Recording Category: Dharma Talks
We all face many transitions, both big and small, during our lives. Some we choose and some seem to fall on us with an unwelcome thud. In either case it’s ours to meet these transitions in such a way that we can grow with them. In this dharma talk, Gyoshi will address various aspects of… Read more »
Now we have this new year full of hope and promise. With the turn of the calendar and the magic of new numbers we can imagine that we are living in a different, better world. And of course things continue to change. Many people’s thoughts turn to aligning their lives more closely with their true… Read more »
As we meet the longest night of the year, how do we enter into darkness? The dark is a rich image in Zen. Let us talk about those meanings, and the real dark and the real night of this winter.
Join us this Sunday as Kakumyo gives us a head start on Rohatsu. This retreat is where put all of the energy we have cultivated over the past year.
Last week, Annen spoke of dukka, the First Noble Truth, and the effects of the pandemic on dharma practice. In this week’s talk, Jyoshin will look at Dharma as PPE (personal protective equipment). This talk topic was suggested by a Buddhist chaplain and the talk is dedicated to healthcare workers and staff, as well as to… Read more »
“Life is suffering.” This is a common translation of the first noble truth of Buddhism and during this pandemic, suffering and sorrow seem even more visible and tangible than usual. This week, Annen considers suffering (Pali: dukka) in its pre-pandemic and pandemic forms, and the silver lining that lies hidden in plain sight
We have been talking about karma and recognizing the harm we have caused and how we can heal. This Sunday, let us step back a bit and talk about the experience of being hurt in the first place. How do we hold our traumas, alone and as a community?
This week’s dharma talk is Clarity, Equanimity, and Balance in Difficult Times, a recording of a talk given by Kyogen Carlson, one of our founders, on October 12, 2008. Kyogen talks about the circumstances surrounding his and Gyokuko’s break from Shasta Abbey, the highly charged 2008 presidential election, and the transformation that can occur when all… Read more »
One impediment to making good use of our meditation practice and the teachings of Buddhism is a lack of confidence that they apply to an actual situation or that they will be effective. On Sunday, Kakumyo will explore some of these concerns and discuss the Buddha’s answer to this question.
In honor of the Two Ancestors, Dogen and Keizan, celebrated this week, we will consider the story of the Buddha holding up a flower, and ask ourselves, when is a flower just a flower?
Kakumyo speaks about the difficulty of staying available for practice. How do we continue to show up for difficult, transformative work over time?
One of the ways suffering occurs is when permanence is sought where there is no permanence. Ease occurs when the realization that we are grasping at concepts arises and the mind reorients. In other words, things change – even if we don’t want them to. Things change – often in ways we hadn’t expected or… Read more »
Linda Hoka Bebernes will show how ending the pursuit of happiness has enabled her practice to unfold, while sharing some insights from the edge of her practice now.
This Sunday Kakumyo gave a talk in which he opened the floor for everyone to talk about how their world view has changed during this pandemic.
Seido will speak to our collective fears about the impact of a changing climate and how Buddhism liberates us from the two extremes of apathy and despair. This talk emerged after a January joint sangha sesshin in Corvallis focused on our intimate relationship to the natural world, the experience of deep time, our capacity to… Read more »