Ocean Mind Sangha

By Vanessa Zuisei Goddard

A collection of dharma talks by Vanessa Zuisei Goddard, Guiding Teacher at Ocean Mind Sangha.

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FAQs about Ocean Mind Sangha:

How many episodes does Ocean Mind Sangha have?

The podcast currently has 185 episodes available.

Ocean Mind Sangha episodes:

January 22, 2017 The Way of Stillness and Silence
In this talk, Zuisei speaks on the power of silence and stillness to connect us to the present moment and the truth of things . In a world where we are increasingly disconnected from presence, silence is a tool—a technology, if you will—to come back to ourselves.
“Silence and stillness are the ground from which clear movement and action springs forth,” Sensei says. “To be still and silent is not to be passively waiting, it is to be full with the potential of now.”
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34min
December 28, 2016 Sympathetic Joy (Four Immeasurables)
In this talk, Zuisei speaks on the third of the Four Immeasurables— sympathetic joy. Cultivating sympathetic joy asks us to feel joy, feel joy with and for others, and to recognize the interconnected nature of our happiness.
“There are times when being glad at someone else’s happiness requires that we do more than just have the wish for their happiness. It requires that we act to bring about their happiness, bring about their joy. Because when even a single atom, quark, of [a] cell gets affected— everything is.”
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50min
November 15, 2016 Equanimity (Four Immeasurables)
Equanimity is the fourth of the Four Immeasurables, four virtues that also include loving-kindness, compassion, and sympathetic joy.
In this pointed talk after the 2016 presidential election, Zuisei speaks of equanimity in relationship to the practice of taking refuge in the Three Treasures of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. She also offers an expression of welcome that became incorporated into Zen Mountain Monastery’s Inclusion Statement.
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43min
November 05, 2016 I Arise Today
Drawing upon both Buddhist teachings and Christian tradition, in this talk, Zuisei invites us into ritual of affirming our own existence— owning our strength, practicing gratitude for aliveness, and standing in our divine power.
“What mighty strength is causing you to arise today and everyday? What miraculous power is responsible for your existence? Allowing you to be here now, in this time and place, in this opportunity?”
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39min
October 16, 2016 Compassion (Four Immeasurables)
Compassion, or Karuna, is the second of the Four Immesurables, and is described as the wish that all beings experience happiness and well-being.
Yet the wish for others to be well is not a passive “hoping” — but a deep recognition that our suffering is bound inextricably to the suffering of others. Compassion calls us to love not from a place of charity, but from a place of recognizing our shared humanity.
Zuisei says: “Buddhism says all beings are interdependent, which means we’re more than equal. We are one and the same. Great beings with many hands and eyes. We are Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion, the one who hears the cries of the world. The one who responds to that which needs to be taken care of, that needs to be healed.”
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40min
September 23, 2016 Lovingkindness (Four Immeasurables)
Lovingkindness, the wishing of happiness to ourselves and others, is the first of the Four Immeasurables. In this talk, Zuisei explores what it means to embody lovingkindness in a world that can be harsh, isolating, and far from “kind.”
We all have within us the capacity to be kind and loving— states of being that are actually intrinsic— we are just too often conditioned out of it in our dominant culture. Yet life is too short to not work towards cultivating these qualities, or, remembering how to inhabit them.
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44min
August 07, 2016 The Fourth Bodhisattva Vow, Part 2
This talk is part two of two exploring the Fourth Bodhisattva Vow: The Buddha Way is unattainable; I vow to attain it.
In this talk, Zuisei elaborates on the importance of letting go of our desire for a future state or an outside thing, and to instead come into our direct experience—to open to what is right here. She says, “Instead of putting our effort on attaining, we focus on practicing. Instead of having living in our out of fear of what might be, we focus on living.”
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35min
July 30, 2016 The Fourth Bodhisattva Vow, Part 1
This talk is part one of two on the fourth Bodhisattva Vow: The Buddha Way is unattainable; I vow to attain it.
To commit to this path is to commit to walking a road without end—there is no finish line. And as Zuisei says, this is actually good news: “It’s exactly this vastness that leads to our sense of belonging, of rightness. Actually, it doesn’t lead to it— it is it.”
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39min
July 24, 2016 The Third Bodhisattva Vow
This talk explores the third Bodhisattva Vow: The dharmas are boundless; I vow to master them.
To vow to master the dharmas is to undertake the commitment to studying the Way for our whole lives— understanding that despite the fact that we can never learn it all, it is our obligation to try.
“I vow to be rent open, my heart laid bare. I vow to stand defenseless, yet awake in the face of reality. I vow to truly not know, that I may know ever more deeply. I vow to regard you, and when I can’t to regard you, and when I won’t, to regard you, and to let you regard me. Because I finally see that our lives depend on it.”
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46min
June 19, 2016 The Second Bodhisattva Vow: Seeing Desire
This talk explores the second Bodhisattva Vow: Desires are inexhaustible, I vow to put an end to them.
Zuisei explains that this vow is not about suppressing what is pleasurable; rather, it asks us to look at how we cling to our desires and in turn create suffering for ourselves and others. This vow calls us to let go of conditioning that makes us feel separate, and instead to focus on our shared humanity so we can work toward building a just and equitable world.
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44min

FAQs about Ocean Mind Sangha:

How many episodes does Ocean Mind Sangha have?

The podcast currently has 185 episodes available.