Recordings

Categories: Dharma Talks

Categories: Dharma Talks

What happens when we set an intention, make a vow to change something in our lives? Often, resistance arises. What is that, what causes it, and how can we work with it?

Categories: Dharma Talks

Categories: Dharma Talks

What if the whole of Zen practice, from meditation to the precepts to kensho and back again, is all about learning how to love? What if the only reason we come into being is to learn to love?

Categories: Dharma Talks

This talk centers around questions of how to integrate formal practice into ordinary daily life. Our formal practice can feel separate from our everyday way, and at times, we might long for it to be otherwise. Questions around integrating precept work, mindfulness, sesshin, and zazen are not uncommon.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Jiko explores a concept from Developmental Psychology of the true self and the false self in the light of Buddhist practice. In what ways do we hide, and in what ways do we hope to be seen?

Categories: Dharma Talks

This isn’t a talk on body mechanics, but on how, as aspiring bodhisattvas, we situate ourselves in relation to the suffering around and within us. How do we structure our life, how do we frame the events and interactions around us in a way that nurtures and expresses our bodhisattva nature?

Categories: Dharma Talks

Jyoshin uses an illustration from her hospital chaplain work to talk about some of the ways we get caught trying to be perfect and in so doing lose sight of the reality and importance being present with things as they are.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Dogen says, “Continuous practice, day after day, is the most appropriate way of expressing gratitude. This means that you practice continuously, without wasting a single day of your life”. What does continuous practice look like in our everyday lives?

Categories: Dharma Talks

As Rohatsu begins, we consider our relationship to awakening. Is it near or far? Vast or ordinary? Sometimes we can’t help but smile.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Chan Master Hongzhi instructed us, “Contact phenomena with total sincerity, not a single atom of dust outside yourself.” Gyoshi explores implications of this instruction.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Categories: Dharma Talks

During the Mountains and Waters Wilderness Retreat, we spend time as a group learning to navigate and orient as we journey and explore. Orientation skills are helpful not only when we get turned around or confused about where we are; when we need to change direction and explore uncharted territory; or when we are traveling off trail; but also to be at ease with being part of what is wild and unconditioned. This talk shares themes related to Zen practice.

Categories: Dharma Talks

For Founders Day, Jiko talks about Keido Chisan, whose enlightened approach to Zen practice proved critical to the making of our temple today. On this day we pay homage to our most recent ancestors, even as we remember that each of us must find the path that is ours alone.

Categories: Dharma Talks

As we approach our annual Sejiki Sesshin, Genko looks at both karma and how we work with it and at those who have died in the past year and how these relics of the past remain part of our lives.

Categories: Dharma Talks

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. At the forum, the sangha has an opportunity to hear from our governing bodies and to ask questions and give feedback. The Board of Directors sponsors the fall forum, and gives updates. The Dharma Council also presents updates.

Categories: Dharma Talks

In this talk Flying Fish looks at the paramita of generosity as a gateway to awakening. The more we are able to let go the more we are able to connect to the tender heart of wisdom.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Categories: Dharma Talks

Kakumyo explores some themes from the Lotus Sutra and Dogen relating to our ability to absorb Dharma. Where do we find it, what gets in the way, and what does that tell us about reality? [Note: apologies for the poor quality of the recording.]

Categories: Dharma Talks

Categories: Dharma Talks

The Three Tenets of the Zen Peacemaker’s Order are: Not Knowing, Bearing Witness, and Taking Action. We’ll look at the practice of sesshin through the lens of these three tenets.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Sosetsu talks about two slogans – Practicing Together and Be a Good Ancestor – and a little about sports.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Jyoshin talks about forms: how we work with form and practice in a big-picture view. 

Categories: Dharma Talks

Trust is important in an ongoing Buddhist practice. However, fear and apprehension can sometimes interfere with its expression. Metta (lovingkindness) practice can disarm us and provide the sense of openness and safety needed for the arising of trust. Daigai reflects on the benefits of metta practice, particularly the connection between lovingkindness and the manifesting of trust.

Categories: Dharma Talks

This line in the Fukanzazengi, which we recite for our evening program, snagged my attention this week. What is going forward? What is an everyday affair? How do we live our everyday lives in such a way that we keep going forward?

Categories: Dharma Talks

Flying Fish talks about Gatha practice.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Anicca, or Impermanence, looms large among our basic Buddhist teachings. It’s one of the three Marks of Existence and is intimately related to the Four Noble Truths. Impermanence seems pretty straightforward: everything changes. It’s pretty easy to intellectually accept that, but not so easy to wholeheartedly live it. Why do we struggle so hard to avoid impermanence? What are our often unconscious strategies for avoiding it? How can we engage with it? Who are we when we stop resisting impermanence?

Categories: Dharma Talks

It is said that a senior is a person wholly comfortable with being a junior. What does that mean? How does this simple designation of rank work in practice? What are the lessons each can give us?

Categories: Dharma Talks

Kakumyo shares some stories about the Pilgrimage that 12 people went on, and draws some lessons from it.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Twelve Dharma Rain members leave today (July 9) on Pilgrimage to visit several temples south of us. We are going to the Bay Area and back home, stopping along the way, and will be gone for a week. This Dharma Talk explores the topic of Pilgrimage: what is it, how does it relate to our lives, and how does it differ from other forms of travel?

Categories: Dharma Talks

Categories: Dharma Talks