Date Title & Details Speaker Listen Download
07/11/2021
Tipping Points

Sometimes practice flows and we’re carried along by it, sometimes it’s a struggle and we can’t gain any momentum and keep running into setbacks. Although we may prefer the former, there are expressions of Right Effort in each mode. This Sunday, Kakumyo will explore how we relate to this phenomenon and what it signifies.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Kakumyo Lowe-Charde
06/27/2021
Difference and Sameness

Categories: Dharma Talks

Genko Rainwater
06/13/2021
Conjured City

In the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha tells the story of a group of tired travelers who come to a beautiful city where they can rest. He reveals this to be imaginary, the skillful means required to allow them to continue the long journey. What do we conjure for ourselves and for others? When are such resting places useful, and when do we need to shake them off and move on?

Categories: Dharma Talks

Sallie Jiko Tisdale
06/06/2021
Growing Pains

Transformation and spiritual growth tend to be common topics among Zen practitioners. For all that our teachings advise us to sit without a specific goal, often there is some aspiration towards ease and comfort. This path towards ease is not always smooth. We might encounter bumps along the way. How we meet a challenge or difficulty conditions our strategies around meeting the next challenge or the next difficulty. This Sunday, Jyoshin talks about growing pains in spiritual practice, encountering challenges, and drawing strength from that which inspires us.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Jyoshin Clay
05/30/2021
The Dharma of Path

The ordination ceremony contains the phrase: “I have changed my form but kept my wish…” This is an allusion to the continuity of our way-seeking mind, and the variety of particular forms our practice may take over time. This Sunday, Kakumyo will talk about particular ways we realize and display lay and monastic paths of practice.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Kakumyo Lowe-Charde
05/26/2021
Shantideva Class 6

Categories: Wednesday Classes

Thomas Koshin Bruner, Ko’in Newsom
05/23/2021
Languishing and Flourishing

Recent news articles discuss prevalent mind states of people during the pandemic and now as we emerge. The word “languishing” has come up more than once, along with its opposite, “flourishing.” Languishing suggests becoming faint, feeble, or ill, also suffering from being forced to remain in an unpleasant place or situation. The New York Times adds that it is “a sense of stagnation and emptiness. It feels as if you’re muddling through your days, looking at your life through a foggy windshield.” Flourishing speaks to thriving, growing, and developing rapidly. What has your experience been? Genko will explore these mind states and others along with what Buddhist teachings might have to say about them in her talk this Sunday.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Genko Rainwater
05/19/2021
Shantideva Class 5

Categories: Wednesday Classes

Thomas Koshin Bruner, Ko’in Newsom
05/16/2021
Come on, Get Happy

In Buddhism, we spend a lot of time talking about suffering and the relief of suffering, but relatively little time talking about happiness or joy. Should we expect to find joy in “objectless” meditation? Is it OK to pursue happiness? Will Zen practice make us happier? Annen considers these and other questions in this week’s talk.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Jeanna Annen Moyer
05/12/2021
Shantideva Class 4

Categories: Wednesday Classes

Thomas Koshin Bruner, Ko’in Newsom
05/05/2021
Shantideva Class 3

Categories: Wednesday Classes

Thomas Koshin Bruner, Ko’in Newsom
05/02/2021
Wesak

In celebrating Wesak, and contemplating the miraculous story of the Buddha’s birth, we may not find our own circumstances quite so auspicious. Kakumyo will talk about a Zen approach to noticing miracles in our practice.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Kakumyo Lowe-Charde
05/02/2021
Poison Arrows

Concern with how our karma developed is sometimes compared to being shot with a poison arrow. Don’t ask who shot it or how it was made, just get it out. But practice pushes us to confront past events and how they shape us. How do we look at the past in a wholesome way?

Categories: Dharma Talks

Sallie Jiko Tisdale
04/28/2021
Shantideva Class 2

Categories: Wednesday Classes

Thomas Koshin Bruner, Ko’in Newsom
04/21/2021
Shantideva Class 1

Categories: Wednesday Classes

Thomas Koshin Bruner, Ko’in Newsom
04/18/2021
Liberating Investigation

This week we welcome a guest teacher, Ryushin Hart. Ryushin’s talk will explore a pervasive and pernicious obstacle to wholeheartedly living our spiritual path and the steps to decrease its impact.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Thomas Koshin Bruner, Ko’in Newsom
04/11/2021
Spring Sangha Forum

Twice a year, the sangha has an opportunity to hear from our governing bodies and to ask questions and give feedback. In the spring, the forum is sponsored by the Dharma Council, giving updates on liturgy, classes, etc. The Board, Dharma Garden Council, and DEI will also give updates.

