Zencare Podcast

Editor's Note: In celebration of Commit to Sit  starting this week and Chodo sensei's birthday last week, we share his talk from this past Winter Commit to Sit. Enjoy and may it offer some comfort and guidance for you. ‍In this recent talk, Chodo Sensei asks a deceptively simple question: Without a vow, how do you live? Drawing on Suzuki Roshi's teaching on great effort, Chodo explores what a vow...

Editor's Note: In honor of our Commit to Sit practice period starting July 1st and our Wholehearted Sesshin (silent retreat) in August, we share this opening talk from the first night of both our Winter Commit to Sit and our Winter Sesshin in January. May it serve you! In this opening talk, Koshin Sensei invites us to consider how the very places where we suffer can become gateways into deeper int...

“How you bow is not just for you.” In this recent dharma talk, Koshin Sensei reflects on what it means to practice consistently: to be the same person regardless of who's watching, what conditions you're in, or whether you're getting what you want. Drawing on Dogen Zenji's teaching on the Four Embracing Actions (giving, loving speech, beneficial action, and identity action), Koshin explores what s...

“The precept does not ask us to be passive in the face of injustice. The question is always: from what place do we speak?” In this recent talk, Chodo Sensei explores the sixth and seventh precepts: not speaking of others’ faults and errors, and not elevating oneself while blaming others. What can seem like simple teachings become a profound invitation to examine the energy beneath our speech. Are...

“The purpose of practice might be to enter the question so fully that it begins to reshape us.” What is the purpose of practice after all? In this talk on doubt and the practice of not-knowing, Chodo Sensei shares a teaching from his favorite Zen teacher: Zen Master Raven, the wise old bird from Robert Aitken Roshi's animal sangha stories. When Badger asks what the purpose of practice is, Raven do...

“In Zen practice, we talk about bearing witness; not as a passive act, but as a form of deep engagement. To really see what's happening. Not escaping into numbness, but also not hardening into fixed views.” In this recent talk, Chodo sensei reflects on the fourth and fifth precepts (truthfulness and not clouding the mind) as practices for living in a fractured and overwhelming world. Speaking to t...

“In this moment, what does it mean to care?” What do the precepts ask of us in a time of injustice, division, and outrage? In this recent talk, given the day after millions took to the streets in protest across the US, Chodo Sensei reflects on anger, activism, and the thin line between harm and care. Drawing on Suzuki Roshi's teaching that we don't observe precepts to attain enlightenment but to a...

“Faith is not blind belief, but confidence born of seeing what's actually possible—the willingness to plant a seed without yet seeing the fruit.” In this recent talk given on a snowy Sunday morning, Koshin Sensei explores the Buddha's teaching on three forms of generosity: giving out of faith, material generosity, and the gift of fearlessness (abhaya dana). Drawing on Suzuki Roshi's gardening meta...

“Do an audit of how you spend your money. Does it match what you say you really care about?” In this powerful recent talk, Koshin Sensei tackles a topic many spiritual communities avoid: money. Often, topics like finances and business can be deemed “not spiritual”, but does it have to be so? Drawing on Suzuki Roshi and the Buddha's teachings on generosity (dana), Koshin explores how money is simpl...

“Our practice doesn't ask us how to end wars, it asks us where the wars begin. In this body. In this flash of rage. In this certainty that I am right and you are wrong.” Amid news of global conflicts and war, Chodo Sensei offers a profound reflection on the second Buddhist precept: do not steal. But what does stealing mean when the world is organized around taking; lives, safety, homes, childhood,...

“When you encounter obstacles, do not see them as hindrances separate from practice.” In this talk from the beginning of the year (and in preparation for the Year of the Fire Horse), Koshin Sensei reflects on what it really means to make effort. Not as self-improvement, but as a vow to be fully here. Drawing on Dōgen’s teachings on continuous practice, he offers simple, direct questions we can liv...

“Many people can study lots of things, but are you living that way?” On the 12th day of our Commit to Sit , during a winter blizzard, Koshin Sensei explores a profound question: What's the difference between talking about spiritual practice and actually living it? Drawing on teachings from Suzuki Roshi and the 13th-century Zen master Dogen, Koshin examines how we often get caught in our thoughts;...

“Each in breath is bringing life into the body, and each out breath is a death. We never know if there'll be another inhale.” On the third day of our recent Winter Sesshin (silent retreat), Chodo Sensei offers a profound teaching on the practice of bowing and the art of surrendering the constructed self. Through the story of Gray Wolf and Zen Master Raven, he explores why true bowing leaves no sel...

“The best way to observe precepts is just to be you yourself and then the precepts are always with you.” What does it mean to “be yourself” in Zen, not as self-improvement, but as a direct, embodied intimacy with life as it is? We were honored to recently host Jiryu Rutschman-Byler, co-abbot of the San Francisco Zen Center, at our zendo in New York for this moving dharma talk on the newly released...

“Settling down is a protest against a society that values speed.” We share this opening talk from our last Commit to Sit in honor of our upcoming 90-day program starting this January. In it, Koshin sensei invites us into studying Shakyamuni Buddha's final teaching on becoming a great person, explored through Dogen Zenji's commentary and Uchiyama Roshi's wisdom. Through powerful stories of the Budd...

“They will not ask me why I wasn't Moses. They will ask, ‘why weren't you Zosia? Why weren't you more yourself?’” On the 82nd day of our recent Commit to Sit , Koshin Paley Ellison delivered this dharma talk on the Buddha's final teaching about useless and frivolous discussion. Drawing from Dogen's commentaries and the Buddha's last instructions, Koshin asks how much of our day we spend entertaini...

“The truth had never been expounded before because the time to do so had not yet come. Now is the time to drop the story about what should have happened.” What if your practice wasn’t about self-improvement, but about opening the door of Buddha wisdom for all beings? Drawing on Chapter Two of the Lotus Sutra, Koshin Sensei speaks about skillful means, our wildly different capacities, and the confu...

“There is no enemy except our delusion, and even that, when bound to the path, becomes a place of support.” In this talk, Koshin Sensei reflects on the ancient figure of Fudo Myo-o, the “Immovable Wisdom King”, and the role of the abbot as one who stands on the stone mountain in the midst of fire. Drawing on the Lotus Sutra’s parable of the burning house, he invites us to bind everything to the pa...

“A good teacher will take the mask off your face.” In this recent drama talk, Koshin Sensei reflects on the first two chapters of the Lotus Sutra. There is a crowd gathering to hear the Buddha teach, millions of beings of all kinds. One of the Buddha's disciples is repeatedly imploring the Buddha to speak and the Buddha finally agrees. Just as he is about to address the crowd, five thousand monks...

“The wisdom of the Buddhas is infinitely profound and immeasurable... and that door is difficult to understand and difficult to enter when we believe our stories.” In this recent dharma talk, Koshin Sensei reflects on becoming an “assistant gardener” whose job is to sit zazen with the plants, learning to practice not just for ourselves, but with all beings. Drawing from the opening chapters of the...