In this talk, Practice Leader Lisa Gakyo reflects on impermanence, loss, and the great matter of life and death. Throughout our life we experience a never-ending flow of change and impermanence: cycles of birth, old age, sickness, and death, the comings and goings of seasons, stars appearing in a different spot week to week, each moment arising and passing away, never the same way twice. And, at the same time, life can also feel mundane, like it’s never-ending and never changes. In the midst of what can seem routine or ordinary, it is our awareness of how tenuous it all is, of the ever-changing uncertainty of life and of being part of a larger cycle that makes everything feel more meaningful and alive.

In reflecting on the upcoming Dharma transmission and empowerment of a new teacher at Eon Zen, Gyodo Sensei offers a talk on the nature of the teacher-student relationship in Zen practice. The fundamental technique of Zen focuses on directing, deepening, and maintaining the quality of attention. This approach is the result of thousands of years of trial and error by practitioners studying themselves and discovering what is effective on the path of awakening through their own lived experience. A teacher functions like a mirror, encouraging us to trust ourselves at the deepest level. Who is our true teacher? Look in the mirror!

Zen practice can be challenging. It can take many years of letting go of ideas and attachments, overcoming obstacles and self-doubt, and opening our hearts over and over again to realize our true nature. And yet, it is also always available, right here, right now, regardless of circumstances.

In this talk, Eon Zen Practice Leader Sam Sokyo draws parallels between themes of faith, perseverance, and freedom in the film “The Shawshank Redemption” and Zen Buddhist practice. Having faith in our Buddha Nature - the understanding that we are already free, even if we haven’t fully realized it yet - helps us to keep going on the Bodhisattva path of wisdom and compassion for the benefit of all beings.

Book referenced in this talk: In This Body, In This Lifetime: Awakening Stories of Japanese Soto Zen Women

Koans are doorways on the path of awakening. They bridge the gap between our small self (personal identification) and big self (true awakened nature) and help us to see what we are attached to. Entering into them can lead to shifts in understanding and releasing attachments.

In the Rinzai school, traditional koan practice involves encounters recorded over the centuries between a monk and a Zen Master or student and teacher that bring core identifications to light.

Everyday Life Koans arise from the challenges and situations we find in our very lives involving relationships, raising children, work, money, love, and loss. What gaps are you experiencing in your life? What is separating you from being present right now?

Eon Zen Practice Leader Sam Sokyo shares photos and stories from her travels to the Salton Sea and reflections on vulnerability in Zen practice.

We often try to hide parts of ourselves we don’t like, to protect ourselves, yet we all long to be seen. True nakedness involves accepting ourselves just as we are so we can be fully open and authentic with others. Only in relationship can we see where our edges are, where we may be still be protecting ourselves and disconnecting from our own aliveness. Taking refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, we can begin to take off our armor, one piece at a time.

What happens when we let those layers of protection go? What is there to protect? Who is doing the protecting? 

_

Books referenced in this talk:

The Wisdom of No Escape and the Path of Loving-Kindness by Pema Chödrön

Becoming Yourself: Teachings on the Zen Way of Life by Shunryu Suzuki

_

Sokyo has been on wandering pilgrimage in a hermitage-on-wheels since 2022. Learn more at samsokyorandall.com

Feelings of not being enough are a common human experience. They can lead to suffering when we tie our worth to external accomplishments or validation. Gyodo Sensei shares three koans from the life of Zen Master Tokusan that show how facing moments of lack and inadequacy brought about transformation. Our Zen practice encourages us to directly embrace feelings of inadequacy rather than avoid them, dropping our conceptual attachments and experiencing true awareness.

In Trust in Heart-Mind, we chant “The Great Way is not difficult for those who do not pick and choose.” In this talk, Gyodo Sensei shares three responses from Master Joshu in the Blue Cliff Record Cases 57, 58, and 59 regarding discrimination and non-discrimination. Although we all have preferences and opinions – that’s only human – our practice is to not let them take root or hijack our awareness. We can acknowledge whatever is arising within us and still accept differences without judgment, maintaining openness and appreciation of all experiences. 

Cindy Shoshin Bonney shares reflections on the experience of anger and ways to work with it skillfully. Like a hot coal, anger can feel really intense and take many forms. Irritation. Frustration. Righteousness at a perceived injustice. It can also be a good teacher, and a catalyst for loving action. Anger motivates us to protect and care for others.

Anger itself is not a problem -- as with all emotions, anger arises and passes away and is, ultimately, empty. Being consumed by anger, reacting out of anger or feeding it is where suffering arises. How do we take care of anger when it arises?

Suzuki Roshi said “If you really want to know what precepts are, you should concentrate on what you do” in harmony with your surroundings, without seeking for anything inside or outside. True harmony - the harmony of no mind - flows in intimate participation with all conditions without clinging to or resisting reality based on our ideas or judgments.

