MN Zen Meditation Center: Sunday Talks

Talk given by Ben Connelly. Sunday Talks from the Zen Meditation Center on Lake Calhoun in Minneapolis, MN. Donations appreciated at MnZenCenter.org.

Talk given by Tim Burkett. Sunday Talks from the Zen Meditation Center on Lake Calhoun in Minneapolis, MN. Donations appreciated at MnZenCenter.org.

Talk given by Bussho Lahn. A pigeon cries - even deep in the Thousand Islands it's Buddha's world -Issa

Talk given by Ted O'Toole. Sunday Talks from the Zen Meditation Center on Lake Calhoun in Minneapolis, MN. Donations appreciated at MnZenCenter.org.

Talk given by Tim Burkett. You must be true to your own way until you come to the point where you forget all about yourself. -- Suzuki Roshi

Talk given by Andrea Martin. "Every creation is born of the dark...Help us to be gardeners of the spirit who know that without darkenss nothing comes to birth, as without light nothing flowers." -May Sarton, from "The Kingdom of Kali"

Talk given by Tim Burkett. This dewdrop world Is a dewdrop world And yet - and yet - Issa (1813) This was written on the one-year anniversary of the death of Issa's firstborn child, the boy Sentard.

Talk given by Busso Lahn. You know quite well, deep within you, that there is only a single magic, a single power, a single salvation...and that is called loving. Well then, love your suffering. Do not resist it, do not flee from it. It is your aversion that hurts, nothing else. - Herman Hesse

Talk given by Tim Burkett. Sunday Talks from the Zen Meditation Center on Lake Calhoun in Minneapolis, MN. Donations appreciated at MnZenCenter.org.

Talk given by Ben Connelly. "I developed a state called facing in all directions" Maitrayani from the Ganhavyuha in the Avatamsaka sutra "The original master is present, not dwelling South or North, East or West. Firmly based on steadiness." Shitou, from Song of the Grass Roof Hermitage "This is the unusual thing about non-violence, nobody is defeated" Martin Luther King Jr.

Talk given by Ted O'Toole. Chao-chou asked Nan-ch'uan, "What is the Tao?" Nan'ch'uan said, "Ordinary mind is the Tao." Chao-chou asked, "Should I direct myself toward it?" Nan-ch'uan said, "If you try to direct yourself you betray your own practice." Chao-chou asked, "How can I know the Tao if I don't direct myself?" Nan-ch'uan said, "The Tao is not subject to knowing or not knowing. Knowing is delusion; not knowing is blankness. If you truly reach the genuine Tao, you will find it is as vast and boundless as outer space. How can this be discusssed at the level of affirmation and negation?" With these words, Chao-chou had sudden realization.

Talk given by Rosemary Taylor. Silence is always present, even in the noisiest places. In noisy places, it's harder to notice the silence. But it's there and it's much bigger than any noise that gets put in top of it. It is the ground that noise stands on. --Brad Warner

Talk given by Rosemary Taylor. This is the 66th autumn I have seen. The moon still lights my face. Don't ask me about the meaning of Zen teachings; Just listen to what the pines and cedars say on a windless night. -Ryonen Gesho, 17th century Zen nun and poet

Talk given by Tim Burkett. The snake which cannot cast its skin has to die. - Nietzsche

Talk given by Ted O'Toole. You have gained the pivotal opportunity of human form. Do not pass your days and nights in vain. You are taking care of the essential activity of the buddha way. Who would take wasteful delight in the spark from a flintstone? Besides, form and substance are like the dew on the grass, the fortunes of life like a dart of lightning - emptied in an instant, vanished in a flash. Please, honored followers of Zen, long accustomed to groping for the elephant, do not doubt the true dragon. Devote your energies to the way of direct pointing at the real. Revere the one who has gone beyond learning and is free from effort. Accord with the enlightenment of all the buddhas; succeed to the samadhi of all the ancestors. Continue to live in such a way, and you will be such a person. The treasure store will open itself, and you may enjoy it freely.