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Recording Categories: Dharma Talks
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Date Title & Details Speaker Listen Download
10/01/2023
Dharma Talk by Jyoshin

Categories: Dharma Talks

Jyoshin Clay
09/24/2023
Readiness and Receiving

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

Kakumyo Lowe-Charde
09/17/2023
Don’t Worry

Categories: Dharma Talks

Sallie Jiko Tisdale
09/10/2023
The Three Tenets

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

Shin’yu Vitells
09/03/2023
Practicing Together

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

Categories: Dharma Talks

Mark Sosetsu Stauffer
08/27/2023
Term Opening

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

Categories: Dharma Talks

Jyoshin Clay
08/20/2023
Loving-Kindness and Trust

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

Daigai Filbert
08/13/2023
Going Forward Is an Everyday Affair

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

Genko Rainwater
08/06/2023
Gathas

Flying Fish talks about Gatha practice.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Flying Fish Murphy
07/30/2023
Impermanence

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

Mike Gyoshi Kaplan
07/23/2023
Juniors and Seniors

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

Sallie Jiko Tisdale
07/16/2023
Post-Pilgrimage

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

Categories: Dharma Talks

Kakumyo Lowe-Charde
07/09/2023
Pilgrimage

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

Genko Rainwater
07/02/2023
A Rock in My Shoe

Categories: Dharma Talks

Jyoshin Clay
06/18/2023
The Poison Arrow

What does it mean to study our past? How do we both practice attention and presence in our life today, and understand wounds and conditions of the past?

Categories: Dharma Talks

Sallie Jiko Tisdale
06/11/2023
Maitreya and Hope

Flying Fish explores the theme of Hope by looking at Maitreya “of future birth.”

Categories: Dharma Talks

Flying Fish Murphy
06/04/2023
Coming Alive in Nature

In her student talk, Zonnyo explores the teaching of suchness in relation to nature, and some history of earth-based practices in Zen and Chan Buddhism. As we experience the climate crisis, what role do joy and grief play in our experience of “just this?”

Categories: Dharma Talks

Zonnyo Riger
05/21/2023
Generosity, Vulnerability, and Belonging

Dana, often translated as giving or generosity, is one of the six perfections of Bodhisattva cultivation and embodiment. It is often described as a merit producing practice of giving that which is life sustaining, but can also be offering dharma or spiritual teaching, or providing freedom from fear. Ultimately, all beings are naturally giving through the unfolding of life, just like a flower blooming in spring provides nectar without thought. This talk will focus on how the capacity for generosity relates to practicing with vulnerability and how holding and befriending vulnerability when it arises can help one realize belonging.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Mark Sosetsu Stauffer
05/14/2023
Savoring Significance

This Sunday Kakumyo will explore an exchange about meaning that happened during last week’s Dharma Talk. Questions about what matters, what we’re practicing for, and how the dharma is expressed all weave their way in.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Kakumyo Lowe-Charde
05/07/2023
What Does it Mean to Practice?

Asking this question can bring up a lot of different answers. Sometimes we think we know what “practice” is or what “our practice” is. At other times, it might seem murky. This week, Jyoshin looks at practice and the ways we can examine what might be fruitful to bring to our efforts or non-efforts.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Jyoshin Clay
04/30/2023
The Buddhist Theory of Everything

Buddhism has a teaching called the Five Niyama, or Laws, that are said to explain how the universe works. Do they? We will discuss.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Sallie Jiko Tisdale
04/23/2023
Be A Good Friend to Yourself

An important part of our Zen practice is meeting each other with acceptance and compassion, but when we don’t measure up to our own expectations, we can be very critical of ourselves. Shin’yu explores what practicing loving kindness towards our own experience might look like.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Shin’yu Vitells
04/16/2023
Grounding Stillness

Kakumyo speaks about the aspect of meditation that is most frequently neglected. If you value meditation, but often wish to experience it differently, this may be useful.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Kakumyo Lowe-Charde
04/02/2023
The Path as We Walk

How do we know where we’re going? To what extent are we learning more, understanding more, getting better? What does it mean to go forward? What happens if we feel like we’re going backward or taking a wrong turn?

Categories: Dharma Talks

Genko Rainwater
03/26/2023
Faith and Confidence

In this talk from January 2002, Kyogen talks about faith and confidence and how they function in our practice. He touches on the Denkoroku, and how practice connects us with our lineage.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Kyogen Carlson
03/19/2023
The Influence of Perception

It matters that we give our attention to some things and not others, but most people have some confusion over how. This Sunday Kakumyo will talk about how our perceiving the world and our experience is an ethical act. How does this change over time and with access to different states of mind?

Categories: Dharma Talks

Kakumyo Lowe-Charde
03/12/2023
Equanimity: The Gift of Impermanence

The work of the heart can feel frightening and tender. It challenges all that we hold dear and breaks down the barriers that make us feel safe but that also separate us from life. By cultivating the practice of the divine abodes, we begin to see the boundless capacity of our heart to open up to life in the face of death.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Flying Fish Murphy
03/05/2023
Taking Refuge in the Sangha

We recite the vow to take refuge in the Three Treasures quite often. But what is refuge? How do we find this elusive place in a diverse community of human beings? 

Categories: Dharma Talks

Sallie Jiko Tisdale
02/26/2023
Bowing

Categories: Dharma Talks

Jyoshin Clay
02/19/2023
Jukai Ceremony
During the Jukai ceremony, individuals receive the Bodhisattva precepts and formally become Buddhists.
From left to right, back row: Will, Dan, Emily, Sarah, Kyle, Kyle, Jay, Gabrielle
From left to right, middle: Amy, Jyoshin (preceptor), Alice, Sasha, Charlie
Kneeling in front: Georgia, Brigitte

Categories: Dharma Talks

No Dharma Talk
02/12/2023
Dharma Spring

Midway between winter and spring, we have our Nehan Festival, in which we commemorate the Buddha’s passing into Parinirvana. Immediately after, we have our Jukai retreat and celebrate the transmission of the precepts. It is a time for renewal and budding of practice after personal and community reflection and application of precept study. The talk is about the regenerative force of our personal and collective efforts and practice.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Mark Sosetsu Stauffer
02/05/2023
What Do I Know?

Consider how you relate to opinions, both your own opinions and those of others. What comes up for you? In what ways do you feel empowered or obstructed by your opinions? What makes an opinion helpful or harmful? What effect do opinions have on your practice? How do they relate to your experience of dukkha? And dive deeper, if you wish, to consider that question “What do I know?” Then drop all that, and come participate in this talk.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Mike Gyoshi Kaplan
Date Title & Details Speaker Listen Download

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