Videos (Gudo Nishijima)

Gudo Nishijima explains how to practise zazen and what zazen means

More videos of Gudo Wafu Nishijima

• Interview with Gudo Wafu Nishijima4:11An interview about the practice of zazen, filmed at a zen centre on the outskirts of Tokyo (the film The Zen Mind, Empty Mind Films)
• On death in Buddhism4:55Gudo Nishijima answers questions about the Buddhist view of death
• Dropping off body and mind8:16Gudo Nishijima answers questions about the Buddhist expression “dropping off body and mind” and about reality
• Kaikyoge: the verse to open the sutras1:17Gudo Nishijima recites the traditional verse that opens a formal Buddhist talk
• Fueko: extending merit to all beings1:57Gudo Nishijima recites the traditional verse that closes a formal Buddhist talk
• How to wear the O-kesa (the Buddhist robe)3:57Gudo Nishijima shows how to put on the O-kesa (kashaya) in the traditional way
• Gudo Nishijima doing zazen8:01Gudo Nishijima, aged 89, sitting zazen in his flat in Tokyo in June 2009; station announcements and passing trains can be heard
• On the life of Master Dogen, part 110:50Gudo Nishijima talks about the life of the 13th-century Japanese monk Dogen
• On the life of Master Dogen, part 25:26The second part of Nishijima’s talk about the life of Dogen
• On the life of Master Dogen, part 38:44Nishijima on Dogen’s journey to China and his search for the Buddhist truth
• Japanese Buddhism in World War II2:23Nishijima on how Japanese Buddhists supported the war effort; he agrees with Brian Victoria (Zen at War) that many did, but denies that his teacher Kodo Sawaki was among them
• Chanting sutras in Buddhism1:31Nishijima on the place of sutra chanting in Buddhism and on his criticism of the Soto sect; he himself led weekly chanting of the Heart Sutra at his dojo in Chiba for many years
• On the balance of love and hate2:29Nishijima on the balance of love and hate in Buddhist practice; “hate” here does not mean murder but the workings of the autonomic nervous system
• On God1:57Nishijima on God
• On koans and enlightenment4:27Nishijima on Zen koans and their relation to enlightenment
• Matter vs. reality2:12Nishijima, the translator of Dogen’s Shobogenzo, on the relationship between matter and reality
• How to recognise true Buddhism1:08Nishijima on how to recognise true Buddhism
• Gudo Nishijima doing calligraphy5:56Nishijima writes Japanese characters with a brush; the camera shows the hand and the paper up close
• Gudo Nishijima recites the verses before a meal0:53Nishijima recites, in Japanese, the traditional five contemplations before a meal (Gokan no ge)

More videos are on the YouTube channel Dogen Sangha. The sutra and verse clips are also gathered on the Sutras page.