San Francisco Zen Center Dharma Talks

10/05/2022, Rinso Ed Sattizahn and Tenzen David Zimmerman, dharma talk at City Center. In the first dharma talk of the Fall practice period, Abbots Ed and David provide an introduction to 'encounter dialogues' and the venerable koan collection of The Blue Cliff Record, including the enlightenment stories of its primary authors, Xuedou and Yuanwu.

10/01/2022. Marcia Lieberman, dharma talk at City Center. Three main questions posed by Lieberman: How to behave; what to wear; how to travel— answered with stories, poetry, and the words of Dogen, Suzuki Roshi, and Utpalavarna.

09/25/2022, Kokyo Henkel, dharma talk at Green Gulch Farm. Kokyo Henkel brings up the relative and ultimate aspects of the ground of reality, that which obscures it, the path of practice to see through the obscurations, and the fruition of practice - and case 21 of the Book of Serenity: Yunyan Sweeps the Ground.

09/24/2022, Anshi Zachary Smith, dharma talk at City Center. We discuss the precepts, giving a bit of history, and how they changed as Buddhism was infused with new ideas from the Mahayana philosophers and practitioners. In particular, we talk about the way in which the six Paramitas were proposed, at least in part, as a positive and aspirational adjunct to the Precepts. We also bring along a Koan, in which Dàzhū Huìhǎi remarks that Dana Paramita, the perfection of Generosity, is the key to all the others, as a way of revealing how the two lists inform and support each other.

09/21/2022, Kodo Conlin, dharma talk at City Center. Taking a page from Dogen's own collection of koans, we consider Guishan's conversation with Yangshan about a gift of silk -- What role does giving play in our practice of radical thusness? And, what does our Zen tradition contribute to the conversation about such a foundational Dharma practice?

09/18/2022, Zenju Earthlyn Manuel, dharma talk at Green Gulch Farm. Zazen can be a portal to opening the mind that perceives all things, even the trouble we are experiencing in the world today. The poet Rumi wrote, "I have lived on the lip of insanity, wanting to know reasons, knocking on a door. It opens. I've been knocking from the inside." Can sitting meditation open our personal and collective minds in a way that deals with chaos? Can the mudra of our hands act as an antenna to receive all that is happening in the world and perceive it from a place of liberation?

09/17/2022, Anshi Zachary Smith, dharma talk at City Center. We discuss Case 5 of the Book of Serenity - “Qīngyuán and the Price of Rice” - and how, as in all good Koans, Qīngyuán answer to the monk’s question about the essential meaning of Buddhism is (at least) three phrases in one. We’ll see how those three phrases constitute as good an answer as any in history to the question of how to live an exemplary and wondrous life.

09/10/2022, Sozan Michael McCord, dharma talk at City Center. Our Zen practice gives us the context and tools to be with and meet the moments in our life, honing our gut as to whether to tighten or release, to act or wait. And the HOW of that learning comes from the many teachers around us. And if we can become aware of what we are learning and seek out those who may be able to demonstrate a way to walk paths we are unable to traverse, it gives us the experience of what a tuned note even sounds like. And then, we start to let our own expression unfold in how to navigate more skillfully.

09/14/2022, Shundo David Haye, dharma talk at City Center. Drawing on the teachings of Suzuki Roshi and Dogen, Shundo reflects on the history of City Center and how to move forward with our practice in uncertain times.

09/07/2022, Roger Hillyard, dharma talk at City Center. Using the hindrance of Remorse and the paramita of Generosity.

09/03/2022, Eijun Linda Cutts, dharma talk at City Center. Reflections on the importance of the central practice of confession and repentance with stories of our ancestors.

09/01/2022, Shinchi Linda Galijan, dharma talk at Tassajara.

08/31/2022, Kogen Kim Hart, dharma talk at City Center. Kim present a lively discourse on the nature of time and what has been revealed to her on the subject over her 30 years practising in the Soto Zen tradition.

08/28/2022, Wendy Johnson, dharma talk at Green Gulch Farm. Wendy reflects on the Dharma of farming and shares principles by which to practice.

08/27/2022, Zesho Susan O'Connell, dharma talk at City Center. Practice is more than following the breath, and happens inside and outside the zendo. This talk investigates qualities of practice that are possible and that help us be more available to help others skillfully.