San Francisco Zen Center Dharma Talks

Épisodes

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  You Are Already an Ancestor 26.09.2026 37min

  Doshin Dan Gudgel offers gratitude to our Buddhist and personal ancestors, who have made it possible for us to practice, and who were just human beings like us.
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  The Friendliness of Not Knowing 23.09.2026 37min

  Anlor Davin examines the Zen teaching of “not knowing is most intimate” and from her perspective as an autistic Zen priest, adds that not-knowing is also friendly.
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  Awe, the Satipatthana Sutra and Zen Practice 20.09.2026 57min

  Gengyoko Tim Wicks explores the experience of awe, the Satipatthana Sutra—an important Theravadan sutra—and the relationship of both awe and this sutra to Zen practice.
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  I Don’t Know, And I Know 13.09.2026 50min

  Jiryu Rutschman-Byler discusses and appreciates Suzuki Roshi’s teaching that: “We should understand ourselves in two ways: as a particular person and as someone who has no name, no body, and no mind.”
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  The Satipatthana Sutra and Zen Practice 12.09.2026 33min

  Gengyoku Tim Wicks explores the Satipatthana Sutra, an important Theravadan sutra and its relationship to Zen practice. How does Shikantaza, "just sitting" make use of this early Buddhist technique?
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  Being Where You Are: Dogen and Huaishen 09.09.2026 37min

  Roger Hillyard explores how we need not travel from teacher to teacher or temple to temple to receive the dharma, we must be present where we are.
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  Women Wielding Liberating Power 05.09.2026 47min

  Dr. Paula Arai explores the question that drives her book Of Mud & Lotuses: Dreaming the Lives of Buddhist Women: How do we wield liberating power in a context with oppressive institutions, teachings, and practices?
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  The Summit of Heat and Cold 02.09.2026 42min

  Shoren Heather Iarusso discusses the koan story about avoiding heat and cold, pointing out what we learn when we look at our preferences and stay with our discomfort.
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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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  The Koan of Silence and Words 29.08.2026 38min

  Sozan Miglioli examines key moments in the history of our practice: Mahakashyapa's smile, Vimalakirti's thundering silence, Dogen's teaching on “Dotoku" (the capacity to speak from realization), and Katagiri Roshi's two books. The question running through all of it: does something, spoken or unspoken, come from realization or from concept?
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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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  On Gossip 05.08.2026 43min

  Hokyo Lorenzo Garbo examines how gossip can either protect or damage communities, arguing that harmful speech has lasting consequences while mindful communication strengthens trust and compassion.
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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.