Date Title & Details Speaker Listen Download
01/26/2020
Strong Emotions

Whoa! What was that!? Sometimes we aim for equanimity and find ourselves surprised by reactive strong emotions. This Sunday Jyoshin will talk about selvesfromthepast appearing in the Present and ways zen practice can be used to examine habit patterns around strong emotions and reactivity.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Jyoshin Clay
01/22/2020
Precepts #3

Class 3 of 6

Categories: Wednesday Classes

Jyoshin Clay
01/19/2020
Precepts as Path, Vow and Koan

This Sunday Genko weighs in on the ongoing study of the Bodhisattva Precepts we are doing on Wednesday nights, led by Jyoshin and Carrie. How do we hold, keep, and commit to the Precepts? More than a set of rules, they point us to a path in a particular direction. We work with them as vows, as koans, and this raises its own questions. What does it mean to make a commitment, a vow, and to do it publicly?

Categories: Dharma Talks

Genko Rainwater
01/15/2020
Precepts #2

The second Class of six.

Categories: Wednesday Classes

Jyoshin Clay
01/12/2020
Koan of Community

The question of how to undertake a meditation practice in the midst of a practice community is one that has been asked since the time of the Buddha. What tools are we given to skillfully attend to our own personal growth, while also supporting others in a way that provides space for their transformation as well? What are our social obligations to each other in community that test our ability to embody the dharma teachings we have encountered? What happens when we take these views out into the world?

Categories: Dharma Talks

Jyoshin Clay
01/08/2020
Precepts

This is the first of Six Classes. Taught by Jyoshin and Carrie

Categories: Wednesday Classes

Jyoshin Clay, Carrie Schulz
01/05/2020
Effort and Lack of Effort

Categories: Dharma Talks

Kakumyo Lowe-Charde
12/15/2019
What do I do with this Pain?

Sometimes we see the state of the world and despair. Our experience with the suffering of all beings is hard to hold at times. How does our practice help us to navigate when it seems there is nothing to be done? Is there room for despair in the Dharma?

Categories: Dharma Talks

Sallie Jiko Tisdale
12/01/2019
Alone, Together

As we begin Rohatsu, our longest and most solemn sesshin of the year, Genko looks at sesshin practice and the intimacy it fosters in the midst of deepening silence.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Genko Rainwater
11/24/2019
Equanimity as practice and result

This week Kakumyo discussed the most subtle and difficult of the brahma viharas or divine abidings. Equanimity is a key factor in creating the relational context that we function in. Given Zen’s emphasis on the interdependence of life, practice and enlightenment, this relational content becomes important. Holidays are approaching, get your equanimity booster while you can.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Kakumyo Lowe-Charde
11/20/2019
Foundational Teachings #10

Number 10 of 10. On Bodhisattvas

Categories: Wednesday Classes

Kakumyo Lowe-Charde, Shin’yu Vitells
11/17/2019
“being armed with the great armor”

In the Perfection of Wisdom in 8,000 Lines, bodhisattvas are described as “being armed with the great armor.” This week, Jyoshin will look at what this armor might be, how we tend to think about armoring, and how we may be able to shift towards utilizing spiritual armor instead of defensive armoring.  

Categories: Dharma Talks

Jyoshin Clay
11/13/2019
Foundational Teachings #9

The ninth class in a series of 10

Categories: Wednesday Classes

Shin’yu Vitells
11/10/2019
Buddha and Buddha

In Taking Our Places: The Buddhist Path to Truly Growing Up, Norman Fischer quotes Dogen as saying: “Only a Buddha and a Buddha can understand it.” Fischer goes on to say: “Even a Buddha by himself can’t understand it. Only a Buddha AND a Buddha can. Only through profound relationship, deep encounter, ineffable meeting, can we ever hope to appreciate the immense dimensions of our human life.”
Our Zen practice isn’t just sitting on the cushion by ourselves, though that’s a central component of it. Where do we find these profound relationships, deep encounters, ineffable meetings? What do they look like? Genko explores some facets of sangha, and invites others to contribute their own experiences.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Genko Rainwater
11/06/2019
Foundational Teachings #8

This class is on the Brahmaviharas

Categories: Wednesday Classes

Kakumyo Lowe-Charde, Shin’yu Vitells
11/03/2019
The Fixed Self

These are familiar words to any Zen student. But what does it really mean to forget the self? What is body and mind falling away? It is both nearer and more precious than we think. 

