In this Zazenkai Dharma talk Kaku looks deeply into Dogen’s essay “On the Endeavor of the Way” and see it as Dogen’s direct expression of his central question; If we are perfect and complete, lacking nothing, why do we need to practice? Kaku then puts the question to us. What is your own driving spiritual […]

In this talk Tokyu finds his inspiration while on a crowded New Jersey Transit train. While watching a man trying to keep an extra seat to himself, Tokyo sees how we all want to try to turn away from what is uncomfortable or unwanted. Our aversions become “the elephant in the room” that we don’t […]

According to US government averages, senior student Bokushu calculates that he has only 23 more years to live. Starting there Bokushu wonders how to evaluate the truth of life while caught in a culture that devalues information and life itself. He questions the fantasies and imagined realities of himself and others. He sees our Zazen […]

(editors note: This talk by senior student Seizan opened with a few minutes of silent knitting. For the published recording here that time was edited into less that a minute.) In this talk Seizan compares knitting to a whole way of living within the Dharma. He starts out with his discovery of knitting at age […]

In this talk Musho looks into Palm Sunday, describes the duties of senior students at the Village Zendo, tells a story of a night at a bar and relates that to his own quest for stability. He ends with a short commentary of the last verse of “The Ten Ox Herding Pictures.” Recorded Sunday March […]

In this talk Jiryu takes up case 32 of the Blue Cliff Record “Standing There.” He interprets the monk Jo’s question “What is the great meaning of Buddha’s teaching?” as “How do I understand what I am?” Jiryu looks into his own desire for enlightenment while on a year long Zen residency many years ago. […]

It this talk Soten investigates case 1 from the Book of Serenity: “The World Honored One Ascends the Seat.” How much expression required? “Behold the Dharma of the King of the Dharma!” The shuttle and loom of creation: back and forth, back and forth… Ascending/descending, breathing in/breathing out, the foot before and the foot behind in walking, […]

In this talk Bokushu asks why do we separate ourselves from death and pretend death is far away? What does it mean to stop separating and stop pretending? As Bokushu experiences the approaching death of his mother in an assisted living facility, he faces death in a very visceral way. Recorded February 25th 2018.   […]

In this talk KanShō investigates mortality, song lyrics by The Smiths, The Second Law of Thermodynamics, Dogen’s “Expression,” Stoicism, poetry by Keats, insights by Louis CK, Shakespeare’s Macbeth, and remembering an old flame. Recorded February 18th 2018.   If you enjoyed this talk, why not support the Village Zendo with a donation?

In this talk Ryoshin states that Zen practice encourages us to cultivate a mind of “not knowing.” Yet, our tendency is to want to control the situation, to want things to be the way we think they are. What is it like to face a situation when we really don’t know? How do we practice then? […]