is the Three Treasures of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha?
In the words of Zen master Dogen, shikantaza is the “gate of ease and joy”—an easeful, clear, quiet meditation
The four immeasurables of loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity as a science of compassion
The Three Essentials of Zen are great faith, great doubt, and great determination—qualities needed to keep our practice alive
*Banner photo by Johnny Briggs
It’s incredibly rare to have been born human, to have encountered the dharma, and to be able to practice it