By Henry Shukman: Associate Master Sanbo Zen
Santa Fe, NM
Description: Henry reminds us that training is our own work, effort, commitment and investment of time and energy. Yet the context of practice pulls us outside of ourselves, out of
The unadjusted step is a way of naming this moment. Valerie Forstman Description: Valerie Forstman offers this post-election talk and acknowledges our deeply divided nation. She introduces the taoist
“… samadhi … bringing together or unification …” Description: Our Sanbo Zen lineage has traditionally focused on kensho (sudden awakening) experiences which offer a complete, though often brief, shift in
“… This very moment is awakening ...” Description: Valerie Forstman’s dharma talk probes Case 23 from the Blue Cliff Record, Hofuku and Chokei on an Outing. Hofuku says “This very moment
“… ultimate meaning of the holy truth … Vast and void, no holiness ...” Description: Guest speaker and Sanbo Zen teacher Hannelore Mueller opens this beautiful talk recognizing the seriousness
“… has a strange power to remove and delete delusions, concepts and unnecessary attachments ...” Description: Listen to this personal and powerful talk from Carmen Afable, Sanbo Zen teacher from
“… The beauty of Zen is its simplicity. The challenge of Zen also is its simplicity ...” Description: This Sunday morning talk by Henry Shukman starts with a guided meditation
“… When we find a path and follow it … we will be able to say, this was a precious path ...” Description: Henry describes the heart break and love
Description: Dr Maria Reis Habito describes her experiences and work with dharma Master Hsin Tao. Maria Reis Habito is the International Program Director of the Museum of World Religions, the
“… from a Zen perspective God is indeed everywhere ...” “… Does a practice lead to God where one forgets about God?. ...” Description: Sanbo Zen teacher Marlis Muting discusses
“… Have courage. Have trust. Let go. Surrender. Grow. ...” Description: Traditionally in Buddhism, there were three phases in the growth of practitioners. One must move beyond sati and samadhi
“… how modern-day bodhisattvas may direct their efforts toward the benefit of all beings ...” “… Nondual, non-selfish engagement with the world is an essential part of our practice ...”
“… the silence that is our very essence ...” “… The reality of silence knows no birth and no death ...” Description: In this talk, Migaku Sato Roshi discusses how
“… What holds us back from experiencing the boundless freedom of who we truly are? ...” Description: In the aftermath of the death of George Floyd in 2020, Valerie takes
Description: Henry talks about the corona-virus pandemic and endemic racism in America and what our practice offers as a solution to racism; bearing witness from deep realization of inseparability. And,
“… Zen is a mechanism for letting go ...” “… One fruit of wisdom is not being so caught up in having our desires met ...” Description: Zen draws its
“… The capacity to awaken is not something you have. It’s what you are ...” Description: In this talk given jointly by Valerie and Henry on the last day of
“… Mu cuts through our false sense of separation...” Description: A monk asked Haryo, “What is the sharpest sword?” He replied, “Each branch of corral reflects the moon.” Taking up
“… we must drop all the schemes and agendas we may bring to our sitting ...” “… I want to devote myself to the capaciousness of my heart ...” Description:
“… how we can make significant changes in our lives if we start out small ...” “… Little by little, a little becomes a lot ...” Description: Behavioral coach
“… Focusing on the breath, we learn how to tame the delusive mind ...” Description: Master Joshu features in several important koans in the Zen canon. He is often heard
“… Reflect now whether any being or any world is left out of this present moment ...” Description: Valerie Forstman leads us through an examination of what it means to
“… The image of mountains is common to many spiritual traditions but is especially fitting for Zen practitioners ... “… This truth knows no obstacles anywhere...” Description: This talk was
“… Bodhidharma Puts the Mind at Rest...” Description: Ruben Roshi has been both Henry and Valerie’s teacher. He is the guiding teacher at the Maria Kannon Zen Center in Dallas
“… how everyday experience is actually as vast and boundless as outer space ...” “… By letting everything be, things have the intrinsic capacity to release themselves ...” Description: Resuming the discussion