Categories: Sangha Forum

Thomas Koshin Bruner, Ko’in Newsom
04/07/2021
The Seven Factors of Enlightenment Class 7

Categories: Wednesday Classes

Sokuchu Mader, Zonnyo Riger
04/04/2021
A Walk in the Park

Kakumyo talks about discovering the absolute within the relative.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Kakumyo Lowe-Charde
03/31/2021
The Seven Factors of Enlightenment Class 6

Categories: Wednesday Classes

Sokuchu Mader, Zonnyo Riger
03/28/2021
Faith, Hope, and Charity

There’s a Christian song that starts “Have Faith, Hope, and Charity; that’s the way to live successfully.” These somewhat old-fashioned words, Biblical words, words in a song, speak of values we cherish in Buddhism as well, though we may express it somewhat differently.

What are these three virtues, and how do they manifest in our lives? What does it mean to have faith, to have hope, to have charity? Genko explores these questions and more in her Dharma Talk.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Genko Rainwater
03/24/2021
The Seven Factors of Enlightenment Class 5

Categories: Wednesday Classes

Sokuchu Mader, Zonnyo Riger
03/21/2021
Ripple Effects

Sometimes the dharma rain seeps in and nourishes us in the way we’re hoping. Other times it seems to bounce off like a spring hail. Perhaps there’s no obvious button to push to change things. When we’re caught like this, we’re probably narrowing the range of our experience so the specific insult takes up more space than is warranted. This Sunday, Kakumyo will speak about how our basic relationship to emptiness subtly impacts virtually every other dharmic and life decision and perception. When we can make a little pivot in a very deep, central part of our experience, the effect can ripple through many different aspects of our life.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Kakumyo Lowe-Charde
03/17/2021
The Seven Factors of Enlightenment Class 4

Categories: Wednesday Classes

Sokuchu Mader, Zonnyo Riger
03/14/2021
Identity Injury

All the qualities of our identity are empty of self-nature, especially the qualities of the body. Yet such things as skin color and gender are often treated as “real” – as permanent, fixed, and conveying value. Suffering is the result. The talk this week will focus on this ‘injury of identity,’ particularly in regard to gender, and what it means to ally on behalf of such identifiers even as we reject them as true identity. Why do we recite a women’s lineage? Why do we point out gender as a characteristic when the Dharma tells us all such characteristics are empty?

Categories: Dharma Talks

Sallie Jiko Tisdale
03/10/2021
The Seven Factors of Enlightenment Class 3

Categories: Wednesday Classes

Sokuchu Mader, Zonnyo Riger
03/07/2021
How Not to Zen

One of the barriers many people experience in meditation practice, and especially in the Zen tradition, are concerns about whether we are going to do it wrong. This shows up in many distinct flavors, sharing a common theme of anxiety. This Sunday Kakumyo will talk about how we meet this barrier and how it relates to sangha treasure and the ongoing, lifelong practice of awareness.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Kakumyo Lowe-Charde
03/03/2021
The Seven Factors of Enlightenment Class 2

Categories: Wednesday Classes

Sokuchu Mader, Zonnyo Riger
02/28/2021
New Beginnings

A sense of spring is vibrating toward manifesting. Frogs are singing a symphony each night at Siskiyou Square. We spotted crocuses coming up in the garden, and there’s a hint of color in the plum grove. In spite of the recent ice and snow, and the fact that we could still get more cold weather, even snow, during the next couple of months, there’s a definite feeling of spring in the air. With new beginnings, it’s sometimes tempting to forget about the past and just forge ahead as if it never happened. Certainly I’ve seen a lot of people want to expunge 2020 from memory. It’s been almost a year since we closed the temple for a time during the first Covid lockdown. What have we learned during the past year to carry forward positively into these new beginnings?

Categories: Dharma Talks

Genko Rainwater
02/24/2021
The Seven Factors of Enlightenment Class 1

Categories: Wednesday Classes

Sokuchu Mader, Zonnyo Riger
02/14/2021
A Zen Valentine

Valentine’s Day, a day to profess romantic love to your special someone. Chocolate, cards, flowers, coziness, making that extra effort to show you care. What might this look like in a Zen context? Rather than making an extra effort for that special someone, what if you expressed your love for everyone? What if you cultivated compassion not only on one calendar day, but all days? What would that take?

Categories: Dharma Talks

Jyoshin Clay
02/10/2021
Precepts Class 6

Categories: Wednesday Classes

Genko Rainwater
Date Title & Details Speaker Listen Download

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