The Modern Zen Masters
Wednesday, August 6, 2008 at 7:12PM Zen teachings used to be hard to get a hold of. You had to either climb to a mountain top to find some old master or dig through the bookstore to find writings that may or may not be of any help.
I present to you two "game changers" who have suddenly moved Zen teachings into the modern world. Gil Fronsdal and Tara Brach give regular talks that are recorded and then posted on the Internet for all to download and experience when convenient. It is because of these two (and several more) that many of us have come to finally understand what Zen actually is.
Gil and Tara may not be the Dahlia Lama, but it is the amazing delivery of their talks that is so attractive and possibly of even more use to us in the Western World. The tone of speech, the calmness, the intelligence, the pure insight into the human psyche is unlike anything else you can find. Gil seems to have an unending amount of patience with questions and could likely talk a turtle out of its shell. Tara often references some of the funniest quotes that drives home the point of each session. For example, "This life is not a test. If it were, then you would have been given instructions and told where to go." Both speakers are Ph.D.s and it shows.
Both have a great back-catalog of wonderful talks that I hope you will check out. I have listened to many of them and found myself a changed person because of it. Here they are and enjoy!
Talks by Tara Brach (in iTunes)
Post some links to your favorite speakers if you have some...
Reader Comments (2)
Agree. I've listened to Audio Dharma for several years and finally took Gil's class at Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, CA last fall. Best thing I have ever done. If you are interested, you can download the course talks and flyers.
Tara Brach is good as well. Your listeners may also enjoy by Michael McAlister (available at ). Michael is a bit more brash, and from what I gather butted heads a bit with the traditional Zen community, but there are many good insights there.
I currently sit with the San Francisco Insight group. One of Gil's colleagues in the Insight/Vipassana community, Eugene Cash is the teacher and also makes his available online. As far as I know, there's no RSS feed yet so doesn't appear in iTunes, etc. SF Insight is a 20 minute walk from home versus an hour drive each way to Redwood City, but I definitely miss Gil Fronsdal as a teacher. Audio Dharma is still my favorite Insights podcast.
As for what any of this has to do with triathlon, I can honestly say that learning insight meditation has improved my racing, training, and enjoyment of the sport more than anything else. I mean to incorporate a bit of this in an upcoming race report. (Working to finish blog redesign, then will be back at it.)
Nice post. Would be cool to pick out some of Gil's talks and talk about how they relate and can be applied to triathlon.
Alan Watts is pretty good is a good add on with Gil Fronsdale and Tara Brach. I enjoy is teachings. Very consumable as well in podcast form.