The fundamental issue is the suffering, anxiety and difficulty we run into, sometimes with no apparent cause. We are trying to squeeze some happiness out of samsara. You can’t fix it. This is the illusion you need to see. If you see this, nothing will be running your life.

https://youtu.be/kL1GDEqPOS4

sokukoji.org

Can't Fix It - 03-13-24 with Sokuzan - sokukoji.org

04/24/2024, Kodo Conlin, dharma talk at City Center.
In this talk, given at Beginner's Mind Temple, Kodo Conlin discusses this rich topic. Here, we resolve the distance between speaker and listener to turn the questions, "What is the shape of our practice?" and "How do we stay intimate with Dharma?" Also, haiku by Mitsu Suzuki one day after the 110th anniversary of her birth.

Intimacy and the Shape of our Practice

04/27/2024, Kyoshin Wendy Lewis, dharma talk at City Center.
In this talk, given at Beginner's Mind Temple, Kyoshin Wendy Lewis discusses the Zen text "Harmony of Difference and Equality". Written in the 8th century in China, the "Harmony of Difference and Equality" holds significant importance in Zen history. It is chanted daily in many Zen temples and at the memorial ceremonies of founding teachers. The tone of the poem is an examination of the interactivity of the relative and absolute truths. In his commentary on the poem, Shunryu Suzuki says "The capacity of the human mind has three aspects: potentiality, interrelationship, and appropriateness. ... [T]he 'interrelationship between someone who helps and someone who is helped' is called jihi [which] is usually translated as ‘love.'"

Sekito Kisen's Difference and Equality

04/28/2024, Zoketsu Norman Fischer, dharma talk at Green Gulch Farm.
In this talk Zoketsu discusses case 19 of Mumonkan, Nanchuan’s Everyday Mind. Our practice is very plain and ordinary, and yet, the plain and ordinary world is also vast and wide, and when we practice zazen regularly we can begin to live in it with that appreciation. To end his talk Zoketsu quotes at length from a commentary to this story by his late teacher Sojun Weitsman, from his new posthumous book Seeing One Thing Through.

Everyday Mind Is The Way

Return To Stillness - 05-12-24 with Sokuzan - sokukoji.org

Strict Solitary Retreat - 05-15-24 with Sokuzan - sokukoji.org

05/01/2024, panel discussion at City Center.
In this discussion, held in place of the regular Wednesday night dharma talk at Beginner's Mind Temple, Eli Brown-Stevenson leads a discussion featuring Community Village co-founders Caleb Tenenbaum, Nina Raddy, and Richard Bae; and, representing San Francisco Zen Center, resident priest Sozan Michael McCord. Community Village is an emerging peer-led, co-created, pan-Buddhist meditation community primarily focused on younger meditators. San Francisco Zen Center is a long-established Buddhist training organization, firmly based on the Soto Zen lineage of Japan. In the discussion, many common themes and experiences emerge, as well as notable areas of overlap and mutual support.

Building the Spiritual Community of the Future

05/04/2024, Jisho Lisa Beth Hoffman, dharma talk at City Center.
In this talk, given at Beginner's Mind Temple, Jisho Lisa Beth Hoffman explores the meaning of refuge and the experience of doing so through teacher, teaching and community - Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.  Sharing herexperiences with Heart teacher Surei Darlene Cohen and mentor Ninsen Lee Lipp, this talk is personal, engaging and encouraging.

Taking Refuge

05/12/2024, Thiemo Blank, dharma talk at Green Gulch Farm. This talk was presented  by Thiemo on Mothers Day at the end of an introductory Sesshin (meditation retreat)  at Green Dragon Temple.
The Investigation of   - “the true dragon” (Reality / Thusness)  - in Sesshin  is likened  to the ancient  story of the blind men investigating an Elephant. The speaker suggests that  Forms and Ceremonies offer  a path  to wholeheartedly and intimately connect to the “dragon”.  
As babies we were in accord with the flow of Reality but as adults we lost connection by our focus on conceptual thinking. Returning  to our original intimacy we need to learn the “backward step” that Dogen is teaching.

Dragons Love Ceremonies

Questions From Sangha - Basic Buddhist Teachings with Sokuzan - 05-17-24 - sokukoji.org

Enlightened Outflows - 05-19-24 with Sokuzan - sokukoji.org

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Can't Fix It - 03-13-24 with Sokuzan - sokukoji.org

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