Kodo Conlin gives a talk entitled, "Emptiness is Always Giving."
Gratitude and Dukkha: A Thanksgiving Meditation
Zachary Smith leads YUZ with a talk entitled “Gratitude and Dukkha: A Thanksgiving Meditation."
Perhaps the single most obvious feature of humans as a species is how continually dissatisfied with life, and their lot in it, they seem to be-- often regardless of the actual circumstances. The Buddha summed up this observation in the First Noble Truth and offered a ground-breaking and novel explanation for it in the Second. The rest, as they say, is history but it’s still a rich area of investigation because, frankly, things have not improved much in the last 2,500 years. On this special occasion we’ll revisit the fundamental question of suffering and see how it can be turned through Practice.
Missing You: Love and Longing in Isolation
Mei Elliott speaks about love and longing. During this time of social distancing, many people are anticipating a holiday season without the ability to travel to be with loved ones. Missing one's friends and family is particularly pronounced during this extended period of isolation and has become a source of longing for many of us. This longing can take many shapes: longing for time with one's parents and siblings, romantic longing for a partner, the grief-based longing for a loved one who has died, or the general longing for anything that is just out of reach. Whether it's for food, sex, entertainment, etc. how can we satisfy this yearning? During this YUZ meeting, Mei Elliott explores the roots of longing as well as practices for finding freedom and wholeness in its midst.
The Three Marks of Existence: Not-Self
This was our final class in the three-part lecture series from Heather Iarusso called "Sitting for Liberation." This series explores The Three Marks of Existence, one of the Buddha's most transformative teachings. During the past two weeks we've investigated how becoming intimate with suffering and how embracing impermanence can bring ease, wonder, and contentment to our lives.
This Tuesday was our last meeting, which focused on the not-self characteristic. The teachings on not-self are an integral part of Buddhist study, providing deep freedom and clarity in daily life.
This series is being led by Heather Shoren Iarusso. Heather is the SFZC program director, as well as a Zen teacher and priest, currently living in residence at City Center. To learn more about Heather you can view her bio here.
The Three Marks of Existence: Impermanence
We continue with our three-part lecture series with Heather Iarusso called "Sitting for Liberation." This series explores The Three Marks of Existence, one of the Buddha's most transformative teachings. We will investigate how becoming intimate with suffering, embracing impermanence, and comprehending the not-self characteristic can bring ease, wonder, and contentment to our lives. As the talk was given on election night, the relevance of this event is woven into the subject matter for the evening.
The series is being led by Heather Shoren Iarusso and is taking place on three consecutive Tuesdays, with one class for each of the three marks. This past Tuesday, 10/27, we focused on the characteristic of suffering.
The Three Marks of Existence: Suffering
Heather Shoren Iarusso, SFZC program director, as well as a Zen teacher and priest, leads us in this three-part lecture series that explores The Three Marks of Existence, one of the Buddha's most transformative teachings. We will investigate how becoming intimate with suffering, embracing impermanence, and comprehending the not-self characteristic can bring ease, wonder, and contentment to our lives.
Don't Harbor Ill Will, Try Love Instead
2020 has been an eventful year to say the least. A year filled with issues that have weighed heavily on many people's core beliefs. During these times when it's easy to find oneself in the midst of contentious topics, many find it hard to practice with the precept "not to harbor ill will." On 10/13, Eli Brown-Stevenson, a resident priest at City Center, shared how he has been practicing with this precept during these recent times.
Fear and Anxiety
Mei Elliott discusses fear and anxiety. Whether you're having a bout of full blown panic or experiencing daily anxiety, fear manifests in a variety of ways. Without realizing it, fear is often the driving force behind everyday choices, guiding our conversations, determining our decisions, and legislating our preferences. Given its power, how can we learn to be free from suffering in the midst of fear? During this talk we explore ways to identify and practice with anxiety and fear in daily life.
Making Your Own Way: Dogen's Birds and Fish
Zachary Smith, along with his usual co-host Mojo the Cat, leads us through a talk that was inspired from a particularly lovely passage in Dogen’s Genjo Koan where Smith explored what it meant to live a life of continuous practice.
Working with Helplessness: What to Do When the World Needs So Much Change
Michael McCord gives a talk titled "Working with Helplessness: What to Do When the World Needs So Much Change." Michael is a Zen priest and teacher, as well as the director of SFZC's City Center where he lives and practices.
Feeling Stuck
Mei Elliott leads the conversation around the theme of feeling stuck. Whether we feel stuck in a relationship or job, in a stubborn habit pattern or self-view, or are simply feeling stuck sheltering in place, the teachings of the Buddha offer a way to relate to life when things won't seem to budge. We will spend the evening exploring how perceptions and fixed views contribute to a sense of entanglement and how our practice can loosen our sense of feeling stuck.
Encountering Suzuki Roshi: Five Faculties of Zen Practice
Kodo Conlin leads YUZ with a talk titled "Encountering Suzuki Roshi: Five Faculties of Zen Practice." Through the lens of Zen teachings, Kodo discusses an ancient Buddhist practice known as the five faculties--faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom. Suzuki Roshi, the founder of San Francisco Zen Center, embodied these qualities for so many people, to transformative effect.
Choice
In honor of voting season, Eli Brown-Stevenson turned around the table and asked the group which topics they’d like him to focus on.
Blue Cliff Record Case #9, “Chao Chou’s 4 Gates”
Zachary Smith leads YUZ in an exploration of Blue Cliff Record Case #9, “Chao Chou’s 4 Gates.” Without giving too much away in advance (never a good idea when Koans are involved) suffice it to say that Chao Chou invites us all to consider what it actually means to be a “self” - this self - and that we’ll take up the invitation.
Loneliness
Mei Elliott explores the topic of loneliness. Given the increased social isolation many are experiencing during this time, she speaks about the way we can integrate loneliness into our practice such that it too becomes a Dharma gate. Regardless of whether you are working with loneliness or are meeting other challenges in your life, the teachings will center around skillful ways for meeting difficulty, whether that happens to be loneliness or otherwise.
Be Kind to Your Practice
Eli weaves together traditional Zen teachings from Suzuki Roshi with modern sources like Pixar's Inside Out.
Don't Hold Your Breath
Michael McCord explores how Every Day is Actually your Life, Even in a Pandemic.
Joy
Mei Elliott reflects on the theme of Joy. Despite spending a lifetime seeking joy, many people are still befuddled about where to find it, and often find themselves chasing after it, without realizing they're running in the wrong direction. During this talk we explore what joy is, where we can reliably find it, why joy is needed now, and how we can invite it into our lives.
During this time of great challenge and tragedy, joy can not be a mere accessory nor can it be seen as self-indulgent. On the contrary, joy is a necessary requisite on the path of liberation, and a necessary nourishment for bodhisattva activity. If we are to save all beings, we need the buoyancy that joy provides. The Buddha spoke abundantly about joy, and as such, we'll explore where this topic appears in the core Buddhist teachings.
The Dharma of Strong Emotion
Any therapists worth their salt will tell you that the full range of human emotion should be within the realm of experience on a daily basis and especially in times like these emotions can run high. Emotions carry a message - something to teach us - and the request of practice is to stand up close enough to them to hear that message in full without being overwhelmed or spun off into habitual response or defense.
Holding and Being Held: Race, Grief, and Balance
How do you envision, in specific ways, a more peaceful and just community? Can you see it? You're invited to describe one specific aspect of your vision of what possible, an aspect that feels nourishing for you to consider. What felt sense arises in you as you hold this vision? Is this nourishing for you, and how do you know? How could this inform your approach to activity, conversation, and community?