The Jizo-an Zen Community Podcast

As the seasons change so do we. Being Present to Life-Changes is Being Present to the Life-Force which renews, rejuvenates, and sustains all life forms. If it feels like life is passing you by - where are you? Being Present is an inherent quality we knew as children and begin to lose as our conditioning redirects us away from life and toward an egocentric experience of life which is not the same,...

Imagine that there was nothing lacking in your life? That you had everything you needed and the world was filled with endless possibilities? Real change begins by taking our focus off the Kardashians and iPhones to take a look at what's going on inside. It calls for aiming the light inward. And, although our culture may consider sitting quietly with ourselves as painfully unproductive, "going with...

What would your life look like if you were enough? If at this very moment you simply declared, "I am enough!" Most of us haven't a clue as to how much of life's opportunities are lost in the pursuit of more, better, and different. When we just give up the pursuit of persons, places, experiences, and things to fulfill us, and love ourselves right where we are, opportunities both imagined and never...

As we approach a new training period at Pine Wind in Shamong NJ (Ango) in September, this evening Seijaku Roshi will talk about the meaning of Living a Zen Inspired Life, the life and offerings of a the Zen community, and the inclusive and diverse nature of Zen spirituality. Cantor Robert Esformes joins Seijaku Roshi in this talk.

Roshi's Teisho held at a half-day sitting.

"The Flower doesn't dream of the bee. It blossoms & the bee comes." Vision is the Mind of God - Buddha-Mind, that infinite moment right before, "Let there be Light." What you have forgotten is, "You are the Light!", and "BEING" is the lamp post. All the flower does is "be the flower", "it blossoms and the bee comes". We live in a culture obsessed with "doing" in order to "have". When we are "doing...

Seijaku Roshi teaches that fulfillment is not found by searching for special moments, but by pouring ourselves completely into whatever moment is before us. Using the image of choosing any card from a deck, he emphasizes that every moment contains the same potential when met with full presence. Zen practice turns attention away from demanding that life satisfy us and toward fulfilling life through...

So many things seem to demand our time and attention in any given day. However if we never give our fullest attention to our most Elementary Presence - Being Present to Here and Now with Intention, dissatisfaction only compounds. The Buddhist formula for "Happiness" includes "Right View and Right Intention", whenever we are being distracted we are not living "On Purpose", and not living "Intention...

The Principle of Identity is cause in the matter of one's life. It not only creates the energy and space for possibilities but literally defines what is possible. Having a clearly defined "personal mission" or "vision" for one's life and, being unconditionally true to your "vision" creates the ground for long term well-being and happiness. "My vision for you and me is that we know ourselves and ne...

The definition of love in Buddhism is: wanting others to be happy. This love is unconditional and it requires a lot of courage and acceptance (including self-acceptance). There is no higher or greater purpose, or spiritual practice, than to "Love". 'Even offering three hundred bowls of food three times a day does not match the spiritual merit gained in one moment of love.' - Nagarjuna We will expl...

Compassion is not an ideal to strive for but rather the only ground for "human-being-ness". Until one gives up all ideas of "who you are suppose to be", and start loving who you really are, there are no possibilities for real happiness or well-being or for that matter, the world to ever change. Think of it! Love yourself as you really are - Change the World!

Is there anything we can learn from the holiday season about "happiness and joy"? The pursuit of happiness from the Buddhist point-of-view involves craving or desiring something we believe will give us happiness, or the desire for something more, better, or different than what's so now. This is also what the Buddha defined as "the cause for suffering" (the second noble truth). True happiness is no...

In the tradition of Zen training, meditation or Zazen is attention to details. We gather our attention and devote it with precision to body posture and breath, to the quality of our breath following each inhale and exhale, sitting upright to ensure that body-mind remains attentive to here and now. Cultivating precision in attending to details ultimately leads to greater ease in all areas of our li...

Fundamental to Living a Zen-Inspired Life is realizing that, "Everything seen by the human eye is void, empty of any intrinsic value." Every experience is a function of the "meaning" we have given to any event, person, place, or thing. At anytime we can alter or change our experience no matter the circumstance or situation. When navigating through the many events of life, it is important to have t...

On the way toward truly being "Free" all "choices" must cease to exist except one, the "choice to be free". What is freedom? "It is the moment by moment experience of not being run by one's own reactive mechanisms." What does it mean to live one's life "on purpose"? If you really want to have "more hours in a day" take a look of how much of the day is wasted trying to meet "all the choices in your...

Learn Mindfulness techniques for creating "ease and joy" throughout the day and at those moments we may be experiencing stress or anxiety, and when we need it the most.

Whenever we are closed to life as it is, all of it, we suffer and those we love and care about never really get to know us, or we them. Opening the Heart is the stuff of Authentic Spirituality and Living a Zen-Inspired Life, but it takes skillfulness and effort, courage and a commitment to loving oneself and life fully.

Living a Zen-Inspired Way-of-Life is the ground for Beyond Happiness and Real Transformation. Within our mind exists an extraordinary potential for inner peace and happiness. Through the simple practice of meditation, along with Buddha's time-tested advice for daily life, we can learn to access that potential. We can learn to let go of the agitated states of mind, such as anger, that produce unhap...

How does the concept "Me, Myself, and I" contribute to stress and suffering in our lives? How often has our position to defend and protect "I" and "My" opinions, beliefs, or expectations compound the suffering in our relationships at home and in the workplace? We will look at the difference between a "Healthy Sense of Self" and the illusion "Me, Myself, and I" created by an "egocentric" point of v...

Bringing Mindfulness to Our Relationships "Whatever we give our attention to increases, whatever we don't decreases." Living a Zen Inspired Life is bringing Mindfulness to our Relationships at home, at work, in the community, and our friendships. We will explore the Inner Core of Mindfulness in Relationships which is called - Love Without the Stuff.

Aversion to anxiety is often accompanied by reactivity and actions that worsen how we feel. We suffer. Tonight's presentation taught from the perspectives of Zen and Mindfulness meditation practices, is supported by the latest neuroscience and psychological research. Our focus will be on our direct experience. We will practice uncovering the natural state of a quieted mind, slowing down enough to...

This teaching challenges the idea that spirituality is primarily a search for knowledge or intellectual understanding. Humility brings us to the limits of what can be known, where practice invites us to inhabit mystery directly, recognize our smallness within a vast universe, and allow experience rather than explanation to transform us.

This Zen Chat explores authentic spiritual practice as the realization that what we seek is already present within ordinary life. Through attention, reverence, self-expression, and awareness of impermanence, we are urged to stop postponing love, gratitude, and self-care and to live fully while the opportunity is here.

A Sunday liturgy and teaching at the beginning of a new year, reflecting on practice, impermanence, and the opportunity to begin anew. Rather than treating transformation as something reserved for special occasions, Zen invites us to meet each moment as a fresh opportunity to awaken and live intentionally.

This introductory class explores receiving the Buddhist precepts as a commitment to awaken, take responsibility for one's life, and become a force for healing rather than harm. The talk presents the precepts as living vows that cultivate humility, compassion, and clarity, and describes preparation for Jukai through sewing the rakusu, reflecting on one's personal lineage, and writing a personal und...