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Support Tricycle with a donation » February 18, 2023 A Practical Guide to the Zen Precepts When she was first learning the Zen precepts, Nancy Mujo Baker found that they were often taught in a way that was abstract and difficult to grasp, drawing on concepts like suchness, emptiness, and enlightenment without explaining what they really mean or how we can live them in our daily lives.  When she became a lay preceptor herself many years later, Baker, a Zen teacher and philosophy professor, came to explore the precepts in a much deeper way. Around the same time, she was undergoing a deep inquiry into the work of the 13th-century Zen priest Eihei Dogen, which greatly enriched her understanding of the precepts.  Inspired by Dogen’s work, Baker believes that working with the precepts can be a way of becoming whole human beings—which means compassionately embracing the parts of ourselves that we tend to reject. In her new book, Opening to Oneness: A Practical and Philosophical Guide to the Zen Precepts, Baker offers simple exercises for lovingly acknowledging the stealer, liar, and killer within each of us so that the precepts may be naturally expressed through us.  On the latest episode of the Tricycle Talks podcast, Baker joins Tricycle’s editor-in-chief, James Shaheen, to discuss the importance of cultivating self-compassion, Dogen’s commentary on the precepts, and her approach to working with the precepts to reveal our innate buddhanature. This podcast is sponsored by St John's College.   Listen to the full episode now »   Also this week: What did the Buddha mean when he spoke of the absence of self (anatta)? Join Theravada monk Thanissaro Bhikkhu for a conversation on the not-self teachings on February 27. Sign up now. Discover the power of spacious, non-conceptual awareness with insight meditation teacher Martin Aylward in his upcoming workshop, Finding Freedom in the Unknown. Joseph Goldstein, Sharon Salzberg, Jack Kornfield, and other early community members share stories of IMS’s early days in Inside Insight: The Founding Story. Go beyond distraction and find practical ways to focus the mind with Bodhi Courses teacher Shaila Catherine’s new Dharma Talk series. A Practical Guide to the Zen Precepts With Nancy Mujo Baker The Zen precepts aren’t just a list of rules and regulations. According to Nancy Mujo Baker, they are a practical way of revealing our inherent buddhanature. Listen now »