San Francisco Zen Center Dharma Talks

By San Francisco Zen Center

Religion & Spirituality Buddhism

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Dharma Talks given at San Francisco Zen Center

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LAST EPISODE

The Precept of Fearlessness...

01.19.2023

01/18/2023, Sozan Michael McCord, dharma talk at City Center. Living life like we have infinite social capital, like a generous benefactor to all those around us, allows a great freedom of spirit. When we realize that promoting and worrying about ...

San Francisco Zen Center Dharma Talks episodes:

01.19.2023 The Precept of Fearlessness and the Life of MLK, Jr. 01/18/2023, Sozan Michael McCord, dharma talk at City Center. Living life like we have infinite social capital, like a generous benefactor to all those around us, allows a great freedom of spirit. When we realize that promoting and worrying about ...
01.15.2023 Compassionate Practice with Afflictions 1/15/2023, Tenshin Reb Anderson, dharma talk at Green Gulch Farm. Afflictions are inexhaustible, we vow to cut through without ending them; the bodhisattva's mind is afflictions entangled with afflictions.
01.14.2023 Being Beloved Community in a Time of Polarization 01/14/2023, Rhonda Magee, dharma talk at City Center. In this talk, Hoshi Rhonda Myozen Magee reflects on the concept of Beloved Community through the lens of those who have breathed life and meaning into the concept over the past century. ...
01.08.2023 The Mind of the Great Sage of India 01/08/2023, Tenshin Reb Anderson, dharma talk at Green Gulch Farm. Intimate transmission, the one who is not busy, and taking care of brooms and other tools.
01.07.2023 Turning Toward vs. Turning Away 01/07/2023, Caverly Morgan, dharma talk at City Center. This dharma talk is based off Caverly’s new book, The Heart of Who We Are: Realizing Freedom Together, published by Sounds True. Have you ever found yourself identified with a self who ...
01.04.2023 Make A Wish 01/04/2023, Sozan Miglioli, dharma talk at City Center. We wish, we dream, and sometimes our wishes and dreams become preferences and expectations. How do we practice with what we want?
12.31.2022 The Impeded Stream 12/31/2022, Henzan Roger Hillyard, dharma talk at City Center. Don’t work harder, resist less.
12.22.2022 Are We Ever Alone? 12/21/2022, Jisan Tova Green, dharma talk at City Center. How can an awareness of our interconnectedness ease the sense of separation many of us experience during the winter holidays?
12.18.2022 Cultivating an Open State of Mind in the Midst of Great Challenges 12/18/2022, Kiku Christina Lehnherr, dharma talk at Green Gulch Farm. Exploring practices that can support us in meeting the manifold challenges of this time in history, in life-affirming and supporting ways.
12.17.2022 Freedom, Forgiveness, and the Agony of Existence 12/17/2022, Kyoshin Wendy Lewis, dharma talk at City Center. Many of our teachings and talks address both freedom or liberation and the agony of existence or suffering.
12.15.2022 Awakening to Life through Contemplating Death 12/14/2022, Kodo Conlin, dharma talk at City Center. Reflections on our mortality as our common humanity. As a basis for Dharma practice, fit for regular contemplation, the truth of our death, approached wisely and with a bright mind, can inspire ...
12.14.2022 Hyakujo and a Fox, Part 6 12/14/2022, Furyu Schroeder, dharma talk at Tassajara. December sesshin series at the Tassajara fall practice period on cause and effect.
12.13.2022 Hyakujo and a Fox, Part 5 12/13/2022, Furyu Schroeder, dharma talk at Tassajara. December sesshin series at the Tassajara fall practice period on cause and effect.
12.12.2022 Hyakujo and a Fox, Part 4 12/12/2022, Furyu Schroeder, dharma talk at Tassajara. December sesshin series at the Tassajara fall practice period on cause and effect.
12.11.2022 Hyakujo and a Fox, Part 3 12/11/2022, Furyu Schroeder, dharma talk at Tassajara. December sesshin series at the Tassajara fall practice period on cause and effect.
12.11.2022 A Lentil a Lentil a Stone: An Ode to Zazen 12/11/2022, Sonja Gardenswartz, dharma talk at Green Gulch Farm. Our zazen sitting builds a foundation upon which we make contact with what is important to us, you become the gift. Not searching outside ourselves for what matters but to go ...
12.10.2022 Hyakujo and a Fox, Part 2 12/10/2022, Furyu Schroeder, dharma talk at Tassajara. December sesshin series at the Tassajara fall practice period on cause and effect.
12.09.2022 Hyakujo and a Fox, Part 1 12/09/2022, Furyu Schroeder, dharma talk at Tassajara. December sesshin series at the Tassajara fall practice period on cause and effect.
12.01.2022 Actualizing Our Understanding 12/01/2022, Shinchi Linda Galijan, dharma talk at Tassajara.
11.19.2022 Zhaozhou and the Dog, Part 5 11/19/2022, Furyu Schroeder, dharma talk at Tassajara. Does a dog have Buddha nature? November sesshin series at the Tassajara fall practice period.
11.18.2022 Zhaozhou and the Dog, Part 4 11/18/2022, Furyu Schroeder, dharma talk at Tassajara. Does a dog have Buddha nature? November sesshin series at the Tassajara fall practice period.
11.17.2022 Zhaozhou and the Dog, Part 3 11/17/2022, Furyu Schroeder, dharma talk at Tassajara. Does a dog have Buddha nature? November sesshin series at the Tassajara fall practice period.
