“How often do you live in fear of what is going to happen?”    Can you actually be where you are and nowhere else? In this talk, Koshin Sensei explores this simple question as an invitation to experience its truth in your everyday life. Zen ceremonies are about bringing your mind’s full attention to this […]

The post Being Here & Nowhere Else | Koshin Paley Ellison appeared first on New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care.

“It is not through ease that we open, but through challenge, the challenge of being in relationship.”    In this talk, Koshin Sensei encourages us to face our discomfort and notice all the ways we distance ourselves from everyone and everything around us. Imagine what encountering your life might look and feel like. Koshin explores […]

The post How do you actually meet your life? | Koshin Paley Ellison appeared first on New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care.

“Buddhism teaches that just like all of our other qualities, the love we possess is boundless…rather than view this as a limited resource to be shared sparingly, authentic love powers our commitment to support others and enable us to grow ever more human in the process.”   On the final evening of the Contemplative Care […]

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“And what does Zen really look like? As if it actually looks like anything. When we think it looks like something, we’re on the wrong path. Mountains and rivers away from it. If it were to look like anything, it would be like the wind. We would hear and feel it. We wouldn’t see it. […]

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“If there is meaning in life at all, there must be meaning in suffering. Suffering is an ineradicable part of life even as fate and death. Without suffering and death, human life cannot be complete.” — Victor Frankl   In the talk, guest teacher Cristina Moon guides us through the teachings of the Four Noble Truths […]

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“Like lighted incense, when we sit Zazen, we burn away our self-centeredness and release our true fragrance.”   In this recent dharma talk, guest teacher, Shinzan Palma invites us to consider what we can give to the world and the different forms generosity may take. When we are dedicated to our practice, Shinzan teaches, we […]

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“Call me naive, but I still believe in the power of love.”   During NYZC’s recent Contemplative Care Retreat, guest dharma teacher Pamela Ayo Yetunde shares a dharma talk focusing on love, a medicine for hatred. The understanding of Buddhist love Ayo offers here contrasts views of love that are delusional, clinging, co-dependent, possessive and […]

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“It is very popular to see a life of practice as a transaction as opposed to just doing because that is what needs to be done.”   Totally engaged, to be no where else except here, this is the practice. In this talk Koshin Sensei reflects on what it is to practice a life lived […]

The post No Escape: Fully Engaging Body & Mind | Koshin appeared first on New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care.

“When we get caught up in our opinions and evaluations, we miss the opportunity to feel compassion and love.”   The Contemplative Care Retreat this year focused on the three poisons of greed, hatred, and delusion. During this dharma talk, Koshin Sensei turns our attention to how hatred, or our anger & resentment, impacts our […]

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“Hatred does not cease by hatred,  but only by love; this is the eternal rule.” ― Siddhārtha Gautama, The Dhammapada: The Sayings of the Buddha   In yesterday’s dharma talk, Koshin Sensei reminds us of our shared human connection. He invites us to weave together the complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian violence, as we are all threads […]

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