Real Zen for Real Life
Season 1
With the academic purview of a philosophy professor, the view of an academic scholar, and the spiritual experience of a practitioner and teacher of Zen, Professor Bret W. Davis’ Real Zen for Real Life reflects the push and pull between Eastern and Western traditions and cultures with the goal of making the study and practice of Zen more accessible and engaging to all viewers.
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S1 E1 - What Is Zen? Recovering the Beginner’s Mind
December 23, 2021
33min
Professor Davis introduces you to the concept of Zen by explaining that you need to clear your mind of anything you think Zen might be in order to understand what Zen actually is. He debunks common Western interpretations of what Zen is not, while introducing what we can take away from traditional Zen teachings and apply in modern Western culture.
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S1 E2 - The Zen Way to Know and Forget Thyself
December 23, 2021
29min
Professor Davis first helps you move past superficial titles you might use to define yourself and understand more about who you really are through holistic meditation. As he walks you through a brief practice meditation, he’ll help you understand how to better empty your mind and leave the meditation with “less” than you came in with.
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S1 E3 - Zen Meditation: Clearing the Heart-Mind
December 23, 2021
Professor Davis helps you achieve a better intellectual understanding of meditation by breaking down the different methods of meditation, providing tips on how best to prepare, and addressing how to overcome common blocks to meditating properly, such as anxiety about wasting time. He breaks down five benefits of successful meditation and reveals how it can help give rise to inner confidence.
S1 E4 - How to Practice Zen Meditation
December 23, 2021
30min
Moving you from learning about Zen meditation to actually trying it, Professor Davis walks you through setting up an optimal time and place for your practice, determining which positions work best for you. He provides an in-depth explanation of the best ways to properly breathe and how to focus on your breathing, in order to calm the “monkey mind."
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S1 E5 - The Middle Way of Knowing What Suffices – Meditation Checkup: The Middle Way of Meditation
December 23, 2021
39min
As Professor Davis notes, “It is impossible to understand Zen Buddhism without learning something about the teachings of the Buddha.” Professor Davis analyzes the traditional concept of the Middle Way through stories and diagrams and looks at how we have reinterpreted the meaning in the context of modern western culture.
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S1 E6 - Embracing the Impermanence of Life
December 23, 2021
32min
Professor Davis breaks down the doctrine that became the framework for the Buddha’s other teachings: The Four Noble Truths. Through anecdotes, examples, and parables, you’ll gain a deeper understanding and appreciation for the goals of the Buddha’s teaching. Professor Davis will challenge you to examine and potentially reconsider desires you may have previously had.
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S1 E7 - The True Self Is Egoless – Meditation Checkup: Lead with the Body and Physical Stillness
December 23, 2021
40min
Professor Davis introduces the first of three lessons focused on the philosophical core of Zen Buddhism—which he admits, up front, may be the most intellectually and emotionally challenging. The crux of this episode focuses around how we are not, and can never be, exactly the beings we deeply desire to be, and how the true self may be ungraspable.
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S1 E8 - Loving Others as Yourself
December 23, 2021
Spend this episode looking further into the interconnected nature of the true self and what it means to say that “the whole world is you.” Professor Davis explores the concept of self and others. With a focus on the senses and coexistence, this episode shows you how to “taste” the oneness of all life without losing sight of the real differences between individual lives.
S1 E9 - Taking Turns as the Center of the Universe – Meditation Checkup: From Mindless Reacting to Mindful Responding
December 23, 2021
What happens when two persons who have had a realization of their true self meet? Do worlds collide? Is the world big enough for more than one true self? Look at how we are united in our differences as you explore the answers to these questions and more. Examine the idea that to realize oneself as the center of the universe requires, paradoxically, letting go of all self-centeredness.
S1 E10 - Who or What Is the Buddha?
December 23, 2021
30min
Take a step back with Professor Davis to look at who Buddha actually was, as you explore the various meanings of “Buddha” across the various traditions of Buddhism. Looking at Buddha through the lens of Western examples, you’ll gain a deeper understanding of how the meaning of “Buddha” is by no means restricted to a historical teacher, but rather an appellation that means “enlightened one.”
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S1 E11 - Mind Is Buddha: If You Meet Him, Kill Him! – Meditation Checkup: Dealing with Unavoidable Pain
December 23, 2021
Professor Davis continues to discuss Zen’s understanding of the Buddha. You’ll look more closely at the manner in which the term “Buddha” is used in Zen, ending with perhaps the most shocking statement in any religious tradition, namely Zen master Linji’s admonition, “If you encounter the Buddha, kill the Buddha!” Examine the idea that Zen is all about freeing ourselves from our fixations.
S1 E12 - Dying to Live: Buddhism and Christianity
December 23, 2021
32min
Take an in-depth look at how Eastern and Western religious beliefs and philosophies can work in tandem as Professor Davis addresses our most entrenched attachment. He focuses namely on our attachment to our egos. Examine how in Zen, as in Christianity, in order to truly live, we must undergo a great spiritual death and rebirth.
