San Francisco Zen Center Dharma Talks

Jaksot

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  Changsha and Radiant Light 30.08.2026 59min

  Kokyo Henkel explores three classic Zen sayings by Ninth Century Chinese Zen Ancestor Changsha: the entire world is the radiant light of our true self; that we need to take a step forward from the top of a hundred-foot pole; and that when an earthworm is cut in two the buddha-nature can't be divided.
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  Kindness and Oneness 23.08.2026 51min

  Jiryu Rutschman-Byler reflects on Suzuki Roshi’s encouragement to “not lose these points: how to be kind to others and how to be one with others,” and offers practices and stories to support these inter-related practices.
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  Spiritual Friendship & Dharma Friends 19.08.2026 45min

  Odo Ellen Simpson explores the nature of spiritual friendship in the context of Buddhist life is a support to our practice and a joyous component of our lives together.
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  The Gift of Attention 13.08.2026 41min

  Dan Zigmond explores attention itself as a form of generosity: dana, the first of the Buddhist perfections and, as he puts it, the ground floor of the whole path.
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  Cleaning Our Environment/Cleaning Our Mind 09.08.2026 52min

  Kika Hellein discusses the relationship between interior and external realities.
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  Heart-Teachings of a No-Good, Lazy Monk 02.08.2026 59min

  Dr. Jan Willis discusses the life of eighth-century poet and philosopher, Shantideva, and what it can teach us about genuine bodhisattva practice.
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  Attention: Practice to Benefit the World 26.07.2026 58min

  Eijun Linda Ruth Cutts explores how caring with wholehearted attention to what is before us and within us realizes the practice of expressing the True Reality of All Things.
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  Turning the Light Around to Illuminate the Light 25.07.2026 53min

  Central Abbot Tenzen David Zimmerman offers three analogies related to light as supportive practices for zazen, noting that in Zen, light serves as a powerful analogy for awareness.
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  Joy and Responsibility in Zen 22.07.2026 44min

  Doshin Dan Gudgel explores joy as a fuel for practice and shares a practice for connecting with joy during daily meditation.
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  Nothing Wasted 19.07.2026 50min

  So-on Eli Brown-Stevenson explores a practice that rejects nothing, wastes nothing, and reveals how transformation begins when everything belongs through stories from Green Gulch Farm, Zen teachings, and an ecological view of dependent arising.
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  We Are Buddhas and Ancestors 18.07.2026 28min

  Odo Ellen Simpson explores the depth and complexity of Soto Zen ancestor practice in the context of monastic and lay life with consideration of cultural and family trauma perspectives.
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  When A Buddha Breaks 12.07.2026 55min

  Central Abbot Tenzen David Zimmerman speaks to the loss felt by the fire that destroyed the Tassajara Zendo in March 2026, and particularly the damage to the 1800-year-old Gandharan Buddha stone statue that had been on the altar (with slide accompaniment).
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  Honoring My Teacher 11.07.2026 37min

  Zenju Earthlyn Manuel Osho shares the experience of being a student and learning from a Zen teacher. What is needed? Are you prepared to have a teacher? What happens when you’re from different cultures?
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  Returning and the Settled Self 08.07.2026 41min

  Horin Nancy Petrin reflects on the ‘settled self’ inspired by Suzuki Roshi’s lecture ‘Be Kind with Yourself” from the collection “Not Always So.”
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  To Shine One Corner 05.07.2026 58min

  Abbot Jiryu Rutschman-Byler shares some of Suzuki Roshi’s views on WWII, America and Japanese nationalism, and shares a story of Suzuki Roshi’s practice of “shining one corner” during the war.
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  Taste The Truth 01.07.2026 40min

  Shundo David Haye reflects on the role and value of practice in imbuing us with inner integrity, in this age of social media and AI.
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  The Dharma of Demi-Girls 28.06.2026 58min

  Shōren Heather Iarusso explores the intersection of Buddhism, gender fluidity and the PRIDE movement using a rainbow as a metaphor.
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  Holding It All 27.06.2026 28min

  td {border: 1px solid #cccccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;} Jisho Lisa Beth Hoffman, in this Queer Pride weekend talk, asks “How do we practice so the poignant truth of impermanence deepens our experience of ‘just this’ – the life and moment before us?”
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  The Gulch, the Valley, as the Embodiment of Silent Illumination 21.06.2026 1t 2min

  td {border: 1px solid #cccccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;} Chan Teacher Guo Gu speaks of the significance of the "gulch" in Green Gulch, connecting it with the qualities of being the “valley"—open receptive, responsive, hollow yet luminous qualities.
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  The Historical-Political Rise of Silent Illumination, Shikantaza, and the Embodied Experiencing of this Practice 16.06.2026 54min