“… Many flavors of awakening exist, constituting one mountain range …” “… If you’re lucky enough to get up the mountain, you’ve still got to come down again ...” Description: A
“… a world that is so near to us yet so well able to maintain itself that we needn’t do anything to influence it …” “… Zazen has been described
“… subjectivity of deeper states of meditation …” “… What is the price of rice?’ Why is that the totality of the human experience of awakening?” ...” Description: Following a
“… Sitting is the vehicle for discovering innate “awakened-ness.” ...” Description: Case 1 of the Book of Equanimity offers a beautiful example of how an awakened person might expound the dharma
“… Practice wears thin the veil between non-awakened and awakened experience ...” Description: The questions raised after this Sunday sitting and lecture touch upon kensho, or Zen awakening, and what might
“… to learn to surrender to forces beyond our control ...” “… From the Zen point of view, every moment is holy ...” Description: In continuing the discussion about levels of Zen
“… Koans are invitations to pass through the gate of separation ...” Description: How can we learn through the pandemic crisis to let go of the sense of separateness that is
“… koan Mu can give us a glimpse of the boundless love that pervades the whole universe …” “… Whatever we’re not welcoming, that’s our great teacher ...” Description: Continuing on
“… join with human beings around the world in unravelling the great, global koan …” “… Oneness is a property of all phenomena ...” Description: This talk contains some practical advice
“… Our every step is taken on instability ...” Description: This talk is about opening up to uncertainty. We all tend to avoid uncertainty in our lives. When we encounter it,
“… the value of going into unknown territory ...” Description: In this final talk from our Original Love 2 (Support) retreat, Henry opens by exploring the value of going into
“… Support comes in varying forms ...” Description: In this second original love retreat Henry focuses on a simple message: There is help. Henry asks us to hear and receive this
“… The focus of this talk … is about finding Trust ...” Description: How do we find our authentic heart and how do we know what it’s called to do for
“… Here and now, this experience we are having right now, is it. “Just this” is original love ...” Description: Henry continues his Original Love exploration, beginning with “Everything is
“… A quantum shift occurs that exposes the inseparability of all ...” Description: Henry continues looking at original love. We humans are made in such a way that we can
“… By becoming still and quiet, Zen opens a channel that provides deep, nurturing support ...” Description: In this second talk from the June, 2020 retreat, Henry continues to explore
“… well-being which is what brings many of us into meditation ...” Description: Henry introduces the concept Original Love in this first talk from our 2020 Summer Virtual Sesshin. Original
“… primordial absence in Taoism or emptiness in Buddhism ...” Description: Henry describes love as the origin. This origin is primordial absence in Taoism or emptiness in Buddhism. It’s basically coming to the point where there is no thing, simply...
“… residing in present moment experience ...” Description: Final talk from the Original Love One Retreat. Henry concludes this series of talks on original love one. Residing in present moment experience and eventually becoming this moment, once the hindrances that...
“… how we human bodies find peace with ourselves ...” Description: Third talk from the Original Love One – Mindfulness Retreat. Henry continues the great exploration about how we human bodies
“How will we know when we have mastered desire? Tranquility marked by a sense that we are lucky to be living whatever life we happen to be living.” ~ Dr
“… Love that … manifests as a deep inner journey into who we really are…” Description: Henry Shukman opens this first talk in our Original Love Retreat by looking at
“… taste the indivisible dynamism of the heart of compassion …” “… The slightest movement is a seismic gesture; the whole earth shaken to the farthest regions …” Description: In this
“… clinging to identification with the self … the sense organs …” “… Words cannot touch it. No words cannot touch it …” Description: In this talk given during the 2020
“… Joshu is still sitting. I can’t but sit …” Description: In this talk given on the second day of the Spring 2020 sesshin at Mountain Cloud, Valerie takes up the