A Dharma talk (Sanskrit) or Dhamma talk (Pali) or Dharma sermon (Japanese: Hōgo (法語), Chinese: 法語) is a public discourse on Buddhism by a Buddhist teacher.[1]
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 Thích Nhất Hạnh 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
^Sawada, Janine Anderson (1993). Confucian Values and Popular Zen: Sekimon Shingaku in Eighteenth-Century Japan. University of Hawaii Press. p. 20. ISBN0-8248-1414-2. OCLC45733077.
^Maezumi, Taizan; Bernard Glassman (2007). The Hazy Moon of Enlightenment. On Zen Practice. Wisdom Publications. p. Glossary. ISBN978-0-86171-314-1. OCLC73742251.
^Maezumi, Taizan; Bernard Glassman (2007). The Hazy Moon of Enlightenment. On Zen Practice. Wisdom Publications. p. 163. ISBN978-0-86171-314-1. OCLC73742251.
^O'Halloran, Maura (2007). Pure Heart, Enlightened Mind: The Life and Letters of an Irish Zen Saint. Wisdom Publications. p. 80. ISBN978-0-86171-283-0. OCLC83977483.
^Thích, Nhất Hạnh (2003). Opening the Heart of the Cosmos: Insights on the Lotus Sutra. Parallax Press. p. 43. ISBN1-888375-33-7. OCLC52980455.
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