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Endless Path Zendo | Roshi Rafe Martin

Roshi Rafe Martin

86 episodes

3 weeks ago

Recorded October 4, 2025. In honor of Bodhidharma, the founder of what we now call Zen Buddhism, Roshi Martin comments on the koan of the "Oak Tree in the Front Garden" and talks about a conversation with Robert Aitken Roshi and the relationship of Zen practice to actual happiness. Referenced: Zen Master Dogen -- Shobogenzo: Treasury of the True Dharma Eye - Translated by Kazuaki TanahashiWilliam Blake -- Songs of Experience and The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.John Daido Loori -- The True Dha...

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Religion & Spirituality

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Recorded October 4, 2025. In honor of Bodhidharma, the founder of what we now call Zen Buddhism, Roshi Martin comments on the koan of the "Oak Tree in the Front Garden" and talks about a conversation with Robert Aitken Roshi and the relationship of Zen practice to actual happiness. Referenced: Zen Master Dogen -- Shobogenzo: Treasury of the True Dharma Eye - Translated by Kazuaki TanahashiWilliam Blake -- Songs of Experience and The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.John Daido Loori -- The True Dha...

Show more...

Religion & Spirituality

Episodes (20/86)

Endless Path Zendo | Roshi Rafe Martin

Bodhidharma Day and The Oak Tree in the Front Garden

Recorded October 4, 2025. In honor of Bodhidharma, the founder of what we now call Zen Buddhism, Roshi Martin comments on the koan of the "Oak Tree in the Front Garden" and talks about a conversation with Robert Aitken Roshi and the relationship of Zen practice to actual happiness. Referenced: Zen Master Dogen -- Shobogenzo: Treasury of the True Dharma Eye - Translated by Kazuaki TanahashiWilliam Blake -- Songs of Experience and The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.John Daido Loori -- The True Dha...

1 month ago

38 minutes

Endless Path Zendo | Roshi Rafe Martin

Part 8 - The Autobiography of Zen Master Hanshan - Starting with his 70th Year!

Recorded September 27, 2025. In this 8th teisho on the life of Ming Dynasty Zen Teacher Hanshan, Roshi Martin opens with a brief talk on the essence of Zen practice and the mystery at the core of our own lives. He then takes up reading and commenting on Hanshan's autobiography as it unfolds into his 70th year. Referenced: The Autobiography and Maxims of Master Han Shan, translated by Upasaka Richard CheungThe Woman at Otwoi Crossing by Frank Waters Books by Roshi Rafe Martin Talks on Yo...

1 month ago

50 minutes

Endless Path Zendo | Roshi Rafe Martin

Part 7 - The Autobiography of Zen Master Hanshan

Recorded Saturday, September 6, 2025. Roshi Martin reads and comments on the extraordinary (lively, funny and moving) autobiography of Hanshan Te-Ching, ( Crazy Mountain, Virtuous Clarity", c. 1546–1623), the noted Ming Dynasty Zen teacher (not to be confused with Han-shan — Cold Mountain — noted Zen poet/eccentric of the T’ang era.) Known as one of the four great masters of the Wanli Era Ming Dynasty, Hanshan has remained an influential figure in Chinese Chan Buddhism down to the twent...

2 months ago

44 minutes

Endless Path Zendo | Roshi Rafe Martin

Part 6 - The Autobiography of Zen Master Hanshan

Recorded Sunday July 26, 2025 Roshi Martin reads and comments on the extraordinary (lively, funny and moving) autobiography of Hanshan Te-Ching, ( Crazy Mountain, Virtuous Clarity", c. 1546–1623), the noted Ming Dynasty Zen teacher (not to be confused with Han-shan — Cold Mountain — noted Zen poet/eccentric of the T’ang era.) Known as one of the four great masters of the Wanli Era Ming Dynasty, Hanshan has remained an influential figure in Chinese Chan Buddhism down to the twentieth cen...

3 months ago

47 minutes

Endless Path Zendo | Roshi Rafe Martin

Part 5 - The Autobiography of Zen Master Hanshan

Recorded June 28, 2025. Roshi Martin reads and comments on the extraordinary (lively, funny and moving) autobiography of Hanshan Te-Ching, ( Crazy Mountain, Virtuous Clarity", c. 1546–1623), the noted Ming Dynasty Zen teacher (not to be confused with Han-shan — Cold Mountain — noted Zen poet/eccentric of the T’ang era.) Known as one of the four great masters of the Wanli Era Ming Dynasty, Hanshan has remained an influential figure in Chinese Chan Buddhism down to the twentieth century, ...

