“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 […]

“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? […]

“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. […]

“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 […]

“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 […]

“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, […]

“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 […]

“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 […]

“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 […]

“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 […]

“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 […]

“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 […]

“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 […]

“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. […]

“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 […]

“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 […]

“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 […]

“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 […]

“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 […]

“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 […]

“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 […]

“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 […]

“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, […]

“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 […]

“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. […]