Eli Brown-Stevenson leads a YUZ meeting on Practices for Well-being.
Holding our Pain for the World: Racism in America
Mei Elliott speaks about the many recent tragedies, both related to racism and the pandemic, and how to hold our pain for the world.
Martin Luther King Jr. said that "a riot is the language of the unheard." How can we learn to truly listen to the "riot" within, without turning away or suppressing it? When anger, grief, numbness, or despair rise up, how can we meet it with wisdom and kindness? This talk explores meditation training as an anti-racist response to injustice, highlighting how it can begin to dissolve implicit bias.
The Three Pure Precepts →
Zachary Smith leads YUZ on the three pure precepts, which are an integral part of the 16 Bodhisattva Precepts.
The Fifth Precept - Refraining from Intoxicants →
Heather Iarusso speaks about the 5th precept often translated as “I vow to refrain from intoxicants” and Heather writes, “Usually when we think of intoxicants, we think of drugs and alcohol. However, viewed through the lens of the Dharma, and amid the crucible of the pandemic, we will explore how the number one intoxicant is our resolved karmic conditioning
The Fourth Precept - I vow not to lie
Eli Brown-Stevenson hosts a discussion about the 4th precept, often translated as “I vow not to lie“.
Practice with Pandemic & the First Precept
Eli Brown-Stevenson hosts a discussion about practice during the pandemic. While the evening focuses on this theme, it also ties in the first precept, I vow not to kill (also framed as I vow to support life), which is the first grave precept in the Bodhisattva Precept Series.
The Liberating Power of the Bodhisattva Precepts
Mei Elliott introduced the 13-week series on the Bodhisattva Precepts. She spoke about the complexity and applicability of the precepts, and illuminated how precept practice is a pivotal component of liberation. To learn more about the theme, see the email below.
If you are interested in engaging in a deeper study of this topic, consider reading Being Upright by Reb Anderson or Waking Up to What You Do by Diane Eshin Rizzetto.
The Relative and Absolute
Zachary discusses important features of the mental landscape that are revealed through zazen and how they relate to our everyday lives.
He explores two major modes of being - normally translated as “the relative” and “the absolute” - that become apparent when we sit, and talks about how to talk about the relationship(s) between them. There are a number of texts from the ancient literature, notably the Sandokai and Tozan’s 5 Ranks, that explore this relationship and how it develops with practice. Zachary speaks, in concrete terms, about how these modes of being show up in zazen and why they’re of interest.
正中偏
三更初夜月明前
莫怪相逢不相识
隐隐犹怀旧日嫌
偏中正
失晓老婆逢古镜
分明觌面别无真
休更迷头犹认影
正中來
无中有路出尘埃
但能不触当今讳
也胜前朝断舌才
偏中至
两刃交锋不须避
好手犹如火里莲
宛然自有冲天志
兼中到
不落有无谁敢和
人人尽欲出常流
折合还归炭里坐
Zachary’s Translation:
The Crooked in the Straight
Around Midnight, before moonrise on that first night
No wonder you don’t know it when you see it
You’re still reminiscing on your sketchy past
The Straight in the Crooked
Rising late, she stumbles across an old mirror
She clearly meets herself face-to-face - no separation
But still mistakes her reflection for her head
Straight On Through
Within nothingness is a road out of the dust
If you just avoid the obvious faux pas
You’ll surpass the past masters who left everyone speechless
Arriving at the Crooked
There’s no need to shrink from sharp confrontation
An adept is like a lotus in the land of fire
As though you can soar at will
Arriving at Both
If you don’t fall into “is” or “is not”, who dares to chime in?
Everyone wants to be extraordinary
All the same, you come home and sit by the hearth.
Zen in the Real Life
Maggie Brewer discusses Zen in the Real World: no separation, meditation, and encouragement.
Buddhist Meditation Practices for City Life
Kodo Conlin talks about Buddhist Meditation Practices for City Life, including a discussion of some of the supportive conditions for cultivating a meditation practice of your own.
Dependent Arising and Emptiness
Mei Elliott continues with a theme that we began speaking about in December: emptiness. This week in particular, we will be focusing on emptiness and dependent arising.
During this meeting we will explore the relationship between dependent arising, emptiness and freedom from suffering. We'll investigate how dependent arising can help us navigate difficult relationships, work with challenging emotions, and deepen our understanding of the emptiness of self.
As emptiness can be a perplexing topic, I plan to explore different teachings on this theme over the course of several meetings. This is the second talk in the series.
New Year's Dharma from a Toddler
Eli Brown-Stevenson shares about the Dharma of raising a child as it pertains to the New Year. He is the father of San Francisco Zen Center's youngest resident, three-year-old Maya.
Emptiness
Mei Elliott speaks about the Heart Sutra, perhaps the most well-known text in the Mahayana tradition, which states that "form is emptiness and emptiness is form.”
Most of us are well acquainted with the realm of form: this is the normal, conventional world— the world we live, work, and interact in. Given this, what is emptiness? How could that possibly be the same as form? And how is this relevant in daily life?
During this talk, we will explore the relationship between form and emptiness, and investigate how realizing emptiness can provide freedom from stress and suffering. This theme will be continued in the coming months as we explore additional facets of emptiness.
Zen Practice and Conduct
Zach Smith asks: What we can preserve from practice that carries us forward in day-to-day life and promotes skillful, wakeful engagement?
Where are you from?
This week Eli explores the question "Where are you from?", which can have many answers and refer to many things. Taking where we are rooted as the living soil of practice, this talk explores how we can bring our whole being to it.
Taking Refuge during a Time of Crisis
Mei Elliott speaks about climate change and taking refuge. Taking refuge is one of the foundational practices in Buddhism. During this talk, we will be exploring what it means to take refuge in the triple treasure, and how doing so provides a direct response to suffering, both internally and externally. This conversation will allow us to understand how meditation provides a powerful response to climate change and the impending crisis of extinction. To fully explore this theme, the talk will include teachings on emptiness, mindfulness, and the three poisons.
Inner Peace and Contentment
Is it okay to strive to intentionally acquire states like peace and contentment? How do you know when you have them?
Concentration and Zazen
Mei Elliott explores many questions related to concentration practice. Is it possible to cultivate concentration without gaining mind? Do both shamata and shikantaza develop concentration? What does focusing on the breath have to do with freedom from suffering?
To answer these questions we will be exploring Zen teachings as well as material from the early Buddhist canon, including information about the jhanic factors.
A follow-up class to Meditation and the Thinking Mind.
Skillful Speech
How do we speak the questions we don't know how to ask each other? Can we find ways to cross the gulfs that divide us and keep us separated? It is up to us to start having the conversations we want to be hearing and creating the realities we want to inhabit.
Siobhan's talk focuses on finding ways connect across difference using the framing of "Skillful Speech" which is one of the steps on the Eightfold Path. She will be inviting us to look at how we can begin to heal by having the courageous conversation that you don't want to have.
Depending on Dependent Arising
The teaching of interdependence, as an interpretation of Dependent Arising, is a cornerstone of California Zen. How can we enrich our understanding of Dependent Arising to foster transformation?