Categories: Dharma Talks

Sallie Jiko Tisdale
10/30/2019
Foundational Teachings #7

This class failed to record.

Categories: Wednesday Classes

Kakumyo Lowe-Charde, Shin’yu Vitells
10/27/2019
Sejiki

This Sundays’ dharma talk was replaced by the Sejiki Festival.

Categories: Dharma Talks

No Dharma Talk
10/16/2019
Foundational Teachings #6

Categories: Wednesday Classes

Kakumyo Lowe-Charde, Shin’yu Vitells
10/13/2019
Practice is Plural

This Sunday, Kakumyo will talk about the trade offs between practices which tend to be subtle but thorough, and practices that tend to be easier, but only go so far or leave some kind of residue.  We need some of both, and there’s an art to the assessing of our level of awareness and choice of an appropriate method.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Kakumyo Lowe-Charde
10/09/2019
Foundational Teachings #5

Dependent origination

Categories: Wednesday Classes

Kakumyo Lowe-Charde, Shin’yu Vitells
10/06/2019
On Founders Day

This is a recorded talk from Kyogen Carlson

Categories: Dharma Talks

Kyogen Carlson
10/02/2019
Foundational Teachings #4

The fourth Class in a series of ten. Skandhas and Abhidharma

Categories: Wednesday Classes

Kakumyo Lowe-Charde, Shin’yu Vitells
09/29/2019
Two Ancestors Memorial

With the Two Ancestors Memorial taking the place of morning service this Sunday, Jyoshin will speak on the importance of inspiration in spiritual practice. From lineage ancestors to modern day muses, what/who is the source of your inspiration? 

Categories: Dharma Talks

Jyoshin Clay
09/25/2019
Foundational Teachings #3

There was no recording of this class.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Jyoshin Clay
09/22/2019
Right Effort No Effort

Between what, you may well ask? Perhaps between two extremes. Perhaps between one season and the next, or what happens in the middle of a transition from one state, or one life, to another. Perhaps it’s a moment between thoughts on the cushion. It may be another way of saying the Middle Way. Genko explores some of these ways of looking at the theme of this weekend’s retreat.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Sallie Jiko Tisdale
09/15/2019
The Space Between

Between what, you may well ask? Perhaps between two extremes. Perhaps between one season and the next, or what happens in the middle of a transition from one state, or one life, to another. Perhaps it’s a moment between thoughts on the cushion. It may be another way of saying the Middle Way. Genko explores some of these ways of looking at the theme of this weekend’s retreat.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Genko Rainwater
09/11/2019
Foundational Teachings #2

The second class in a series of ten.

Categories: Wednesday Classes

Kakumyo Lowe-Charde, Shin’yu Vitells
09/08/2019
Turning Toward Joy

  Buddha did say, “I teach suffering…” but he went on to say “…and an end to suffering.” In a spiritual tradition rooted in the teaching of suffering, what role does joy play? How does practicing with our suffering facilitate or inform our joy? Senior lay disciple Thomas Bruner explores the concept of turning toward joy with the same curiosity, attention and intention as turning toward suffering

Categories: Dharma Talks

Thomas Koshin Bruner
09/08/2019
Turning Toward Joy

 Buddha did say, “I teach suffering…” but he went on to say “…and an end to suffering.” In a spiritual tradition rooted in the teaching of suffering, what role does joy play? How does practicing with our suffering facilitate or inform our joy? Senior lay disciple Thomas Bruner explores the concept of turning toward joy with the same curiosity, attention and intention as turning toward suffering.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Thomas Koshin Bruner
09/04/2019
Foundational Teachings #1

This is the first class of a ten class series on the basic teachings of the Buddha

Categories: Wednesday Classes

Kakumyo Lowe-Charde
09/01/2019
Meeting Sangha

On the kickoff for Fall Ango 2019, we’ll explore our connection to our sense of purpose and meaning. How do our deepest wishes ripple through the intentions and aspirations of our everyday life? Are we feeding this process, and are we drawing from it appropriately?

Categories: Dharma Talks

Kakumyo Lowe-Charde
Date Title & Details Speaker Listen Download

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