Recording Category: Dharma Talks

In a society that trains us for standing out and being special; collecting likes and retweets; and developing our personal brand, how can the teachings of our ancestors even be relevant? Did Dogen offer anything that comes close to addressing the needs of this world? (hint: the answer is ‘yes’.)  

There are many invisible beings supporting our practice. Sometimes we think of our tasks as small or unimportant. But in the matrix of Buddha Nature, no task can be greater or smaller than another. How do we approach our tasks when there seems to be a difference in importance?  

Genko starts with a recent book that describes and explores the previous five mass extinction events on this planet, and goes on to talk about other disasters, moving from global to regional to community to personal. What is a disaster, and how do we practice with it?

This week we are in Genzo-e sesshin, working with the Dogen’s commentary on a chapter of the Diamond Sutra focusing on the “Ungraspable Mind”. This Sunday Jyoshin will look closer at this chapter through the lens of the Buddha’s Five Eyes.  

We are told that enlightenment is not a matter of stages. But we all occupy roles in our lives which reflect stages of development. How do we meet our practice through archetypal experience? In what way do we grow into an understanding that is already complete?

In this talk, Kakumyo explores how we allow and prevent awakening in our interactions with others, using a story from the Vimalakirti Sutra as a guide.

As we end Ango and approach the summer, the way we practice changes for many of us. Forms are reduced and relaxed as people go on vacations, spend more time outdoors, and often less time in the zendo. Genko explores some ways that we practice with this change, the value of it, and the vague… Read more »

We put a lot of effort in our Zen Practice into examining who we are. Kakumyo speaks to the balance of knowing who we are, and still being curious to seeing new parts of ourselves.

Kyri Kengan Trieman, who is the guiding teacher for the Daoren Circle, will talk about practice when we are away from the temple.

Come join us during this first day-long event honoring the Dharma Cloud lineage welcoming all affiliates and related practitioners. The morning will be devoted to sharing our traditional forms including an introduction of all the various groups attending, and a panel dharma talk by Kakumyo (DRZC Abbot), Domyo (Bright Way Zen), and Seido (Zen West… Read more »

There are so many ways that the world will say no to our desires. But we also say no to ourselves and to the world. How do we say yes? In Zen practice, there is a deep affirmation that we can bring to our everyday life as well as our practice.

In the depths of winter it is easy to be deluded that nothing changes and the grey and cold will last forever. In the depths of adult life that delusion can arise as well. Yes, little things change, but nothing fundamental changes, we think. Drifting and dreaming, life passes by. The practice of zen teaches… Read more »

In his “Instructions to the Cook,” Dogen lists three qualities of mind that the Head Cook, or Tenzo, of a monastery must cultivate: Joyful Mind, Nurturing Mind and Magnanimous Mind. Shin’yu explores the second of these, Nurturing Mind, and the wish to take care of the things and people of our world.

On March 24, the sixteen participants and three staff who worked together in an intensive 10-day training for sangha leaders finished their time together. Three of the participants shared short dharma talks that they developed in the course of the training to give the rest of us a taste of what they’ve did. People came… Read more »

Anicca, or Impermanence, looms large among our basic Buddhist teachings. It’s one of the three characteristics of existence and is intimately related to the Four Noble Truths. Impermanence seems pretty straightforward – everything changes. It’s pretty easy to accept that intellectually, but not so easy to live in congruence with it. Why do we struggle… Read more »

Several people became lay disciples this week. The decision to enter a formal teaching relationship is a serious one. But it’s not magic – teaching takes place both in and out of such a relationship. What does a teacher do? How do we work with the embodiment in front of us?

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