Dharma talk

A Dharma talk (Sanskrit) or Dhamma talk (Pali) or Dharma sermon (Japanese: 法語 (ほうご, Hōgo), Chinese: 法語) is a public discourse on Buddhism by a Buddhist teacher.[1]

Stephen Batchelor giving a Dharma talk at Upaya Zen Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico

In some Zen traditions a Dharma talk may be referred to as a teisho (提唱).[2] However, according to Taizan Maezumi and Bernard Glassman,[3] a teisho is "a formal commentary by a Zen master on a koan or Zen text. In its strictest sense, teisho is non-dualistic and is thus distinguished from a Dharma talk, which is a lecture on a Buddhist topic."[4] In this sense, a teisho is thus a formal Dharma talk.[5] Vietnamese master Thich Nhat Hanh says the following about Dharma talks:[6]

A Dharma talk must always be appropriate in two ways: it must accord perfectly with the spirit of the Dharma and it must also respond perfectly to the situation in which it is given. If it only corresponds perfectly with the teachings but does not meet the needs of the listeners, it's not a good Dharma talk; it's not appropriate.

References
  1. Sawada, Janine Anderson (1993). Confucian Values and Popular Zen: Sekimon Shingaku in Eighteenth-Century Japan. University of Hawaii Press. p. 20. ISBN 0-8248-1414-2. OCLC 45733077.
  2. Farrer-Halls, Gill (2000). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Buddhist Wisdom. Quest Books. p. 151. ISBN 0-8356-0786-0.
  3. Maezumi, Taizan; Bernard Glassman (2007). The Hazy Moon of Enlightenment. On Zen Practice. Wisdom Publications. p. Glossary. ISBN 978-0-86171-314-1. OCLC 73742251.
  4. Maezumi, Taizan; Bernard Glassman (2007). The Hazy Moon of Enlightenment. On Zen Practice. Wisdom Publications. p. 163. ISBN 978-0-86171-314-1. OCLC 73742251.
  5. O'Halloran, Maura (2007). Pure Heart, Enlightened Mind: The Life and Letters of an Irish Zen Saint. Wisdom Publications. p. 80. ISBN 978-0-86171-283-0. OCLC 83977483.
  6. Hanh, Nhat (2003). Opening the Heart of the Cosmos: Insights on the Lotus Sutra. Parallax Press. p. 43. ISBN 1-888375-33-7. OCLC 52980455.


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