Kodo Conlin says farewell and talks about practice and leadership transition at YUZ.
A True Companion: Zazen & Mortality
Our topic for this talk is A True Companion: Zazen & Mortality. We will begin with embodiment and stay close to our resources as we take an honest, Dharmic look into the transformative power of this journey from here to the end of our life.
How we relate to experience
Each moment, the mind takes on an attitude, perspective, or way of seeing. These perspectives will often color our vision such that reality is missed and we see everything through me-colored glasses. We'll talk about what Zazen has to do with taking off distorted lenses and seeing the world anew.
Zazen: Ready, Willing, Don't-Know
For our discussion, let's see if we can point to the heart of the matter regarding our practice of Zazen.
The Suchness of Mind and Objects
Kodo Conlin: We'll look directly into some of the basics and subtleties of Zazen.
This Is Not A Dharma Talk
Kodo Conlin: In this brief dharmette, we collapse the gap between audience and speaker and set the stage for intimate exchange about the Zazen.
Four Noble Truths
Kodo Conlin: Let's start the new year with a return to the root of Buddhist teaching. We'll reflect together on the Four Noble Truths, the first teaching the Buddha gave after his Awakening. Perhaps all of the Dharma can be understood by way of its frame, and its applications to our day-to-day are too many to count.
Sustainable Compassion
Kodo Conlin: How do we practice compassion without being sunk? How do we love sustainably? Starting with one key distinction, we consider three aspects of sustainable compassion.
Preparing the Mind to Realize Emptiness
Following on Mei's talk on Form & Emptiness, the topic will be Preparing the Mind to Realize Emptiness. As an ancient Zen adept put it, "The clear circle of brightness is what exists from the very beginning". Put another way, there is an aspect of our experience here and now that is unhindered and luminous. But how do we come to see this? And how do we live it? We will talk about some of the ways the Zen ancestors encourage us to prepare the mind to realize emptiness.
Under the Words
Kodo Conlin: Founder Dōgen put it, "The path of all buddhas and ancestors arises before the first forms emerge; it cannot be spoken of using conventional views.” Our topic for tonight is getting under the words, invitations to broaden our spectrum of experience, abiding in the vastness beyond words and stories.
Social & Communal Harmony
Maybe it's me, or what seems like perpetual election season, but little seems more relevant than reflecting on Social & Communal Harmony. What does the Buddha have to say about this, as one who lived through his own period of political upheaval and community division, and was insulted a fair amount? Let's pick up some of the Buddha's words and see what light they shine on how he was able to walk beneficially through this wild world.
Imagination and the Bodhisattva Universe
For many, walking a path of meditation sometimes entails stumbling into challenges of frustration and self-evaluation. Ever clear-eyed about the nature of things, Zen practice employs the imagination to open us to the possibilities of wholesome growth, of a change in frame: stepping out of the limits of "the world according to me" and into the vast, joyful freedom of the Bodhisattva Universe animated by the Four Immeasurable Vows and Six Perfections. — Kodo Conlin
The Teaching Just for You: The Practice of Practice Discussion
With rivers of Dharma books and oceans of online instruction, how do I know the teaching that is right for me now? What does a practice that’s matured by decades even look like? One approach to clarifying such questions is the practice of practice discussion, to meet face-to-face in a space of shared reflection where the Teaching Just for You can arise. We will discuss the how's, what's, and why's. — Kodo Conlin
Zen as a Path of Metamorphosis
Inspired in part by the recent sesshin at City Center, we will be discussing the practice of Zen as a path of metamorphosis, a complement to our oh-so-everyday style. Let's see what arises as we discuss the path of transformation. Kodo Conlin facilitates.
Just to Be Yourself: Suzuki Roshi on Everyday Zazen
With the sounds of the Mountain Seat Ceremony still ringing through the halls of San Francisco Zen Center, we take another trip through the territory of Shikantaza, this time informed by the disarmingly everyday phrase Suzuki Roshi used to guide us in Zazen: just to be yourself.
(4 of 4) Zazen Instruction for YUZ: Shikantaza
Consider this four-part series a gradual entry into shikantaza, the foundational meditation practice of our school of Zazen. Facilitated by Kodo Conlin, this course is designed sequentially for both experienced and first-time meditators: we develop our skills of awareness to include all aspects of our experience, one at a time. We begin with awareness of the breathing, proceeding to include, one by one, practices for wise awareness of the body, emotions, and thinking. This gradual approach is meant to support the cultivation of a clear, wise relationship to all aspects of our experience, with nothing left out. Finally, we enter shikantaza—just wholeheartedly sitting—a comprehensive immersion in the arisings of this moment, the practice of freedom amidst all things.
First session 1/31: To form our foundation: meditation on breathing and tips for establishing a daily practice.
Second session 2/7: To build upon our skills to include awareness of the body and wise practice with emotions.
Third session 2/14: To develop a mindful relationship to thinking.
Fourth session 2/21: Having now trained with breath, body, and mind, we open to shikantaza, the heart of Zazen meditation.
(3 of 4) Meditation Instruction for Young Urban Zen
Consider this four-part series a gradual entry into shikantaza, the foundational meditation practice of our school of Zazen. Facilitated by Kodo Conlin, this course is designed sequentially for both experienced and first-time meditators: we develop our skills of awareness to include all aspects of our experience, one at a time. We begin with awareness of the breathing, proceeding to include, one by one, practices for wise awareness of the body, emotions, and thinking. This gradual approach is meant to support the cultivation of a clear, wise relationship to all aspects of our experience, with nothing left out. Finally, we enter shikantaza—just wholeheartedly sitting—a comprehensive immersion in the arisings of this moment, the practice of freedom amidst all things.
First session 1/31: To form our foundation: meditation on breathing and tips for establishing a daily practice.
Second session 2/7: To build upon our skills to include awareness of the body and wise practice with emotions.
Third session 2/14: To develop a mindful relationship to thinking.
Fourth session 2/21: Having now trained with breath, body, and mind, we open to shikantaza, the heart of Zazen meditation.
(2 of 4) Meditation Instruction for Young Urban Zen
Consider this four-part series a gradual entry into shikantaza, the foundational meditation practice of our school of Zazen. Facilitated by Kodo Conlin, this course is designed sequentially for both experienced and first-time meditators: we develop our skills of awareness to include all aspects of our experience, one at a time. We begin with awareness of the breathing, proceeding to include, one by one, practices for wise awareness of the body, emotions, and thinking. This gradual approach is meant to support the cultivation of a clear, wise relationship to all aspects of our experience, with nothing left out. Finally, we enter shikantaza—just wholeheartedly sitting—a comprehensive immersion in the arisings of this moment, the practice of freedom amidst all things.
First session 1/31: To form our foundation: meditation on breathing and tips for establishing a daily practice.
Second session 2/7: To build upon our skills to include awareness of the body and wise practice with emotions.
Third session 2/14: To develop a mindful relationship to thinking.
Fourth session 2/21: Having now trained with breath, body, and mind, we open to shikantaza, the heart of Zazen meditation.
(1 of 4) Meditation Instruction for Young Urban Zen
(1 of 4) Zazen Instruction for Young Urban Zen — We begin this four-part series on the practice of Zazen with some foundations: the vast context of Zazen, essential skills for cultivating an awareness of the breathing, tips on posture, and considerations for starting a practice at home.
Precepts Call Us In - Buddhist Heritage and Our Community with All Beings
First of four talks on the Bodhisattva Precepts: along with Zazen, the essence of Soto Zen training. Kodo introduces the series with a story of the origins of the precepts, how we find true shelter, and a compassionate approach to living our lives peacefully, and in integrity with all beings.