Endless Path Zendo | Roshi Rafe Martin – Details, episodes & analysis

Recorded October 18, 2025

Roshi Martin opens with comments on No Kings and its relationship to our vows.  Then, in this 9th and final teisho on the life of Ming Dynasty Zen Teacher Hanshan, Roshi Martin resumes reading and commenting on Hanshan's autobiography which takes us to Hanshan's death in 1623.

Referenced: 

• The Autobiography and Maxims of Master Han Shan, translated by Upasaka Richard Cheung

• Books by Roshi Rafe Martin
• Talks on YouTube
• More information at endlesspathzen.org

Recorded October 14, 2025.

This teisho was given by Roshi Martin on the fourth day of the 15th annual Jataka Sesshin held at the Vermont Zen Center.

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The Monkey King jataka is also explored in Endless Path: Awakening Within the Buddhist Imagination: Jataka Tales, Zen Practice, and DailyLife by Rafe Martin

• Books by Roshi Rafe Martin
• Talks on YouTube
• More information at endlesspathzen.org

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, we get a real sense of what Zen -- and Zen culture -- is truly about. Enjoy.

Referenced: The Autobiography and Maxims of Master Han Shan, translated by
Upasaka Richard Cheung

• Books by Roshi Rafe Martin
• Talks on YouTube
• More information at endlesspathzen.org

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 Chanshi.) He is 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. His works are widely printed and published in various editions. His teachings were most recently promoted by modern figures like Hsu Yun (1840?-1959) and his disciple Charles Luk (1898–1978).

Hanshan saw the truth of Chan as not being different from the teachings on Mind found in the Mahayana scriptures. Hanshan saw the fundamental method of Chan as "only to understand and realize your own Mind." Hanshan describes the enlightenment experience as follows: "suddenly you will find that the Lotus-mind beams with a bright light, illuminating the ten directions of the universe.” Hanshan saw the Chan method as a way to awaken to the one pure Mind in this very life.

Referenced: The Autobiography and Maxims of Master Han Shan, translated by
Upasaka Richard Cheung

• Books by Roshi Rafe Martin
• Talks on YouTube
• More information at endlesspathzen.org

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 Chanshi.) He is 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. His works are widely printed and published in various editions. His teachings were most recently promoted by modern figures like Hsu Yun (1840?-1959) and his disciple Charles Luk (1898–1978).

Hanshan saw the truth of Chan as not being different from the teachings on Mind found in the Mahayana scriptures. Hanshan saw the fundamental method of Chan as "only to understand and realize your own Mind." Hanshan describes the enlightenment experience as follows: "suddenly you will find that the Lotus-mind beams with a bright light, illuminating the ten directions of the universe.” Hanshan saw the Chan method as a way to awaken to the one pure Mind in this very life.

Referenced: The Autobiography and Maxims of Master Han Shan, translated by
Upasaka Richard Cheung

• Books by Roshi Rafe Martin
• Talks on YouTube
• More information at endlesspathzen.org

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.) He is 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. His works are widely printed and published in various editions. His teachings were most recently promoted by modern figures like Hsu Yun (1840?-1959) and his disciple Charles Luk (1898–1978).

Hanshan saw the truth of Chan as not being different from the teachings on Mind found in the Mahayana scriptures. Hanshan saw the fundamental method of Chan as "only to understand and realize your own Mind." Hanshan describes the enlightenment experience as follows: "suddenly you will find that the Lotus-mind beams with a bright light, illuminating the ten directions of the universe.” Hanshan saw the Chan method as a way to awaken to the one pure Mind in this very life.

Referenced: The Autobiography and Maxims of Master Han Shan, translated by
Upasaka Richard Cheung

• Books by Roshi Rafe Martin
• Talks on YouTube
• More information at endlesspathzen.org

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 movie or novel today), guides us to something truly intimate, getting us to really ask, “Which is the true me?” He is turning us toward the fundamental question of Identity: who or what am I? And how is it even possible that we don’t know?!

Here Roshi Martin looks again at Case 35 of the "Gateless Barrier" “Which is the True Ch’ien?” deepening and enriching his own earlier teisho on the case. Fairy tales, poetry, and the quest for Identity re-align!

Photo -- The Priest Baozhi (J., Hoshi), Saio-ji Temple, Kyoto

• Books by Roshi Rafe Martin
• Talks on YouTube
• More information at endlesspathzen.org

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 what is good. I resolve to do good. I resolve to avoid evil. I resolve to save the many beings. These three so-called Three General Resolutions are the core of Zen Buddhist life. Our life is practice. Practice is not an escape from or evasion of all that’s on our plate as and in this very life. I practice as a human being, and as a citizen. Which means I cannot ignore what’s happening in my country, or my world, on my planet. Practice means responding not hiding out. We aim to be genuine human beings, fully human beings, whole human beings.”

Photo: Philip Kapleau and Rafe Martin, when Roshi Kapleau was living in semi-retirement in Hollywood, Florida, circa 1991.

• Books by Roshi Rafe Martin
• Talks on YouTube
• More information at endlesspathzen.org

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, more fundamental, less karmic.

Ironically, a quest for peace begins with the personally honest recognition of un-peace. In which case it might be time to explore the story of Bodhidharma's meeting with Hui k’o, a man with a deeply troubled mind to whom he eventually transmitted his Dharma. This is Case 41 of The Gateless Barrier — “Bodhidharma and Peace of Mind.”

Referenced: Mary Oliver: New and Selected Poems

Photo credit: Bodhidharma at Endless Path Zendo by Rafe Martin

• Books by Roshi Rafe Martin
• Talks on YouTube
• More information at endlesspathzen.org

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, former Chief Court Reporter of both the Nuremberg and Tokyo War Crimes Tribunals. Roshi Kapleau remains an important, controversial, pioneering figure in the transmission of Zen to the West. I appear in this piece as well, talking about my close personal relationship with Kapleau Roshi, and some of the complexities of the 70s — and later. Details abound! Is it gossip — or history? Give a listen!

Photo: Philip Kapleau's ordination as a Zen priest by Yasutani Roshi

• Books by Roshi Rafe Martin
• Talks on YouTube
• More information at endlesspathzen.org