“The pitfall is always within yourself. Everything is already here with you! This body and mind is the Way. You are complete to begin with. There is no gap but you think there is.”  On the 25th anniversary of the passing of Taizan Maezumi Roshi, Sensei Koshin addresses the life and teachings of the eminent […]

The post The Fullness of Harmony – Remembering Taizan Maezumi Roshi | Koshin Paley Ellison appeared first on New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care.

“How do you hold back? What’s your hesitation? Now that we’ve all bumped into the dharma, what next?” In this recent talk, Sensei Koshin reads the 25th case from the Blue Cliff Record: The Hermit Of Lotus Flower Peak Holds Up His Staff. He brings the story to life by examining how we show gratitude […]

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“She’s not the mother I would have asked for, but she’s the one that I got.” In this recent talk, Sensei Chodo discusses the perfectly-imperfect and powerful women that have granted us all life: from ancient bodhisattvas that visited the hell realms for the sake of all beings to a mother and daughter that find […]

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“In the world, there is nothing that is not your practice. How vast is your role? Who will you embrace in this suffering world?” Sensei Chodo Campbell gives a dharma talk on the state of the sangha in the midst of the Covid-19 lockdown: students of the Foundations course unable to meet patients and nursing […]

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“The constant learning of this time is: how do we want to be and how do we meet each challenge, particularly in our minds?” As the center adapts to a post-pandemic virtual existence, Sensei Koshin addresses the realities New Yorkers are facing in response to Covid-19. These harrowing tales highlight the practice of bearing witness […]

The post What Happens To Delusion When You Recognize It? | Koshin Paley Ellison appeared first on New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care.

“There is a lot of talk in dharma practice about stillness, peace and perfect alignment with life — there’s something beautiful about invoking that possibility but it often contrasts very much with the lack of peace one might feel. How often do we judge that lack of peace as something that shouldn’t be happening?”   […]

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“What would it be like to say, with some humor, ‘Ah, who cares if I am uncomfortable?’ This whole world is uncomfortable! How do we find the softness and tenderness for that fear but not live in reaction to it?” In a recent virtual dharma talk, Sensei Koshin discusses the struggles the sangha has been […]

The post Finding Generosity in the Midst of Crisis | Koshin Paley Ellison appeared first on New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care.

In a recent book launch, Marie Howe, Victoria Redel, Tenku Ruff and Sebene Selassie read poetry from “The First Free Women: Poems of the Early Buddhist Nuns” by Matty Weingast. Composed around the Buddha’s lifetime, the Therigatha (Verses of the Elder Nuns) contains poems of princesses and courtesans, tired wives of arranged marriages and the […]

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“The beauty of this practice is that you can feel your feelings without identifying who you are by what you are feeling.” The Zen Masters of old would teach that those without preferences had their path laid out before them. Easier said than done! How do we soften the clinging to our preferences so that […]

The post How Do You Practice Beginner’s Mind? | Koshin Paley Ellison appeared first on New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care.

“A human being is a part of the whole, called by us “Universe”, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest — a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness.” – Albert Einstein In this talk, Sensei Koshin shares his thoughts on the idea of self-compassion, and “practicing at […]

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