In his talk, Soten uses the Möbius Strip in the explication of “The Diamond Sutra’s Scornful Revilement,” case 97 from The Blue Cliff Record, and how this koan points to the karmic interweaving of suffering and freedom from suffering.

Kaku Hoshi reads from and talks about the first two volumes of his memoir, One Bright Pearl, along with readings from MyoGetsu Christine Swann, Howard Thoresen, and a Q&A from a Village Zendo audience. These first two books of a planned trilogy deal with the seeming dichotomy of being a Christian Pastor and a Zen […]

Traven Fusho Rice encourages us to cultivate open-hearted attention to our strongest emotions.

Stopped in his tracks by a clear, direct, intimate question, Kenko finds himself in an ongoing exploration of not knowing, of bearing witness, and of being moved to connect and act: feeling the pain, witnessing the habitual mind labeling so much of what is encountered, seeing the labeling solidify into a world of separation, and […]

Notes from an unexpected flowering on Metro North.

“At Nan Ch’uan’s place one day…” In this talk, Seizan explores the famous koan about Nan Ch’uan’s killing of the monastery cat. But was the cat really killed? If not, what was? Note: Due to a technical issue, the first 45 seconds were not recorded. This is in no way to the detriment of the […]

In this talk Musho ponders fish tanks, and describes his own experience studying Genjo Koan, the classic Zen text by Dogen. At the start of his practice Musho felt that there might be a way to “Actualize the Fundamental Point” and attempted to do that. Later when re-reading Genjo Koan a much simpler and more subtle understanding emerged. […]

Senior student Fugan talks about the eternal flow of music, movement, and sound in relation to the Genjokoan. From Dai Sesshin, July 25th, 2017

From Dai Sesshin, July 24th, 2017

From Dai Sesshin, July 23rd, 2017