Date Title & Details Speaker Listen Download
01/25/2026
Interdependence and Fugen

Kakumyo talks about kaleidoscopes, mycellium, and other complexities.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Kakumyo Lowe
01/21/2026
Precepts Class 3

This class is about the 16 Bodhisattva Precepts, the ethical guidelines of Zen practice. The class prepares those who wish to take Jukai in March, as well as allowing everyone to explore how to work with these in everyday life. This year’s preceptor is Kakumyo.

Categories: Wednesday Classes

Kevin Minshu Dorney, Reiju Nelsen
01/18/2026
The Mantra

Gyate, gyate — going, going. But where are we going? 

Categories: Dharma Talks

Sallie Jiko Tisdale
01/14/2026
Precepts Class 2

This class is about the 16 Bodhisattva Precepts, the ethical guidelines of Zen practice. The class prepares those who wish to take Jukai in March, as well as allowing everyone to explore how to work with these in everyday life. This year’s preceptor is Kakumyo.

Categories: Wednesday Classes

Kakumyo Lowe
01/11/2026
Flowering in Emptiness

How many ways are there to work with a wound, hurt, or hindrance, in a meditation practice? In “Flowering in Emptiness,” (Kuge) Zen Master Dogen puts forward an intriguing possibility.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Robert Reian Glass
01/07/2026
Precepts – Class 1

This class is about the 16 Bodhisattva Precepts, the ethical guidelines of Zen practice. The class prepares those who wish to take Jukai in March, as well as allowing everyone to explore how to work with these in everyday life. This year’s preceptor is Kakumyo.

Categories: Wednesday Classes

Kevin Minshu Dorney, Kakumyo Lowe
01/04/2026
Dharma Talk by Jyoshin

Categories: Dharma Talks

Jyoshin Clay
12/21/2025
Water is Friends with the Sea

Whether we call it cooperation or nondifference or making friends, the bodhisattva quality of taking the view of others is a challenge and a gift. What does it mean to really see from another’s point of view?

Categories: Dharma Talks

Sallie Jiko Tisdale
12/07/2025
When the Gods are Changing

Genko examines the phenomenon of paradigm shift as it affects the broader society, various academic study areas, and moving into looking at our own personal lives. How do we recognize and navigate the inevitable change we face, both internal and external?

Categories: Dharma Talks

Genko Rainwater
12/03/2025
Foundational Teachings – Class 10

Wednesday night classes focus on Buddhist teaching, from its early stages in India through its expression in Soto Zen. This annual class explores topics such as the Buddha’s life, the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path, Karma and Rebirth, Dependent Origination, the Paramitas and other aspirational practices, as well as contributions from some of our important Zen ancestors, including Dogen. See the Syllabus. The Foundational Teachings classes are a seminary requirement and prerequisite for many other seminary classes.

Categories: Wednesday Classes

Reiju Nelsen, Ko’in Newsom
11/30/2025
Dongshan’s No Cold or Heat

We would like to be in harmony with the conditions of our life, but so often, we wish things could be different than the way they are. Acceptance is our practice. How do we work with it?

Categories: Dharma Talks

Shin’yu Vitells
11/23/2025
The Wish-Fulfilling Jewel

Flying Fish takes a deeper dive into the three refuges. What does it mean to take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha? Our spiritual ancestors point to this practice as essential to realizing the teachings. Hearing the words, and receiving the blessing or merit can be very different experiences. What do we mean when we take refuge in the triple treasure?

Categories: Dharma Talks

Flying Fish Murphy
11/19/2025
Foundational Teachings – Class 9

Wednesday night classes focus on Buddhist teaching, from its early stages in India through its expression in Soto Zen. This annual class explores topics such as the Buddha’s life, the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path, Karma and Rebirth, Dependent Origination, the Paramitas and other aspirational practices, as well as contributions from some of our important Zen ancestors, including Dogen. See the Syllabus. The Foundational Teachings classes are a seminary requirement and prerequisite for many other seminary classes.

Categories: Wednesday Classes

Reiju Nelsen, Ko’in Newsom
11/16/2025
Wise Friends and Sutra Scrolls

Tsuho talks about a five-year project to study Dogen’s Shobogenzo and how sutra study can enrich practice.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Todd Tsuho Sattersten
11/12/2025
Foundational Teachings – Class 8

Wednesday night classes focus on Buddhist teaching, from its early stages in India through its expression in Soto Zen. This annual class explores topics such as the Buddha’s life, the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path, Karma and Rebirth, Dependent Origination, the Paramitas and other aspirational practices, as well as contributions from some of our important Zen ancestors, including Dogen. See the Syllabus. The Foundational Teachings classes are a seminary requirement and prerequisite for many other seminary classes.

Categories: Wednesday Classes

Reiju Nelsen, Ko’in Newsom
11/09/2025
Right Effort

Kakumyo speaks about unattached effort. How do we manage the details of life with buoyancy?

Categories: Dharma Talks

Kakumyo Lowe
11/05/2025
Foundational Teachings – Class 7

Wednesday night classes focus on Buddhist teaching, from its early stages in India through its expression in Soto Zen. This annual class explores topics such as the Buddha’s life, the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path, Karma and Rebirth, Dependent Origination, the Paramitas and other aspirational practices, as well as contributions from some of our important Zen ancestors, including Dogen. See the Syllabus. The Foundational Teachings classes are a seminary requirement and prerequisite for many other seminary classes.

