Use code SUMMERPRACTICE for a 25% discount on all On Demand Courses through August 31.

The Appropriate Response

With Justine Dawson recorded on May 8, 2022.

Found our teachings useful? Help us continue our work and support your teachers with a donation. Here’s how.

When a monk asked the 10th Century Zen master Yunmen, “What are the teachings of a whole lifetime?” Yunmen replied, “An appropriate response.” 
 
What is this appropriate response and how do we know we’ve got it right? Beyond linear formulas, Dharma teachings point to a natural intelligence that guides us in a spontaneous responsiveness to life. No matter our doubt or perfectionism, we can engage our practice towards its revelation.

Listen to the audio version below, or click here to download the mp3.

Discover more from the Dharma Library

  • Joy is Always Available

    On autopilot, our mind often resists opening to joy with: “But right now in my life, there is …” So we explore what stands in our way of the unexpected ordinariness of joy. We’ll discover how the awakening factor of meditative joy (piti) illuminates our capacity to open to delight and rapture, allowing our hearts…

    Read More

  • Joseph Goldstein

    The Inquiring Mind

    The more we understand ourselves, the more we understand each other. In this talk, we’ll be discussing some foundational understandings that provide a framework of this inquiry. It will include such topics as training our habits of attention, suffering as…

    Read More

  • Living the Bodhisattva Vow

    In Buddhism, a Bodhisattva is one who, having realized deep insight into the nature of self and reality, dedicates their life to alleviating suffering and guiding others toward awakening. Through examining the foundational principles of the vow of the Bodhisattva, we will consider what it means to be “Bodhisattvas in training” and how this intention…

    Read More

  • Pamela Weiss

    An Appropriate Response

    What does it take to respond rather than react to the increasing complexity and divisiveness of our world? This talk will explore Buddhist teachings that illuminate the sources of our fundamental reactivity, and reveal ways to help us see and see through it.

    Read More