Daniel Scharpenburg
Daniel Scharpenburg lives in Kansas City. He’s a Zen Priest and Teacher in the Dharma Winds Zen Tradition. He regularly teaches at the Open Heart Project and he leads public meditations.
He believes the path is really about opening ourselves up and becoming more genuine and real. He has been called “a great everyman teacher” and “really down to earth.” He believes in meeting people where they are and sharing teachings as widely as he can.
His writing has appeared in Lion’s Roar, The Secular Buddhist, Patheos, and Elephant Journal.
He has given public teachings at the Rime Buddhist Center and at the Heartland Pagan Festival.
What’s Zen? (A Short Description)
By Daniel Scharpenburg There's a famous four line description of the Zen tradition that has come down to us. This list is attributed to Bodhidharma, and it's really supposed to be what sets the Zen tradition apart. It's what makes Zen...
Why are Buddhist Strings Different Colors & What Do the Colors Mean?
By Daniel Scharpenburg Someone asked, "Why do these Buddhist strings have different colors? What do the different colors mean?" Unfortunately I don't have a satisfying answer for that question. Actually a lot of people seem to have questions...
The Way Out of Suffering: Wonderment & Seeing the World As it Is {video}
By Daniel Scharpenburg Cultivating the Empty Field is a book I really like. There is a section in here with a quote by Zen Master Hongzhi: "All things are innately amazing beyond description. Perfect vision has no gap. In mountain groves,...
Entering the Gate (There is Nothing Stopping You)
By Daniel Scharpenburg The path is sometimes called The Gateless Gate. This represents both the methods of practice and the path to enlightenment. It's called gateless because there's really nothing stopping you. What we're talking about is...
Transforming Suffering: The Roadmap to Freedom
By Daniel Scharpenbrug The Buddhist path is about trying to engage our lives more skillfully. We're trying to learn how to live our lives in a way that reduces our suffering and we're also trying to change the way our suffering spills out...
Illumination: Seeing Clearly to Our True Nature
By Daniel Scharpenburg “Illumination has no emotional afflictions. With piercing, quietly profound radiance, it mysteriously eliminates all disgrace. Thus can one know oneself; thus the self is completed. We all have the clear, wondrously...
We Chase Happiness but We Already Have It | Video
By Daniel Scharpenburg I've recently been reading the text, Dropping Ashes on the Buddha, and I wanted to share this story. A student goes to Master Ma and says, "I want you to teach me" Master Ma says, "What a fool you are! You already have...
True Charity, Helping Others Without Worrying about if We Think They Deserve It | Video
By Daniel Scharpenburg "If a poor man comes begging from you, give him what he needs, according to your means. Have great love and great compassion, considering him as if he were part of your own body. This is True Charity, True Sharing, True Giving."-So...
Metta: Kindness to Cure Fear | Video
By Daniel Scharpenburg Fear. We all feel it. Fear of heights, fear of small spaces, fear of getting up in front of an audience and speaking, fear of telling someone how you feel. Fear is a normal emotion, but it can spiral out of control into...
A Need for Clarity
By Daniel Scharpenburg Our journey doesn’t transform us, it invites us to transform ourselves. The path doesn’t really give us anything, the path only cuts things away. Even that’s not right. The path doesn’t cut things away, it inspires us...
Starting a Meditation Practice? Here are a Few Types You Can Try:
By Daniel Scharpenburg Meditation used to be done by only a select few people. Long ago it was limited to monks and nuns. When this new branch of Buddhism arose in China, they named it Chan (later Zen). It just means, "Those Buddhists over...
Starting a Meditation Practice: Group or Solo?
By Daniel Scharpenburg Meditation with a group is easier than meditating alone. It's easier because when you have a group there's a sort of accountability. If you're alone there's no one to hold you accountable but yourself. That's tough;...
When We are Faced with the Uncomfortable
By Daniel Scharpenburg It’s snowing in Kansas City. I don’t like snow. Sure, I liked playing in it as a kid, like everyone else. But since growing up…well, I think it’s beautiful. It’s nice to look out the window and see the trees and the...
How Much of Your Time Will You Waste Today Worrying?
By Daniel Scharpenburg “Take all the courage you have left Wasted on fixing all the problems that you made in your own head.” -Mumford and Sons We waste a lot of mental energy; we are wasting it all the time. I only use the word "waste"...
Zen Stories & Paying Attention to the Little Things
By Daniel Scharpenburg What we call the Zen school is really a conglomeration. It includes the original teaching of the Buddha, which I call First Turning Buddhism, and the spirit of Chinese culture at the time. What we call “Zen meditation”...