Endless Path Zendo | Roshi Rafe Martin
Endless Path Zendo, is a lay Zen Buddhist community. Intimate and non-institutional in atmosphere, we are dedicated to realizing the Buddha Way in the midst of our own ordinary lives, finding our center of gravity in the creativity of Zen, and the Way of the Bodhisattva.
Zen teacher (roshi) Rafe Jnan Martin began traditional Zen practice in 1970, becoming a personal disciple of Roshi Philip Kapleau, author of The Three Pillars of Zen. After Kapleau Roshi’s retirement, he practiced with Robert Aitken Roshi, founder of the Diamond Sangha, then from 2002-2016 worked intensively with Danan Henry Roshi, founding teacher of the Zen Center of Denver and a Kapleau Roshi Dharma Heir as well as a Diamond Sangha Dharma Master.
Rafe received full lay ordination in 2009, and in 2012 received inka—recognition of his successful completion of the Diamond Sangha/ Harada-Yasutani koan curriculum, along with authorization to begin teaching. In 2016 he received full Dharma Transmission as an independent Zen teacher.
An award-winning author and storyteller whose work has been cited in Time, Newsweek, The NY Times, and USA Today, Rafe has a master’s degree in English literature and literary criticism and is a recipient of both national and state awards, including the Empire State Award for the body of his work. His writing has appeared in Tricycle, Lion’s Roar, Parabola, The Sun, and Inquiring Mind, among other journals of religion and myth. He has given talks at Zen and Dharma Centers around the US and Canada, as well as such venues as the American Museum of Natural History, Zuni Pueblo, and The Joseph Campbell Festival of Myth and Story.
His most recent books are A Zen Life of Buddha (Sumeru 2022), The Brave Little Parrot (Wisdom Publications, 2023) and A Zen Life of Bodhisattvas (Sumeru, 2023).
Endless Path Zendo | Roshi Rafe Martin
Finding Your Buddha Smile - Part 6: Te-shan Carries His Lunch Bowls: The Last Word
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Recorded February 21, 2026
When you realize the first word
You understand the last word;
The first word or the last word—
“It” is not a word.
If it’s not a word, what is it? If it is a word, how might you say it?
Sequenced in their proper chronological order, the three Te-shan koans give us a nutshell view of Zen as a journey from brash immaturity to subtle maturity. But what is maturity? And what is this wise last word that changes everything and makes even someone as gifted as that person of genius, Yen t’ou, get up and laugh and clap his hands for joy? What is it really all about?
Referenced:
- Selected Poems of Su Tung-p'o -- Translated from the Chinese by Burton Watson
- Finding Your Buddha Smile: Coming Home to What Zen Is Really All About, by Rafe Martin. Available from Amazon , Sumeru Books, and Barnes & Noble Online.
Photo -- Buddha at Lung-Men Cave Grottoes, China by Rafe Martin
- Books by Roshi Rafe Martin
- Talks on YouTube
- More information at endlesspathzen.org