11.16.2022 Zhaozhou and the Dog, Part 2 11/16/2022, Furyu Schroeder, dharma talk at Tassajara. Does a dog have Buddha nature? November sesshin series at the Tassajara fall practice period.
11.15.2022 Zhaozhou and the Dog, Part 1 11/15/2022, Furyu Schroeder, dharma talk at Tassajara. Does a dog have Buddha nature? November sesshin series at the Tassajara fall practice period.
11.13.2022 Out Of Compassion For The Many I Take My Rest 11/13/2022, Eijun Linda Cutts, dharma talk at Green Gulch Farm. Reflections on the importance of rest and relaxation to wholeheartedly express our practice life.
11.12.2022 “What is it?” - Ganto’s Last Word 11/12/2022, Rinso Ed Sattizahn, dharma talk at City Center. Continuing the practice period study of koans from the Blue Cliff Record and Suzuki Roshi's commentaries on them.
11.10.2022 Transforming Life’s Unjust Blows 11/09/2022, Tenzen David Zimmerman, dharma talk at City Center. As part of the exploration of koans from the Blue Cliff Record, Abbot David unpacks Case 75, “Wu Chiu's Unjust Beating.” He considers what is it to receive the unjust “blows” ...
11.06.2022 Communion of Human Agency and Great Compassion 11/06/2022, Tenshin Reb Anderson, dharma talk at Green Gulch Farm. An exploration of compassion for self and others.
11.05.2022 Practicing the Noble Eightfold Path 11/05/2022, Ryushin Paul Haller, dharma talk at City Center. Each step of the Eightfold Path and the practices it recommends, harmonizes disciplined conduct and opening to virtuous being. The third step, Right Speech, is described in detail to illustrate this.
10.30.2022 Two Truths, Part 5 10/30/2022, Furyu Schroeder, dharma talk at Tassajara. October sesshin series at the Tassajara fall practice period on the relative and absolute.
10.30.2022 Compassion and Great Compassion 10/30/2022, Kokyo Henkel, dharma talk at Green Gulch Farm. Different types compassion as taught by Shakyamuni Buddha, Vasubandhu, Maitreya, Chandrakirti, and Zen Ancestors Yunyan and Daowu
10.29.2022 Two Truths, Part 4 10/29/2022, Furyu Schroeder, dharma talk at Tassajara. October sesshin series at the Tassajara fall practice period on the relative and absolute.
10.28.2022 Two Truths, Part 3 10/28/2022, Furyu Schroeder, dharma talk at Tassajara. October sesshin series at the Tassajara fall practice period on the relative and absolute.
10.27.2022 Two Truths, Part 2 10/27/2022, Furyu Schroeder, dharma talk at Tassajara. October sesshin series at the Tassajara fall practice period on the relative and absolute.
10.27.2022 Entering The Blue Dragon’s Cave 10/26/2022, Tenzen David Zimmerman, dharma talk at City Center. As part of the exploration of koans from the Blue Cliff Record, Abbot David unpacks Case 3, “Master Ma is Unwell”. In the midst of life’s vicissitudes ─ whether we're encountering ...
10.26.2022 Two Truths, Part 1 10/26/2022, Furyu Schroeder, dharma talk at Tassajara. October sesshin series at the Tassajara fall practice period on the relative and absolute.
10.23.2022 Practicing with Master Hongzhi's Teaching 10/23/2022, Sokaku Kathie Fischer, dharma talk at Green Gulch Farm. Kathie Fischer discusses Hongzhi's 12th century teaching of silent illumination and how it can inform our practice in these times.
10.22.2022 Turning Toward Death 10/22/2022, Jisan Tova Green, dharma talk at City Center. As leaves fall and nights are longer, we turn from autumn towards winter. This is a tender, transitional time for many of us. We may be more in touch with loss, ...
10.16.2022 Homage to Great Compassion 10/16/2022, Tenshin Reb Anderson, dharma talk at Green Gulch Farm. Paying homage, praising, and making offerings to great compassion with all our actions of body, speech, and mind.
10.15.2022 What Is Your Original Face? 10/15/2022, Gendo Lucy Xiao 玄道, dharma talk at City Center. What is your original face? Exploring Case 23 of Wumenguan (The Gateless Barrier).
10.09.2022 Interdependence for Bunnies 10/09/2022,Thiemo Blank, dharma talk at Green Gulch Farm. The teachings of interdependence, emptiness and dependent arising in Mahayana Buddhism, explained with the help of a cut out paper bunny.
10.08.2022 Gutei’s One-Finger Zen 10/08/2022, Tenzen David Zimmerman, dharma talk at City Center. Abbot David unpacks Case 19 of the Blue Cliff Record, including the circumstances leading up to Gutei's teaching of "one-finger Zen", the practice of cutting off complications, and the poignant image ...
10.06.2022 An Appropriate Response: Encountering the Blue Cliff Record 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 ...
10.01.2022 Embarking on a Voyage - How to Travel through a Practice Period 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 Which Moon Is This? 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 ...
09.24.2022 The Precepts and the Paramitas 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 ...
09.22.2022 Three Rolls of Silk: Giving in Harmony with Emptiness 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? ...
09.18.2022 All Experience Is Perceived By Mind 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 ...
09.17.2022 The Price of Rice and the Metta Sutta 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 ...
09.17.2022 Tuning Your Instrument 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 ...

