“Treat others with great care.”   What is possible when we disbelieve our doubt? When we show up to wholeheartedly practice together, worlds come alive. There is an expansive reservoir of compassion and care for all beings.     In this dharma talk, Koshin Sensei shares a few teachings that are staying with him from […]

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“Non-doing allows us to cultivate compassionate presence.”         Doing nothing is not about inaction. In this dharma talk, Chodo Sensei invites us to set down our preoccupation with doing – excessive striving, frenetic working – and consider the generative possibilities of non-doing. Can we practice full presence, broad awareness, and deep compassion? […]

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“The way of belonging is doing.”         On the occasion of Hana Matsuri, a ceremony to celebrate the Buddha’s birth, Koshin Sensei invites us to set down our demand for things to be a certain way, for things to be perfect, and to fully enter the world in all its messy beauty. […]

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“How do you practice not wasting time?”   Stories have impact. Our thoughts and beliefs can take over our minds and actually take us out of relationship. Koshin Sensei reminds us, “We waste a lot of time indulging our thoughts.”   In this recent dharma talk, Koshin draws on the myths and narrative resonances of […]

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“It is a form of generosity, how we show up.”         What do we do with the stories we often tell ourselves about ourselves? Many of us worry, ‘Am I good?’ or think, ‘I am no good’. Many of us feel, ‘No one sees me,’ or are sure that ‘Everyone is judging […]

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“How do your opinions and preferences take you out of relationship and a life of practice?”     Honoring the Buddha’s death, Nehan-e observance is an opportunity to pay closer attention to your life, to show up and step forward. How will you life your life without regret?       In this dharma talk, […]

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“We indulge in our fears way too much in the guise of protecting our freedom.”     In this dharma talk, Koshin Sensei asks us to look closely at what separates us from ourselves and each other. There is difference and we are all one. But our fears hold us back and create distance between […]

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“If the practice is going well, no one is becoming like anyone else.”     In this dharma talk, Koshin Sensei invites us to experience what happens when we wholeheartedly practice. What changes within ourselves? What blooms between one another?   Genyu Kojima Roshi asks his sangha to consider what ‘bad’ religion is. It can […]

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“Do not take anything for granted. See everything as a gift.”   The sixteen bodhisattva precepts are guidelines to live by, aspirations to live into. In this talk, Chodo Sensei introduces us to an extended study of the precepts with a moving story from his experience as a hospice chaplain. It is about a “tiny […]

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“How do we create the conditions to become more free?”    We are here because of those who came before us. In this talk, Koshin Sensei gratefully reminds us that our continuing practice and commitment have deep roots going back eighty eight generations through ancestors from India, China, and Japan. From teacher to student, or […]

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