Recording Category: Dharma Talks
Case 94 in the Book of Serenity tells of a time when Master Dongshan (Tozan Ryokai) was very ill. A monk came to him and asked, “Is there someone who does not get ill?” Donshan answered, “There is,” and the dialog goes on from there. Does this contradict the First Noble Truth? What’s going on… Read more »
was “Taking Joy Seriously, or Can a Buddhist Have a Good Time?” In our practice we explicitly examine the causes of suffering as we study the Second Noble Truth. Dogen said that “To study Buddhism is to study the self.” Are we just a mass of suffering? How is studying the nature of joy a… Read more »
As we start up again on our regular schedule, we sometimes find that we can look back at holiday excesses and have remorse, vowing to do differently. How can we take vows in a skillful way? Genko shares something of her own struggle with addictive behavior and how she is finding ways through it with… Read more »
For Buddhists all over the world, Sunday December 8th marks the annual celebration of Shakyamuni Buddha’s enlightenment under the bodhi tree. For our community, it also marks the end of our weeklong Rohatsu retreat during which each of us take up the Buddha’s koan of the meaning of human suffering. Through his deep resolve to… Read more »
Shin’ei traces the lives of three enigmatic Zen Masters to explore the nature of freedom, dedication and authority. She also speaks to the imagination through the voice of her own life and practice.
In the spirit of the Thanksgiving holiday, many of us plan meals, plan for preparing and eating food. Bukkai talked about how the simple repetitive aspects of our lives having to do with food can become serious spiritual practice.
What is it that we can trust and rely upon during our most difficult times in life? How does practice support us when we inevitably face challenges? This talk is about how the path of practice can be viewed as a process of cultivating increasing confidence and trust in our own Buddha Nature.
Part of our regular Sunday morning chanting service, “The Precious Mirror Samadhi” by Dongshan Liangjie (Tozan Ryokai) is compelling, beautiful, and most find it utterly mysterious. With imagery like “a silver bowl filled with snow,” and references to “the Illumination hexagram,” it is an utterly Chinese expression of Dharma. Related to and developed from the… Read more »
On Sunday November 3rd, our Founders’ Day Festival, Kakumyo Lowe-Charde spoke about the three figures honored on our Founder’s shrine, exploring the particular juxtaposition of confidence and humility in their lives and practice as well as in our relation to them as individuals and archetypes. Those three are Keido Chisan Koho Zenji, Houn Jiyu Kennet… Read more »
The Buddha told his followers to “walk alone like a rhinoceros” – but he told this to people living intimately in community. What does it mean to stand alone? How do we do this together? What is true solitude? We live so close to others that it can be hard to know what one truly… Read more »
The Buddha famously told Ananda that good spiritual friends are the whole of the holy life. Sangha includes teachers, friends and supporters, and also those who challenge us in many ways. Co-Abbot Gyokuko Carlson speaks about Sangha as refuge, and the various ways that manifests.
No, this is not a Monty Python sketch, or anything like that, although bringing up the issue, these days, is taken as absurd. Not long ago I found myself telling someone that you can, in fact, discover the meaning of life, or at least your deeper purpose. However, when you do you will find it… Read more »