“How am I taking care of the whole? How are my actions bringing harmony to all?”   In this dharma talk, rich with detail and insight, Koshin Sensei recounts his recent trip to Japan, which he traveled to at the behest of his teacher, Genyu Kojima Roshi. Koshin’s insights into his experiences offer a unique […]

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“The Middle Way means to demolish all concepts set up in our minds…allowing life to be life.” – Kōshō Uchiyama   During our recent Summer Sesshin, Chodo Sensei offered an instructive and expansive dharma talk weaving together several strands of guiding wisdom. His talk explores the three pure precepts of not-knowing, bearing witness, and loving […]

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“Who do you recognize as part of your community?”   In this talk from earlier in the year, Chodo Sensei introduces the Three Jewels – Buddha, Dharma, Sangha – and focuses his attention on the last; the Sanskrit word for community. Chodo invites his listeners to walk with him: past his doorman, through his neighborhood, […]

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“Life always presents us with pairs. There are always two aspects that complement each other – sun and moon, day and night, mother and father, life and death – but how easily our minds become occupied in a one-sided way. When we see one aspect and ignore the other, however, we feel incomplete and the […]

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“When we do just one activity, we express our true nature.” – Suzuki Roshi    In this recent dharma talk, Chodo Sensei looks at the scattering tendencies of the mind. He shares his own difficulties remaining in the present. His invitation, and ongoing practice, is to fully attend to whatever experience is happening right now. […]

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“Our willingness to be compassionate and generous in our speech changes relationships both inside of our selves, in our sangha, and in our world.”   What happens when we don’t hold ourselves and each other accountable? Koshin Sensei explores the meaning and implications of practicing “Kind Speech,” one of Dogen’s ‘Four Methods of Guidance’. We […]

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“If we know we are going to die, then we are right where we are supposed to be.”   In this dharma talk from our recent Winter Sesshin, Chodo Sensei explores three of the Buddha’s first five remembrances – that we are of the nature to grow old, to become ill, and eventually, to die. […]

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“What does leaving our sense of loneliness and entering community have to teach you?”   In this opening dharma talk from Commit to Sit Winter 2023, Koshin Sensei invites us to explore what causes us to suffer. He encourages us to confront and work with what holds us back, what keeps us from living fuller […]

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“But most of all, continuing to sit without moving, not even shifting a foot or lifting our eyes, it builds the strength that we need, and that others need in us in the face of pain or crisis. Sit there with your heart breaking. But sit tall, see and hear everything. Breathe low and slow […]

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“The flame of the dharma you have lit, humbly and respectfully, I transmit to the next generation.” —Shundo Aoyama Rōshi   In this opening dharma talk from our last Commit to Sit 90-day practice period (summer ’22), Koshin Sensei discusses a myriad number of things that a consistent practitioner will have to face as they […]

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