However you feel about the results of the American election, and wherever you live in the world, we do not stop working for good. This is Master Dogen's lesson of "Ongoing Practice Enlightenment". We accept where we are, work for a good direction from right here ... and right here ... and right here. Winter is Winter, Spring is just Spring, Summer is just Summer, Fall is Fall ... but if we do not plant seeds in the Spring, there can be no harvest in Summer and in Fall. Further reading and...

In this episode, we continue to look at koans from the Blue Cliff Record, specifically cases 7 to 12. We do that through the Soto Zen lens, extracting the practical essence from these famous ancient exchanges. Further reading and discussion for this talk are available on the Treeleaf forum:November 2024, monthly Zazenkai »

This month, accompanying our sangha's book study, we take a look at the first five koans from the famous Blue Cliff Record. We do that through the Soto Zen lens, extracting the practical essence from these famous ancient exchanges. Further reading and discussion for this talk are available on the Treeleaf forum:October 2024 Monthly Zazenkai»

This month, as we begin our sangha's Ango, we dive into a few sections of master Dogen's ¨Shoaku Makusa¨ (Not Doing Wrongs) Further reading and discussion are available on the Treeleaf forum:September 2024 Monthly Zazenkai»

We continue our study of master Keizan's Zazen-Yojinki, this time diving into the physicality of zazen and some useful techniques to keep ourselves awake and alert when sitting. Further reading and discussion for this talk are available on the Treeleaf forum:August 2024, monthly Zazenkai»

We continue with the fifth instalment of this series of talks based on master Keizan's 'Zazen-Yojinki'. In this episode, we are looking at what zazen is by understanding what zazen isn't. Further reading and discussion for this talk are available on the Treeleaf forum:July Monthly Zazenkai»

This week, Master Keizan tells us what Zazen is, and is not (and also to have clean feet). Further reading and discussion for this talk are available on the Treeleaf forum:June 2024, Monthly Zazenkai »

This week, Master Keizan offers practical advice, relevant even today, although some bits maybe more suited to the 13th Century, on one's life surrounding Zazen Practice. Further reading and discussion for this talk are available on the Treeleaf forum: Treeleaf Sangha's May Monthly Zazenkai »

We continue our series on Master Keizan's 'Zazen-Yōjinki'or 'Notes to Keep in Heart for Zazen' Further reading and discussion for this talk are available on the Treeleaf forum:HERE»

Master Keizan, considered with Master Dogen one of the two "Founders" of Soto Zen in Japan, lived from 1264 to 1325. His essay “Zazen-Yōjinki” might be considered an expansion and further exploration of Dogen's explanation of Zazen, the 'Fukanzazengi'. The advice is often very practical, covering such topics as how to sit, breathe, what to wear, eat beforehand and what to do on those days when the mind just won't settle down, while other parts of the essay (such as today's portion) are wild,...

Today's Talk will reflect on our "Dedication of Merit", which we recite each time, but maybe without looking closely Further reading and discussion for this talk are available on the Treeleaf forum:OUR MONTHLY 4-hour Treeleaf ZAZENKAI - Dedication of Merit»

This is the sixth (and last) in our monthly series based on the modernized translation of the Genjo Koan, from Jundo's book "The Zen Master's Dance" A Guide to Understanding Dōgen and Who You Are in the Universe. Today a message very appropriate for a good life in this New Year and every day ... Further reading and discussion for this talk are available on the Treeleaf forum:OUR MONTHLY 4-hour Treeleaf ZAZENKAI - A Happy New Year Genjo!!

Today, we find enlightenment in EVERY aspect of this world, even the hard parts we do not welcome. And we find enlightenment in how we live in this world, finding our own role Further reading and discussion for this talk are available on the Treeleaf forum:OUR MONTHLY 4-hour Treeleaf ZAZENKAI»

We continue our series on Genjo Koan, 'Realizing the Truth Right Here,' and the way of Bodhidharma found there. Further reading and discussion for this talk are available on the Treeleaf forum:OUR MONTHLY 4-hour Treeleaf ZAZENKAI - Remember Bodhidharma Day!

