San Francisco Zen Center Dharma Talks

How it is that our fundamental human affliction ─ our everyday messy karmic consciousness ─ is none other than the unchanging, ever-present clear, and luminous knowledge of Buddhas? Abbot David explores this inquiry through an exploration of Case 37 of the Book of Serenity, "Guishan's Karmic Consciousness". 11/06/2021, Tenzen David Zimmerman, dharma talk at City Center.

The Avatamsaka Sutra tells us that “Ordinary beings live according to their karma, being their karmic habitual tendencies, while a bodhisattva lives according to vow.” How might we understand this teaching? How can we learn to transform our karma ─ and our lives ─ through the power of vow? 11/03/2021, Tenzen David Zimmerman, dharma talk at City Center.

Scholar, author, priest and social activist Duncan Ryuken Williams teaches in the talk on the text Sandokai, situating it in its context among Buddhist teachings on shifting vantage points, and correlates the wisdom of this ancient Zen text with the present concerns for racial reparations, justice, and healing. 10/31/2021, Duncan Ryuken Williams, dharma talk at Green Gulch Farm.

A history of Sejiki Cermony, feeding of the hungry ghost. An open-hearted wish to welcome all beings without discrimination. 10/30/2021, Doshin Mako Voelkel, dharma talk at City Center.

Continuing the conversation on the harmony of absolute and relative truths, this talks suggests that we zazen is a good place to focus on the inconceivable reality, to discover, as Suzuki Roshi says, "who we are and what things are in their true sense." 10/24/2021, Jiryu Rutschman-Byler, dharma talk at Green Gulch Farm.

A talk exploring how the study the self is an opportunity to understand and heal our individual and collective karma. 10/23/2021, Horin Nancy Petrin, dharma talk at City Center.

Abbot David shares some approaches for how we might view karma in relation to the concepts of choice, free will, and determinism from a Buddhist orientation. 10/20/2021, Tenzen David Zimmerman, dharma talk at City Center.

This talk is based on Suzuki roshi’s lectures (from the book Branching Streams Flow in the Darkness) on Zen Master Shitou’s poem about the relationship between the ultimate truth and the relative truth, The Harmony of Difference and Equality. 10/17/2021, Furyu Schroeder, dharma talk at Green Gulch Farm.

A Dharma talk exploring the themes of karma, love, power and control and the Dharma practices of non-attaching or letting go. 10/16/2021, Shosan Victoria Austin, dharma talk at City Center.

10/13/2021, Ryushin Paul Haller, dharma talk at Tassajara.

10/12/2021, Ryushin Paul Haller, dharma talk at Tassajara.

10/11/2021, Ryushin Paul Haller, dharma talk at Tassajara.

10/10/2021, Ryushin Paul Haller, dharma talk at Tassajara.

What are reactivity and responsiveness? How do they work in terms of inner process, impact and relational practice? 10/10/2021, Korin Charlie Pokorny, dharma talk at Green Gulch Farm.

10/09/2021, Ryushin Paul Haller, dharma talk at Tassajara.