The Zen of Everything

A zen take on life, love, laughter, and everything else.

About the show

The Zen of Everything presents a zen take on life, love, laughter, and everything else. With Jundo Cohen, a real zen master, and Kirk McElhearn, a guy who knows a bit about zen.

Episodes

  • Episode 12: One Is the One

    November 15th, 2019  |  27 mins 40 secs

    Jundo and Kirk discuss the idea of oneness. The good, the bad, the beautiful, and the ugly are all facets of the great jewel. One ain't just one thing ... or one ... or a thing ...

  •

    Episode 11: The Dokusan Room is Kinda Baloney

    November 1st, 2019  |  29 mins 5 secs

    Jundo and Kirk discuss the Dokusan room, the place where the teacher tests students and students test the teacher. What goes on can be romanticized and overemphasized, misused and misunderstood (especially by modern westerners), yet greatness sometimes happens too.

  • Episode 10: Zen in the West and Zen in Japan

    October 18th, 2019  |  30 mins 19 secs

    Jundo and Kirk discuss differences between the way zen is practiced in the west compared to in Japan.

  •

    Episode 9: Favorites

    October 4th, 2019  |  27 mins 40 secs

    Jundo and Kirk talk discuss favorites. What is the best ice cream flavor? What is the best fruit? Do favorites matter? Do appearances matter?

  • Episode 8: Things Aren't That Bad

    September 20th, 2019  |  28 mins 27 secs

    Jundo and Kirk talk about how bad or good things are in the world. Things really aren't as bad as they may seem if you watch the news too much.

  • Episode 7: Zen and Religion, Sutra Thumpers, and Mindfulness Meditation

    September 6th, 2019  |  24 mins 8 secs

    Jundo and Kirk discuss whether you can practice Zen Buddhism if you are a Christian, Jew, Muslim, or believer in another religion.

  • Episode 6: Do Robots Have Buddha Nature?

    August 23rd, 2019  |  24 mins 52 secs

    Jundo and Kirk take a look at the zen of the future, discussing whether or not robots are sentient, and whether they have Buddha nature.

  • Episode 5: Shikantaza, Grape Juice, Alzheimer's, Mindfulness, Buddhism as Religion, and a Woman who Feels no Pain

    August 9th, 2019  |  27 mins 2 secs

    Jundo and Kirk discuss whether shikantaza is meditation, how to get a grape juice stain out of a carpet, how to deal with Alzheimers, how mindfulness is integrating in modern society, whether Buddhism is a religion, and the interesting case of a woman who feels no pain.

  •

    Episode 4: Good Days, Hot Weather, Ikkyu, Happiness, Politics, Anger, Appliances, and the Ugly Lama

    July 26th, 2019  |  27 mins 28 secs

    Jundo explains why all days are good days, and Kirk laments the hot weather in Europe. They revisit Ikkyu ("that old horndog"), and discuss politics, anger, a dead appliance, and the Ugly Lama.

  • Episode 3: Cars, Drugs, Busses, and Simple Living

    July 12th, 2019  |  26 mins 9 secs

    Jundo and Kirk discuss what makes a car a car, whether gamblers and criminals should donate money to good causes, how a bus driver can help make the world better, and a book on simple living.

  • Episode 2: Hot Dogs, Space Aliens, Vegetarians, Glasses, and Sitting Zazen Every Day

    June 28th, 2019  |  28 mins 18 secs

    All things are impermanent, but this podcast has made it to its second episode. Jundo and Kirk discuss whether a hot dog is a sandwich, explore the question of being a vegetarian, whether one should wear glasses when sitting zazen, and whether one really, truly needs to sit zazen every day.

  • Episode 1: Cats, Lawyers, Health, Women, and Roshis

    June 7th, 2019  |  28 mins 48 secs

    For the first episode of The Zen of Everything, we explain why we started this podcast, and what we plan to do. We then explore whether cats are zen masters, discuss Buddhist lawyers, talk about practicing zen with health problems, explore the idea of calling the Buddha a "she," and explain what a roshi is. (Note: if you're just discovering the podcast, we recommend that you skip ahead to episode no. 6 when we find our footing; you can come back to the first five episodes later, but it took us a while to get into the right groove.)