This time, we will be looking at passages of Genjokoan based on the modernized translation from 'THE ZEN MASTER’S DANCE A Guide to Understanding Dōgen and Who You Are in the Universe' in light of our Jukai (Undertaking the Precepts) and Ango (Peaceful Abiding) Season ... Further reading and discussion for this talk are available on the Treeleaf forum:OUR MONTHLY 4-hour Treeleaf ZAZENKAI - Commencing JUKAI & ANGO!

Practitioners sometimes think that enlightenment is the endpoint of practice rather than an ongoing series of daily actions that are each an opportunity to manifest either ignorant or enlightened behavior. They think that they must get to a perpetually blissful place called “enlightenment,” removed from the pain and complexity of this world, and all their problems will disappear but their wishes and desires will be fully satisfied. Actually, that has never been the way Zen masters considered...

We Start of New Series on Genjo Koan, 'Realizing the Truth Right Here," the Key to Master Dogen's Zen. The text for the talk today, the first in a monthly series, is based on Jundo Cohen´s modernized translation of the Genjo Koan, from his book ¨THE ZEN MASTER’S DANCE¨ A Guide to Understanding Dōgen and Who You Are in the Universe Further reading and discussion for this talk are available on the Treeleaf forum:July 7-8th 2023 - OUR MONTHLY 4-hr ZAZENKAI - Genjo Koan (I) - The Key to Dogen's Zen

The following is an audio version of the essay with the same title by Treeleaf Sangha founder and guiding teacher, Roshi Jundo Cohen ¨One must sit Shikantaza with profound trust that sitting is whole, complete, nothing lacking, the sitting of the Buddhas and Ancestors sitting as this sitting right here and now, no other place to be, nothing more in need of doing, nothing more to attain, that Zazen embodies enlightenment itself.¨ The essay can be found HERE

The following is an audio recording of an essay by Treeleaf founder and guiding teacher, Jundo Cohen. Here's the "elephant in the room" of Shikantaza Zazen: What does it mean to "think-non-thinking?" In ordinary life, our daily minds resemble a mad circus, maybe a chaotic jungle. We react to the elephants passing through our awareness, jumping on, leaping from one to the next, pulling their tails, prodding them with a stick, often tangled in their trunks. Sometimes we chase them to catch...

Today we'll scat with Dogen's jazz in Shobogenzo Nyorai Zenshin (The Buddha Whole Body). Some 700 or so years before modern jazz folks, Dōgen had the equivalent jazzy approach, taking “standard” Mahayana Buddhist teachings, fanciful but traditional Buddhist images, and “samples” of quotes from well-known stories related to his intended topics, tearing them apart, and tossing all back together again, remixing them, in order to discover and uncover new feelings, sounds, implications, visions,...

The following is an audio recording of an article by Treeleaf founder and guiding teacher, Jundo Cohen. "So much of all life is like a neutral canvas to which we add our judgments and reactions, coloring it with our feelings. It is like an empty container or some bland ingredient, like Tofu for example, that can be decorated or flavored as our heart decides. The experience is bad if we make it bad but it is whole, complete, fulfilling and welcoming if our heart makes it so." Further reading...

In Today's Talk, will close our dance with the 信心銘, the Xinxinming, or Shinjinmei. Further reading and discussion for this talk are available on the Treeleaf forum:May 5th-6th, 2023 -OUR MONTHLY 4-hour Treeleaf ZAZENKAI

Our Zazenkai today is in celebration of the Buddha´s birthday, traditionally April 8th in Japan! We will look at the Buddha's birthday and the Shinjinmei Further reading and discussion for this talk are available on the Treeleaf forum:April 7-8, 2023 -OUR MONTHLY 4-hour Treeleaf ZAZENKAI »

Today's Talk will be the third in a series reflecting on: THE SONG OF TRUST MIND (信心銘 Shinjinmei), A Key to Zazen Further reading and discussion for this talk are available on the Treeleaf forum:March 3rd-4th, 2023 - OUR MONTHLY 4-hour Treeleaf ZAZENKAI - Shinjinmei (III) »