Letting go of our need for external validation or conceptual understanding, we can feel this internal harmonious coherence in every moment and let that be our guide.

Gyodo Sensei discusses the importance of maintaining "lifeboats" - communities of care and practice - through the two movements of Zen practice as expressed by Master Dogen in the Mountains and Waters Sutra: stepping back (inwardly illuminating and studying the self) and stepping forward (studying myriad things and engaging with others). Both are essential for maintaining stability within the dynamic activity of all life. In the midst of increasing violence and destabilization in the world and the absurd narcissism and control systems of world leaders, this endless practice of wisdom and love is vital for finding hope and balance.

Shōun offers reflections on Suzuki Roshi’s “Understanding Your Mind” from the book "Becoming Yourself." Suzuki says “to do something without thinking is the most important point of understanding ourselves.” This is also the gateway to our own true nature — to encounter our world without labeling, or judging, or comparing. But it’s difficult to do this. We are often caught in our own hamster wheel of thinking, intellectualizing, and comparing. Suzuki encourages us to let go and stop trying to figure things out. To simply see “things as it is," accept “things as it is.” and nourish things as they grow.

Human life requires great courage. There's so much potential for pain and suffering built into this existence — physical pain, emotional pain, psychological pain, spiritual pain. it takes courage to face this reality, to embrace it, to feel it. In this talk, Gyodo Sensei explores four dimensions of courage as a practice of heart: the courage of practice and embodiment (to fully experience our life and face it directly), the courage of determination (to keep going), the courage to be ordinary (to live simply with things just as they are), and the courage to face death (to realize the truth of the Dharma, the nature of impermanence and no-self). The seeds of this courage are present in all of us to water, to practice, together.

In nature, there is a constant exchange of energy and form, a continuous process of selfless giving. The clouds give rain to the earth. The rain gives nourishment to the plants. The plants give nutrients to animals. And the animals, when they die, give their bodies back to the earth. This giving is also in our nature, though we don’t always experience it in this way. How do we hold ourselves back? What is it like to join in selfless service with this spirit?

What is it we are seeking when we come to practice? What do we hope to find? Seeking something — more ease and less suffering, our true nature, less reactivity, whatever it may be — can be useful. It brings us to practice, to our cushion, to retreats. But seeking also implies that something is missing. And can blind us to the very thing we are seeking.

Daido Loori Roshi would always say “We are born perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” How can this be? What does our Buddha Nature look like? What we end up finding may be surprising.

The Prayer for Peace that we chant in our service is a powerful invocation, calling all of us to “lift our hearts to transform ignorance, violence, and suffering.” It was written by Shishin Roshi and Roshi Shinko in response to the attack in New York City on 9/11.

Gyodo Sensei offers reflections and appreciation for this prayer in this time, with more and more volatility, violence, and abuse of power being revealed and perpetrated throughout the world. May we all take good care of the dharma and be a light to others. May healing and peace prevail.

Practice Leader Lisa Gakyo offers reflections on embodiment and Zen practice and a reading from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s 1836 essay “Nature."

When we first start a meditation practice, we might find ways to fit it into our life — figuring out a schedule for sitting, reading books about zen, attending dharma talks when we are able. Eventually, zazen becomes the place where we start to truly, directly encounter ourselves. We let go of our ideas about practice. Our desire for things to be different starts to dissolve. We begin to soften physically and emotionally. Our curiosity opens up. And we come home to our own wild self.

Read the excerpt from “Nature” by Ralph Waldo Emerson

In the midst of global and social volatility, we are called to develop our relational wisdom. Gyodo Sensei offers an overview of the Brahma Viharas or divine abodes - four foundational qualities of heart-mind that we can activate with intention: Loving Kindness (Mettā), Compassion (Karuna), Sympathetic Joy (Mudita) and Equanimity (Upekkha).

What happens when someone dies? Are the remains still here? What is still here? What is here right now in our life and death?

Gyodo Sensei offers reflections on Case 55 of the Blue Cliff Record which opens our heart-minds to the Great Matter of life and death.

With the increase in violent conflict and continued breakdown of social structures throughout the world, we are facing a profound spiritual crisis. Who are we? What are we here for? How do we care for each other?

To meet this moment, Gyodo Sensei calls us to honor our core aspiration to wake up to serve all beings and bring our entire life into the practice of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha — to renew our aspiration, clarify our intentions, and allow compassion to permeate all our activity.

In the first program of the 2026, Gyodo Sensei encourages us to step into practice with Bodhicitta and the three treasures of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha with intention.

In Mahayana Buddhism, Bodhicitta, or Awakened Mind is the combination of wisdom and compassion based on the realization of the oneness and interconnectedness of all life — my suffering is not separate from the suffering of others, and vice versa.

The three treasures or refuges are inseparable from Bodhicitta. The path of refuge and awakening is not selfish; we commit to this path for the liberation for all beings.