Categories: Wednesday Classes

Reiju Nelsen, Ko’in Newsom
11/02/2025
A Single Piece of Emptiness

As we celebrate Founders’ Day, we consider the lives of three people whose work and practice built the temple: Keido Chisan, Jiyu Kennett, and Kyogen Carlson.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Sallie Jiko Tisdale
10/19/2025
In a Dream, Expressing a Dream

Guest Teacher Koji Shinei Alison offers a dharma talk. The dream before reality, the nightmare before tragedy, fright before the monster, nausea before the fall. The world is a dream, imagined. The power of the archetype is numinous, suggestive; it hints, and alludes yet, can never be thoroughly known. Archetypes lift us out of the limited space of brute, merely personal reality, encouraging the difficult inner work, encouraging a renewed relationship with the 10,000 beautiful things and, to bring great happiness.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Koji Shinei Alison
10/15/2025
Foundational Teachings Class 6

Wednesday night classes focus on Buddhist teaching, from its early stages in India through its expression in Soto Zen. This annual class explores topics such as the Buddha’s life, the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path, Karma and Rebirth, Dependent Origination, the Paramitas and other aspirational practices, as well as contributions from some of our important Zen ancestors, including Dogen. See the Syllabus. The Foundational Teachings classes are a seminary requirement and prerequisite for many other seminary classes.

Categories: Wednesday Classes

Reiju Nelsen, Ko’in Newsom
10/12/2025
Fall Sangha Forum

Twice a year, the sangha has an opportunity to hear from our governing bodies and to ask questions and give feedback. The Sangha Forum takes the place of a dharma talk. The Board of Directors sponsors the Fall forum and gives updates. The Dharma Council also presents updates.

Categories: Sangha Forum

Reiju Nelsen, Ko’in Newsom
10/08/2025
Foundational Teachings – Class 5

Wednesday night classes focus on Buddhist teaching, from its early stages in India through its expression in Soto Zen. This annual class explores topics such as the Buddha’s life, the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path, Karma and Rebirth, Dependent Origination, the Paramitas and other aspirational practices, as well as contributions from some of our important Zen ancestors, including Dogen. See the Syllabus. The Foundational Teachings classes are a seminary requirement and prerequisite for many other seminary classes.

Categories: Wednesday Classes

Reiju Nelsen, Ko’in Newsom
10/05/2025
On Politics

Kakumyo pulls from the Pali canon in exploring what the Buddha saw as an appropriate response to political questions. He also examines how that might affect us individually and as a collective.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Kakumyo Lowe
10/01/2025
Foundational Teachings – Class 4

Wednesday night classes focus on Buddhist teaching, from its early stages in India through its expression in Soto Zen. This annual class explores topics such as the Buddha’s life, the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path, Karma and Rebirth, Dependent Origination, the Paramitas and other aspirational practices, as well as contributions from some of our important Zen ancestors, including Dogen. See the Syllabus. The Foundational Teachings classes are a seminary requirement and prerequisite for many other seminary classes.

Categories: Wednesday Classes

Reiju Nelsen, Ko’in Newsom
09/28/2025
Hua-Yen and Zen Practice

Fumyo’s dharma talk considers aspects of the Hua Yen world view and how it is expressed in our Zen practices.

The Hua Yen system of thinking arose from the commentaries of Chinese scholars studying the Avatamsaka Sutra. These perspectives provide the philosophical bedrock for Zen and have influenced Zen practices through the ages to this day.

As Zen practitioners, how we experience our worlds and how we respond to all the interdependent relationships within them are infused with a Hua Yen world view.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Rick Fumyo Mishaga
09/24/2025
Foundational Teachings – Class 3

Wednesday night classes focus on Buddhist teaching, from its early stages in India through its expression in Soto Zen. This annual class explores topics such as the Buddha’s life, the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path, Karma and Rebirth, Dependent Origination, the Paramitas and other aspirational practices, as well as contributions from some of our important Zen ancestors, including Dogen. See the Syllabus. The Foundational Teachings classes are a seminary requirement and prerequisite for many other seminary classes.

Categories: Wednesday Classes

Reiju Nelsen, Ko’in Newsom
09/21/2025
Why Can’t Clear-Eyed Bodhisattvas Sever the Red Thread

The talk explores this question that was offered to us by Zen Master Songyuan Chongyue in the late 12th Century. The red thread grabs us at once in a visceral way. It represents our deepest human nature with all of its passion, desires, vulnerabilities. To become intimate with the red thread is the path of the bodhisattva. This koan leads us to the very heart of our practice.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Flying Fish Murphy
09/17/2025
Foundational Teachings – Class 2

This annual class explores topics such as the Buddha’s life, the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path, Karma and Rebirth, Dependent Origination, the Paramitas and other aspirational practices, as well as contributions from some of our important Zen ancestors, including Dogen. See the Syllabus. The Foundational Teachings classes are a seminary requirement and prerequisite for many other seminary classes.

Categories: Wednesday Classes

Reiju Nelsen, Ko’in Newsom
09/14/2025
Hatred

I feel it. You feel it, too. How do we work with such a powerful experience?

Categories: Dharma Talks

Sallie Jiko Tisdale
09/07/2025
Doing Nothing

Zonnyo explores the theme of “doing nothing” from the perspective of Ch’an Master Ma-Tsu and his disciples. What is the wisdom of non-action and non-seeking? And how do we know when we should act?

Categories: Dharma Talks

Zonnyo Riger
08/31/2025
Our Ascetic Inheritance

Zen has a reputation for being tough, maybe even scary. Once we’ve been around for a while, we see through some of that. In this talk Kakumyo explores the karma of Zen’s ascetic tendencies and discusses how we practice with it today.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Kakumyo Lowe
08/24/2025
The Five Remembrances

Shin’yu considers the Five Remembrances and what they can offer us.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Shin’yu Vitells
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