4 months ago

52 minutes

Endless Path Zendo | Roshi Rafe Martin

Part 4 - The Autobiography of Zen Master Hanshan

Recorded June 15, 2025. Roshi Martin continues to read and comment on the extraordinary (and quite lively and funny and also truly moving!!) autobiography of Han-shan Te-Ching, a great Ming Dynasty teacher (not to be confused with Hanshan (Cold Mountain) poet of the T’ang era. Hanshan, an important Ming Dynasty Zen teacher, writes in such a lively, straightforward manner that is moving, funny, profound and deeply human. Hearing from him about the details of his extraordinary life,...

4 months ago

47 minutes

Endless Path Zendo | Roshi Rafe Martin

Part 3 - The Autobiography of Zen Master Hanshan

Recorded June 14, 2025. Roshi Martin reads and comments on the extraordinary (and quite lively and funny and also truly moving!!) autobiography of Hanshan Te-Ching, a great Ming Dynasty teacher (not to be confused with Hanshan (Cold Mountain) poet of the T’ang era. Some snippet’s from Wikipedia on Hanshan: Hanshan Deqing (Hanshan Te-Ch’ing, "Crazy Mountain, Virtuous Clarity", c. 1546–1623), was a leading Buddhist monk and poet of the late Ming dynasty China. (Posthumously named Hongjue Chansh...

4 months ago

46 minutes

Endless Path Zendo | Roshi Rafe Martin

Part 2 - The Autobiography of Zen Master Hanshan

Recorded June 13, 2025. Roshi Martin reads and comments on the extraordinary (and quite lively and funny and also truly moving!!) autobiography of Hanshan Te-Ching, a great Ming Dynasty teacher (not to be confused with Hanshan (Cold Mountain) poet of the T’ang era. Some snippet’s from Wikipedia on Hanshan: Hanshan Deqing (Hanshan Te-Ch’ing, "Crazy Mountain, Virtuous Clarity", c. 1546–1623), was a leading Buddhist monk and poet of the late Ming dynasty China. (Posthumously named Hongjue Chansh...

4 months ago

46 minutes

Endless Path Zendo | Roshi Rafe Martin

Part 1 - The Autobiography of Zen Master Hanshan

Recorded June 12, 2025 Roshi Martin reads and comments on the extraordinary (and quite lively and funny and also truly moving!!) autobiography of Hanshan Te-Ching, a great Ming Dynasty teacher (not to be confused with Hanshan (Cold Mountain) poet of the T’ang era. Some snippet’s from Wikipedia on Hanshan: Hanshan Deqing (Hanshan Te-Ch’ing, "Crazy Mountain, Virtuous Clarity", c. 1546–1623), was a leading Buddhist monk and poet of the late Ming dynasty China. (Posthumously named Hongjue Chanshi...

4 months ago

46 minutes

Endless Path Zendo | Roshi Rafe Martin

Recorded June 7, 2025. There are no monks, nuns, Zen teachers, students, Buddhas, or Bodhisattvas in the case, no sign of Buddhism at all. Instead, a father insists that his daughter marry the man he chooses and, naturally enough, she rebels in order to follow the promptings of her own heart. But this all-too-sadly familiar mess, which tears the young woman in two, quickly opens into something even more fundamental. Zen master Wu-tsu, using a popular ghost tale of his time, (like a popular ...

5 months ago

40 minutes

Endless Path Zendo | Roshi Rafe Martin

Zen and Social Responsibility

Recorded May 31, 2025 Roshi Martin reads and comment on the chapter “Responsibility and Social Action” in the book Awakening to Zen by Roshi Philip Kapleau, a book he edited. The chapter opens with: “In Zen Buddhism, responsibility means responsiveness. To respond fully to every situation that comes your way, from a call for help of one kind or another to just talking with someone, and to give all of yourself to it — this is responsibility.” Roshi Martin adds: “We must speak up and act for ...

5 months ago

39 minutes

Endless Path Zendo | Roshi Rafe Martin

May 17, 2025. Trouble in mind is a rather standard blues trope, but peace of mind — what is that? We know that the big bad wolf comes to every door — and blows the house down. Well, almost every house. What is the secret of that last little pig’s house, the one made of brick? What is about that house that offers security, solidity, true peace of mind? Does it lie in the literal heft of brick, or is that a shibboleth? Yet if peace of mind is what we aim for, there’s a step beyond even that, mo...

