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Date Title & Details Speaker Listen Download
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
11/03/2019
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
10/27/2019
Sejiki

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

Categories: Dharma Talks

No Dharma Talk
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
10/06/2019
On Founders Day

This is a recorded talk from Kyogen Carlson

Categories: Dharma Talks

Kyogen Carlson
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
09/22/2019
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
09/08/2019
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
09/01/2019
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
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
08/25/2019
Receptivity to Purpose

This week we will talk about interdependence, dependence, and the practice of meeting old age, disease and death around us, drawing on some early Pali sources for inspiration

Categories: Dharma Talks

Kakumyo Lowe-Charde
08/18/2019
Dynamic Balance

For many zen practitioners – oldtimers, newcomers, and those in their zen-midlife, there is a question of “how much?” How much formal practice? How much time spent at the temple? How much time spent studying Buddhism? Often the reply that comes is a perplexing, “find a balance.” What does this even mean? What does a balanced practice look like? How do we recognize that sweet spot?

Categories: Dharma Talks

Jyoshin Clay
08/11/2019
High Places Low Places

Categories: Dharma Talks

Genko Rainwater
08/04/2019
Tide Pools

 With late summer settling in, the coast beckons. A cool breeze, ocean waters, little purple anemone. Anticipation and delight fill the mind. How do we keep refreshing enjoyment from becoming sticky attachment? What happens when anticipation meets actual experience? This Sunday Jyoshin talks about the dharma teachings of tide pools.    

Categories: Dharma Talks

Jyoshin Clay
07/28/2019
How Long Does it Take?

This Sunday, Kakumyo will give a numerical answer to this often asked question about Zen practice. Should be a short talk.    

Categories: Dharma Talks

Kakumyo Lowe-Charde
07/21/2019
Millions of Manjushris

In a society that trains us for standing out and being special; collecting likes and retweets; and developing our personal brand, how can the teachings of our ancestors even be relevant? Did Dogen offer anything that comes close to addressing the needs of this world? (hint: the answer is ‘yes’.)  

Categories: Dharma Talks

Jyoshin Clay
07/14/2019
Small Jobs

There are many invisible beings supporting our practice. Sometimes we think of our tasks as small or unimportant. But in the matrix of Buddha Nature, no task can be greater or smaller than another. How do we approach our tasks when there seems to be a difference in importance?  

Categories: Dharma Talks

Sallie Jiko Tisdale
07/07/2019
The End of Life As We Know It

Genko starts with a recent book that describes and explores the previous five mass extinction events on this planet, and goes on to talk about other disasters, moving from global to regional to community to personal. What is a disaster, and how do we practice with it?

Categories: Dharma Talks

Genko Rainwater
06/23/2019
Do I Understand You Correctly

This week we are in Genzo-e sesshin, working with the Dogen’s commentary on a chapter of the Diamond Sutra focusing on the “Ungraspable Mind”. This Sunday Jyoshin will look closer at this chapter through the lens of the Buddha’s Five Eyes.  

Categories: Dharma Talks

Jyoshin Clay
06/16/2019
Stages of Understanding

We are told that enlightenment is not a matter of stages. But we all occupy roles in our lives which reflect stages of development. How do we meet our practice through archetypal experience? In what way do we grow into an understanding that is already complete?

Categories: Dharma Talks

Sallie Jiko Tisdale
06/09/2019
Opening Gates, Inviting Depth

In this talk, Kakumyo explores how we allow and prevent awakening in our interactions with others, using a story from the Vimalakirti Sutra as a guide.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Kakumyo Lowe-Charde
05/26/2019
Form and Practice

As we end Ango and approach the summer, the way we practice changes for many of us. Forms are reduced and relaxed as people go on vacations, spend more time outdoors, and often less time in the zendo. Genko explores some ways that we practice with this change, the value of it, and the vague anxiety and sense of deprivation some people feel as a result of this change in the seasons. Why do we practice? What happens when practice changes?

Categories: Dharma Talks

Genko Rainwater
05/12/2019
Who Are We?

We put a lot of effort in our Zen Practice into examining who we are. Kakumyo speaks to the balance of knowing who we are, and still being curious to seeing new parts of ourselves.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Kakumyo Lowe-Charde
05/12/2019
Daoren – Home Practice

Kyri Kengan Trieman, who is the guiding teacher for the Daoren Circle, will talk about practice when we are away from the temple.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Kyri Kengan Trieman
04/28/2019
Dharma Cloud Lineage

Come join us during this first day-long event honoring the Dharma Cloud lineage welcoming all affiliates and related practitioners. The morning will be devoted to sharing our traditional forms including an introduction of all the various groups attending, and a panel dharma talk by Kakumyo (DRZC Abbot), Domyo (Bright Way Zen), and Seido (Zen West / Empty Field Zendo) on the significance of the lineage.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Domyo Burk, Kakumyo Lowe-Charde, Debra Seido Martin
04/21/2019
Just Say Yes

There are so many ways that the world will say no to our desires. But we also say no to ourselves and to the world. How do we say yes? In Zen practice, there is a deep affirmation that we can bring to our everyday life as well as our practice.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Sallie Jiko Tisdale
04/07/2019
Coming Back to Life

In the depths of winter it is easy to be deluded that nothing changes and the grey and cold will last forever. In the depths of adult life that delusion can arise as well. Yes, little things change, but nothing fundamental changes, we think. Drifting and dreaming, life passes by. The practice of zen teaches us to wake up – either startling us to realization or helping us to slowly move towards wakefulness. This Sunday, Jyoshin will share a talk about waking up, springtime, and this mysterious path of practice.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Jyoshin Clay
03/31/2019
Nurturing Mind

In his “Instructions to the Cook,” Dogen lists three qualities of mind that the Head Cook, or Tenzo, of a monastery must cultivate: Joyful Mind, Nurturing Mind and Magnanimous Mind. Shin’yu explores the second of these, Nurturing Mind, and the wish to take care of the things and people of our world.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Shin’yu Vitells
03/24/2019
As the Dharma Wheel Turns

On March 24, the sixteen participants and three staff who worked together in an intensive 10-day training for sangha leaders finished their time together. Three of the participants shared short dharma talks that they developed in the course of the training to give the rest of us a taste of what they’ve did. People came from near and far to do this training, staying here, sharing meals and the schedule, and enjoying some outings. Kakumyo, Jiko, and Jyoshin organized and presented the training.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Will Holcomb, Kate Ryushin Korn-McKenna, John Jundo Lowney
03/17/2019
Impermanence

Anicca, or Impermanence, looms large among our basic Buddhist teachings. It’s one of the three characteristics of existence and is intimately related to the Four Noble Truths. Impermanence seems pretty straightforward – everything changes. It’s pretty easy to accept that intellectually, but not so easy to live in congruence with it. Why do we struggle so hard to avoid impermanence? What are our often unconscious strategies for avoiding it? How can we avoid avoiding it? Who are we when we don’t avoid it? We explore these questions together.

Categories: Dharma Talks

Mike Gyoshi Kaplan
Date Title & Details Speaker Listen Download

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