“I’ve been practicing for twenty years and it’s so wonderful that I’m still not sure what practice is.” Sensei Shinzan Palma joins the NYZC sangha to deliver a dharma talk on the varying dimensions of practice. He shares his own journey in understanding what zazen means to him, navigating past delusions of his younger years. […]

The post Grounding In Your Practice & Supporting Sangha | Jose Shinzan Palma appeared first on New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care.

“Maintaining the sangha and showing up to serve the Buddhadharma is something beyond us, beyond ‘me’.”   Sensei Koshin delivers a dharma talk on perseverance and dedication to practice. He shares the story of Parsha, the 10th ancestor of Shakyamuni Buddha and a venerable monk born at the ripe age of 60 years old. With […]

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“When we give to others, we give without expectation or reward. We give without attachment to the gift or the recipient.” —Shakyamuni Buddha   Chodo Robert Campbell delivers a dharma talk on Dāna, the Pali word for generosity, or as Chodo refers to it, “the practice of giving and the release of self-clinging”. He discusses […]

The post This Generosity Comes in Unexpected Ways | Chodo Robert Campbell appeared first on New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care.

“Can you find the steadiness of your practice even when you don’t want to? Can you show up even when you’re not feeling well in your body-mind?”   During the last practice period and in the midst of a full day Zazenkai, Koshin Paley Ellison delivers a dharma talk on finding your breath and practice […]

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“Many of us use spiritual practice as a transaction. We say to ourselves, ‘if I log in enough hours, I will get something.’”   In this dharma talk, Koshin Paley Ellison draws from one of this year’s practice texts, Bendōwa, in which Eihei Dogen exhorts his disciples to engage in continuous practice under the tutelage […]

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“If I can practice having tenderness and compassion for my own experience, it’s like having a couple of extra windows in your house. You can then see what other people are going through and then we can have companionship.”   Further expanding on Bendōwa: On The Endeavor Of The Way, one of the study texts […]

The post Waking Up to the Hidden Parts of Ourselves | Koshin Paley Ellison appeared first on New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care.

“Zazen has nothing whatsoever to do with whether you’re sitting upright or lying down.”   Examining one of this year’s Commit to Sit practice texts, Koshin Paley Ellison reflects on the teachings of the Zen ancestor, Eihei Dogen, and how they relate to the meaning of zazen, the strength of community and legacy, and “giving […]

The post For Zazen, A Quiet Room is Best | Koshin Paley Ellison appeared first on New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care.

“How do you experience the sound of raindrops as they land on the surface of the water? The breeze against your face if you’re flying in the sky? Or are you just ambling through your life with closed eyes? Stuck in your ‘I, I, I’, ‘me, me, me’.”   On the final Sunday of June […]

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“All people throughout the world are, without a doubt, equally imprinted with Buddha nature.”—Eihei Dogen   As the Zen Center begins to slowly open its doors for in-person sits, Koshin Paley Ellison addresses the different ways in which we defile or disparage the Three Treasures (Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha) and what to do when you […]

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