5 months ago

48 minutes

Endless Path Zendo | Roshi Rafe Martin

Philip Kapleau and The History of Zen in the West

Recorded on May 10, 2025. Rick McDaniel, who has written a fine series of books on the transmission of Zen Buddhism to the West, as well as books of interviews with contemporary Zen teachers (full disclosure: I wrote the Foreword for his "Further Conversations: On the scope, practice, and future of North American Zen," a book in which I also appear), and is now working on a book about the pioneering men and women who brought Zen to the West. Here is his “take” on Roshi Philip Kapleau, ...

6 months ago

1 hour 9 minutes

Endless Path Zendo | Roshi Rafe Martin

The Buddha Is Caught by Desire! Mistakes are Us!

Recorded April 26, 2025 In this teisho, Roshi Martin looks at an oddly sci-fi (with UFO!) past life tale of the Buddha, our own life, a Grimm’s “fairy tale,” and the Way of the Bodhisattva. “Everything – beings, worlds, galaxies, universes — Buddhist teachings tell us — come and go, with neither beginning nor end. Aryasura, author of the influential 5th century CE Jatakamala, however, states that something does persist. He writes: ‘Earth with its forests, noble mountains and seas may p...

6 months ago

40 minutes

Endless Path Zendo | Roshi Rafe Martin

What is the Dharma King's Dharma?

Recorded 4/19/2025 Setting out on literal pilgrimage can help us establish faith in the Buddha Way, which began 2,500 years ago when the Awakened Buddha Shakyamuni stood up from his Great Awakening beneath the Bodhi Tree, and set off along the duty roads of his native land to teach. Pilgrimage to the sites of the historic Buddha’s life has been a traditional practice ever since. But while Zen teachers enthusiastically encourage it, they also remind us that our real pilgrimage is the journey t...

6 months ago

39 minutes

Endless Path Zendo | Roshi Rafe Martin

The Birth of the Buddha -- Or -- How Does A Buddha Get Born?

Recorded 04/12/2025. "The legend of the Buddha’s birth, uses the language of myth to point beyond the literal. The birth of any child is totally ordinary and, at the same time, a total miracle. How do two cells become a living person? How do gastrula and blastula become a being with talents, interests, features and personality? Where does a child come from? The birth of any one child is a mystery that affects us all, whether we consciously know it or not. Myth gives imaginative space to the ...

7 months ago

38 minutes

Endless Path Zendo | Roshi Rafe Martin

Which is the True You?

Recorded March 8, 2025 This teisho is on Case 35, The Gateless Barrier -- "Wu-tsu: Which is the True Ch'ien?" "Wu-tsu asked a monk, 'The woman Ch’ien and her spirit separated. Which is the true Ch’ien?' ” Zen master Wu-tsu uses a popular ghost tale of his time to explore something truly intimate. He is facing directly into the question of Identity: Who am I? Isn’t this at the root of all that drives and bugs and puzzles and torments us? Beneath all such questions as “Why did I do that?” or ...

8 months ago

35 minutes

Endless Path Zendo | Roshi Rafe Martin

Interview with Rafe Martin, courtesy of Simplicity Zen

We’re happy to add this excellent interview with Roshi Rafe Martin to our podcast series. The interview was conducted by Berry Crawford of “Simplicity Zen” on January 27, 2023. While informal and enjoyable it is also informative, focusing on the essence of Roshi Martin’s teaching as well as his background as a lay Zen practitioner, and his emphasis, as a teacher, on the importance of lay practice. If you’re interested in getting a sense of what Rafe is about, this interview ill give you a goo...

8 months ago

1 hour 24 minutes

Endless Path Zendo | Roshi Rafe Martin

Oak Tree in the Front Garden

Recorded March 1, 2025 If wisdom is real, it should be popping up all over — in life, in folklore, in songs and movies emerging from popular culture. Real wisdom should be common knowledge, not hidden, or secret, or esoteric. “You’ll find your happiness lies right under your eyes/Back in your own backyard” sounds such a chord. And to quote Dorothy, “There’s no place like home.” Still, why do such fundamental insights keep having to pop up? Why don’t we just “get it”? The great, Chao-chou (J....

8 months ago

28 minutes

Endless Path Zendo | Roshi Rafe Martin

Te-shan Carries his Lunch Bowls

Recorded February 22, 2025 This third and final Te-shan koan completes our overview of Zen practice as the hero/heroine’s journey/pilgrimage from unconscious self-centeredness to selfless wisdom and compassion. Maturing means more than aging. Becoming not just “olders” but “elders,” takes conscious effort and perseverance. Yamada Roshi counseled his Zen students to take care of their health so as to live as long as possible, continue working on their practice, and become as mature as possible...

8 months ago

36 minutes