Recording Category: Dharma Talks

While we do not engage in formal koan study at Dharma Rain, many koans are held in our collective mind as valuable teaching stories. Jyoshin explores Dongshan’s “Cold and Heat”,… Read more »

A new book – The Six Perfections by Dale Wright – inspires this talk. He writes about how to cultivate character using the Buddhist teachings on the paramitas. Genko reports… Read more »

Kakumyo talked about some of the lessons of the last two weeks, pulling threads from the “Juki” chapter of the Shobogenzo, which we studied at Genzoe sesshin last week, and… Read more »

Gyokuko has been working in her yard, like a lot of other people. In this Dharma talk, she talks about finding the right tool for the right job.

We are entering into Portland Pride season. “Pride” turns up on both Christian and Buddhist lists as one of the seven deadly sins or one of the five poisons, respectively.… Read more »

This Sunday we’ll explore qualities like concentration, focus and receptivity with a Buddhist lens. How do these qualities affect our life, and what contributes to reliably accessing them, both within… Read more »

The story of the historical Buddha is often used as a lens to examine our own practice and path. This talk touches on the point where he escapes the confines… Read more »

Happy Mother’s Day! For some, Mother’s Day can bring up memories of crayon drawings on refrigerators, sharing space with brightly colored magnetic letters of the alphabet. This is part of… Read more »

Why do we feel different when we are alone? The self alone changes when it meets others. Is one self more authentic than the other? How do we resolve the… Read more »

At this week’s Dharma Talk, we played a recording of a talk given by Kyogen. He discussed our liturgical calendar, and the seasons and teachings associated with each part of… Read more »

Genko looks at how the Three Refuges (also called the Three Jewels or Three Treasures) can provide a place of safety and support for us in our practice. What is… Read more »

Kakumyo looks at how we work with well-established karma and confusion. He consults the Samanaphala Sutra for help.

What is the role of study in Zen? We have inherited a tradition “without dependence on words and letters,” and yet books and stories are key parts of our life… Read more »

Western psychology tells us that our personal needs for safety must be met before we can do much with our instinct towards spiritual transformation. This seems to be true, but… Read more »

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