Recording Category: Dharma Talks
What is Transmission and why is it a big deal in Zen? Gyokuko explores the concept with different lenses.
Kakumyo talked about the opening of term and setting our intention for practice.
Shin’yu just spent a week in the hospital. One of her nurses had a lot of questions about Buddhism. The answers are still unfolding.
Zen is sometimes called a “formal” religion or practice. We do have a lot of forms. But what does that mean? What is a form? How do we practice with it? Why do we have them? Genko explores these questions in this talk.
Rick Hogetsu Mitchell gives his first student talk at Dharma Rain. The talk reflects on the nature of friendships, personal and spiritual, and their role in supporting our practice.
Some of us find that summer changes our routines, and makes the schedule lighter. And yet, the number of hours in the day are the same, and there are still tasks to be done. What does it mean to take care of business in the summer? What is our true business? How do we know?… Read more »
Sometimes practice flows and we’re carried along by it, sometimes it’s a struggle and we can’t gain any momentum and keep running into setbacks. Although we may prefer the former, there are expressions of Right Effort in each mode. This Sunday, Kakumyo will explore how we relate to this phenomenon and what it signifies.
In the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha tells the story of a group of tired travelers who come to a beautiful city where they can rest. He reveals this to be imaginary, the skillful means required to allow them to continue the long journey. What do we conjure for ourselves and for others? When are such… Read more »
Transformation and spiritual growth tend to be common topics among Zen practitioners. For all that our teachings advise us to sit without a specific goal, often there is some aspiration towards ease and comfort. This path towards ease is not always smooth. We might encounter bumps along the way. How we meet a challenge or… Read more »
The ordination ceremony contains the phrase: “I have changed my form but kept my wish…” This is an allusion to the continuity of our way-seeking mind, and the variety of particular forms our practice may take over time. This Sunday, Kakumyo will talk about particular ways we realize and display lay and monastic paths of… Read more »
Recent news articles discuss prevalent mind states of people during the pandemic and now as we emerge. The word “languishing” has come up more than once, along with its opposite, “flourishing.” Languishing suggests becoming faint, feeble, or ill, also suffering from being forced to remain in an unpleasant place or situation. The New York Times… Read more »
In Buddhism, we spend a lot of time talking about suffering and the relief of suffering, but relatively little time talking about happiness or joy. Should we expect to find joy in “objectless” meditation? Is it OK to pursue happiness? Will Zen practice make us happier? Annen considers these and other questions in this week’s… Read more »
Concern with how our karma developed is sometimes compared to being shot with a poison arrow. Don’t ask who shot it or how it was made, just get it out. But practice pushes us to confront past events and how they shape us. How do we look at the past in a wholesome way?
In celebrating Wesak, and contemplating the miraculous story of the Buddha’s birth, we may not find our own circumstances quite so auspicious. Kakumyo will talk about a Zen approach to noticing miracles in our practice.
This week we welcome a guest teacher, Ryushin Hart. Ryushin’s talk will explore a pervasive and pernicious obstacle to wholeheartedly living our spiritual path and the steps to decrease its impact.