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San Francisco Zen Center Dharma Talks

What's San Francisco Zen Center Dharma Talks about?

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San Francisco Zen Center Dharma Talks episodes:

The Precept of Fearlessness and the Life of MLK, Jr.

Compassionate Practice with Afflictions

Being Beloved Community in a Time of Polarization

The Mind of the Great Sage of India

Turning Toward vs. Turning Away

Make A Wish

The Impeded Stream

Are We Ever Alone?

Cultivating an Open State of Mind in the Midst of Great Challenges

Freedom, Forgiveness, and the Agony of Existence

Awakening to Life through Contemplating Death

Hyakujo and a Fox, Part 6

Hyakujo and a Fox, Part 5

Hyakujo and a Fox, Part 4

Hyakujo and a Fox, Part 3

A Lentil a Lentil a Stone: An Ode to Zazen

Hyakujo and a Fox, Part 2

Hyakujo and a Fox, Part 1

Actualizing Our Understanding

Zhaozhou and the Dog, Part 5

Zhaozhou and the Dog, Part 4

Zhaozhou and the Dog, Part 3

Zhaozhou and the Dog, Part 2

Zhaozhou and the Dog, Part 1

Out Of Compassion For The Many I Take My Rest

“What is it?” - Ganto’s Last Word

Transforming Life’s Unjust Blows

Communion of Human Agency and Great Compassion

Practicing the Noble Eightfold Path

Two Truths, Part 5

Compassion and Great Compassion

Two Truths, Part 4

Two Truths, Part 3

Two Truths, Part 2

Entering The Blue Dragon’s Cave

Two Truths, Part 1

Practicing with Master Hongzhi's Teaching

Turning Toward Death

Homage to Great Compassion

What Is Your Original Face?

Interdependence for Bunnies

Gutei’s One-Finger Zen

An Appropriate Response: Encountering the Blue Cliff Record

Embarking on a Voyage - How to Travel through a Practice Period

Which Moon Is This?

The Precepts and the Paramitas

Three Rolls of Silk: Giving in Harmony with Emptiness

All Experience Is Perceived By Mind

The Price of Rice and the Metta Sutta

Tuning Your Instrument