Gyodo Sensei shares and appreciates Master Hakuin’s Song of Zazen as an expression of our human affliction, how we can work with it, and the fruits of our practice.

As Hakuin says, "The gateway to freedom is zazen Samadhi….  One True Samadhi extinguishes evils. It purifies karma, dissolving obstructions. Then where are the dark paths to lead us astray? The Pure Lotus Land is not far away.

Through our Zen practice, we can see how karma is created by our thoughts and intentions as well as our speech and bodily actions. As Nora Bateson says, a change in perception is, itself, an action.

Gyodo Sensei offers reflections on this with case 52 from the Blue Cliff Record "Joshu’s Stone Bridge."

Every time we shift our perspective — through zazen, through koan study, through our vows and intentions — we are creating positive karma. We can introduce wholeness into the world just through the change in perception.

Italo Calvino wrote that “the inferno of the living is where we live every day, that we form by being together.” How do we not be consumed by it?

In Zen, our practice is to return, over and over again, to our sensory experience. To be with what is happening without adding anything to it, resisting it, or avoiding it. In this way, we can connect with our fundamental aliveness, our true nature, which is so much bigger than we think.

When we feel overwhelmed, our senses are always here to help us remember who we truly are.

There is a long history of violence, oppression, cruelty, and genocide in the United States of America, and throughout the world. These atrocities continue today. The pain lives in the bodies of the victims and in the bodies of the perpetrators and all of their descendants, and also in all of us.

Norman Fischer says that we are responsible for everything that happens to us, both individually and collectively. We are One Body. When we can be accountable for and feel the pain of our karma, both individual or collective, we can begin to heal ourselves, and heal the world.

We have so much agency in how we choose to respond in every moment. But we don’t always feel this way. Instead, we are often carried away by reactive patterns, especially in response to strong emotions. Fear. Anger. Sorrow. Shame. Powerlessness. Humiliation. Grief.

These feelings can be really uncomfortable. But they are life itself. And they can be gateways into the experience of our true self. We can choose to feel them, or choose to avoid them. The karma we create is completely different with each choice.

The Sixteen Bodhisattva Precepts, which we vow to uphold, help us to be mindful of the interdependence of oneness and diversity. Looking at our lives through the lens of the precepts we can examine the ways we communicate and the karma we generate with our thoughts, words, and actions.

Each time we see ourselves withdrawing, acting with arrogance, being defensive, impatient, stingy, or impulsive, we can ask, “am I recognizing that I am not separate from all that is?”

Our vows give us a way to take care of ourselves and to take care of each other.

View our list of the 16 precepts here.

We often feel daunted by the difficult circumstances of our world, not really knowing what to do. But we are called to act or speak up in the face of suffering. How do we do this and not make things worse? It can feel very uncomfortable, and even scary.

This discomfort is a dharma gate, or entry point, into the mystery of the harmony of oneness and diversity of all life. By learning to be with our discomfort, we can engage fearlessly but lovingly, speaking up for the vulnerable, for the poor, for the sick, for the weakest among us, while creating unity and not division.

Toward the end of the talk, Shoun shares this version of the Metta (Loving Kindness) Prayer written by Roshi Kushin Seisho Maylie Scott for an interfaith gathering in 1994: https://www.upaya.org/2012/08/metta-prayer-by-maylie-scott/

Crisis is so very present in our world. So much suffering, and no easy fixes. In reality, as Buddhist practitioners, we don’t claim to have any fixes at all. But the dharma does offer a strong way to meet these crises, and the law of karma says that everything we think, say, or do has an effect.

All who are drawn to a deep spiritual practice have chosen a different path from the path of worldly power. Instead, we bring alive the power of the spirit, the power of the heart.

As we surrender our need to control, as we experience the pain in our hearts or in the world and our own limitations, we find the deeper agency of connectedness and compassion. In times where we may feel completely powerless or helpless, this deep spiritual power is available to all of us.

We often look outside ourselves for validation, authenticity, and wholeness. We “give away our eyes” — not trusting ourselves or relying on other's opinions for approval.

Some of this is natural. There are power dynamics, and we do rely on others for our well-being at times. But, as the verse in the Book of Equanimity Case 16 "Mayoku Thumps His Staff” says, “Right and Wrong — watch out for that trap.”

How do we practice with this in a time when right and wrong — karma and crisis — seem quite acute? How do we respond?

In this talk, Gyodo Sensei encourages us to maintain a childlike spirit of wonder on our spiritual path, to embrace the co-creative dimension which is fundamental to being human.

Indeed, it is imagination itself that brought us to spiritual practice - a sense that “the world could be otherwise,” as Norman Fischer proposes in his book on the six paramitas, imagination and the Bodhisattva path.

Master Unmon said “Every day is a good day.” Is this denial? Or is it possible? How do we imagine our lives to be?