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S1 E13 - Zen beyond Mysticism: Everyday Even Mind
December 23, 2021
Discover how altered states of consciousness can manifest during meditation—and why you should ignore them and focus on the ordinary. The goal of Zen practice is to get rid of the things that crowd your mind, not add new clutter. Learn how to attain and keep the “everyday even mind” rather than reach toward the mystical or the superficially profound.
S1 E14 - Engaged Zen: From Inner to Outer Peace – Meditation Checkup: Dealing with Distractions
December 23, 2021
What does it mean to achieve peace? Should we punish evil or enlighten the ignorant? Take a closer look at how Zen Buddhism frames inner peace as the means to attaining outer peace through practice and example. Also look at the ways Zen Buddhism can give you invaluable insight into the ways we conceive of justice, peace, and personal responsibility.
S1 E15 - The Dharma of Karma: We Reap What We Sow
December 23, 2021
29min
Karma is not about comeuppance. Rather, it is about your own behaviors and how they shape the person that you are—or want to be. Examine the meaning of “situated freedom” and learn the truth about karma beyond the simplistic ideas of reward/punishment or retribution. Gain a more thorough understanding of your own role in karma as a concept of cause and effect and its relationship to free will.
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S1 E16 - Zen Morality: Follow and Then Forget Rules
December 23, 2021
32min
Zen teachings on morality have often been distorted to present the idea of being “beyond good and evil.” In reality, Zen Buddhism takes a view of morality that is more complex than this duality. Examine the concept of a morality that is not dictated by fixed rules of right and wrong and learn how to confront moral dilemmas through the lens of reducing harm.
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S1 E17 - The Zone of Zen: The Freedom of No-Mind
December 23, 2021
31min
What does it mean to be free from ego and selfishness? In the Zen concept of “no mind,” you are able to free yourself from binary thinking and achieve a more childlike state of openness and wonder. Look closely at how zazen (Zen meditation) can help you live in the moment and be present in every step of your own journey instead of obsessively focusing on end results or future outcomes.
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S1 E18 - Zen Lessons from Nature: The Giving Leaves – Meditation Checkup: Three Ways of Breathing In and Out
December 23, 2021
44min
Learn about the practice of samu, in which you engage wholeheartedly with the task at hand, no matter how insignificant that task may seem. Professor Davis reveals his own personal journey as you discover how to become a part of the give-and-take of nature, embrace gratitude, and release yourself from the weight of expectation.
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S1 E19 - Zen Art: Cultivating Naturalness
December 23, 2021
32min
Is it a paradox to cultivate spontaneity? Perhaps, yet as you will learn, Zen teaches us how to develop our human capacity for participating in nature in ways that offer both structure and originality. Look at the Ways of Zen—the cultivated artistic and creative methods of Zen practitioners—and see how form and discipline can lead to greater freedom and creativity in your own pursuits.
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S1 E20 - Zen and Words: Between Silence and Speech – Meditation Checkup: Chanting as a Meditative Practice
December 23, 2021
40min
As you will see, the Zen stance on the written word can seem contradictory. Zen is a practice that both values poetry, stories, parables, and other writings, yet also encourages practitioners to “go beyond words” and embrace silent meditation and reflection. Dig into this seeming contradiction to understand why Zen values the power of the language, but also acknowledges its many limitations.
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S1 E21 - Zen and Philosophy: The Kyoto School
December 23, 2021
33min
Look closer at how Zen emphasizes a holistic approach to both practicing and understanding its tenets, and see why Zen is more than an intellectual exercise. Learn about the Kyoto School and its approach to acknowledging philosophy as a part—but not the whole—of Zen Buddhism.
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S1 E22 - Just Sitting and Working with Kōans – Meditation Checkup: Walking Meditation
December 23, 2021
46min
Delve into the two major Japanese schools of Zen. First, examine the direct approach of the Sōtō school, in which the practice of sitting and clearing the mind to a state of “nonthinking” is emphasized above intellectual exercises. Then, turn to the “pressure cooker” Rinzai approach, which focuses on kōans and examining the paradoxical nature of being to work towards enlightenment.
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S1 E23 - Death and Rebirth: Or, Nirvana Here and Now
December 23, 2021
Is change a disruption of continuity, or a part of that continuity itself? In Zen Buddhism, change is an acknowledged part of life, with death merely being another change every living thing must face. Delve into the core teachings of Zen surrounding life and death and better understand why it is important to face your own mortality and embrace impermanence to live fully here and now.
S1 E24 - Reviewing the Path of Zen: The Oxherding Pictures – Finding a Zen Community
December 23, 2021
Follow Professor Davis through a commentary on a beloved Zen text: Ten Oxherding Pictures. This series of illustrated poems, recreated from the work of a 12th-century monk, portray the path of a Zen practitioner through the stages toward enlightenment and offers a glimpse into the cyclical nature of self-discovery. After all, the journey is the destination.
