Crooked River Zen Center

In this talk Chris Wimmer Soto Zen Priest at Crooked River Zen gives a Dharma talk on Attachment.

This week's Dharma talk is a general discussion on the practice of Zazen.

Open discussion from the CRZ April 2023 Zazenkai.

I decided that my talk tomorrow morning will be on a koan, Case No. 39 from the Mumonkan collection. I'm attaching a copy of the koan along with Mumon's commentary and poem. The koan contains the opening line of a poem. Below I'm providing the entire poem this is taken from. I'm sending this to all those who have registered to attend as well as those who may join us via Zoom. T...

This week's Dharma talk covers chapter 12 DEVADATTA

In this talk Chris Wimmer Soto Zen Priest at Crooked River Zen gives his second talk on the Dharma Seals. All authentic practices of the Buddha carry within them three essential teachings called the Dharma Seals. These three teachings of the Buddha are: impermanence, no self and nirvana.

 The dharma talk on Thurs. will be looking at chapter 11 of the Lotus Sutra, "Beholding the Precious Stupa." This is a pivotal chapter in this text, one which marks a major turning point in the dharma teaching being conveyed. I hope you can join us for it.

In this talk Chris Wimmer Soto Zen Priest at Crooked River Zen discusses the Dharma Seals. All authentic practices of the Buddha carry within them three essential teachings called the Dharma Seals. These three teachings of the Buddha are: impermanence, no self and nirvana.

This weeks discussion is generated by readings from the book Dream Conversations, A collection of a renowned Japanese master's written replies to questions about the true nature of Zen. In short, simply worded teachings, Muso Kokushi (1275-1351),

This week we'll return to our normal schedule with sittings on Thurs. at 7pm and Sat. at 9:30am. For the dharma talk Thurs. we will continue our discussion of the Lotus Sutra, looking at chapters 9 & 10.  

Talk 2 of 2 from our Spring Sesshin. Seeing the crimson peach blossoms across a canyon, after seeking for 30 years, a teacher is enlightened. a discussion on John Tarrant's Peach Blossoms.

Talk 1 of 2 from our Spring Sesshin. Seeing the crimson peach blossoms across a canyon, after seeking for 30 years, a teacher is enlightened. a discussion on John Tarrant's Peach Blossoms.

Chapter 4 Take 2...We'll be following a normal schedule this week with sittings on Thurs. at 7pm and Sat. at 9:30am. Last week we finished our look at chapter 4 of the Lotus so we're ready now to move on to Chapter 5, "Parable of the Herbs", which will be of particular interest to the gardeners of our sangha.

This week, Dean opens up the discussion to a topic suggested by a Sangha member. The topic of suggestion is Women's Studies or Women's issues in our society today.

We'll be following a normal schedule this week with sittings on Thurs. at 7pm and Sat. at 9:30am. Last week we finished our look at chapter 4 of the Lotus so we're ready now to move on to Chapter 5, "Parable of the Herbs", which will be of particular interest to the gardeners of our sangha.

On Sat. we will have our last Jukai class before taking a 7 month break. We will be concluding our in-depth study of the Satipatthana Sutra with a talk and discussion on Right Mindfulness from the Noble Eightfold Path which will be led by Sensei Chuck Hutchcraft who will be joining us remotely from Illinois. We expect to have a large 40" monitor which we will be using for this at th...

This week we have our usual Thurs. sitting at 7pm. For our service we'll be conducting the full moon ceremony and the talk will be on chapter 4 of the Lotus Sutra, "Faith Discernment."

We have our usual 7 pm sitting on Thurs. this week when we will continue to look at the parable of the burning house from the Lotus Sutra and then move on to chapter 4.  

(January Zazenkai 1.21.23) As all things are buddha-dharma, there are delusion, realization, practice, birth and death, buddhas and sentient beings. As myriad things are without an abiding self, there is no delusion, no realization, no buddha, no sentient being, no birth and death. The buddha way, in essence, is leaping clear of abundance and lack; thus there are birth and death, delusion and real...

From CRZ January Zazenkai 1/21/2023 Case Zhaozhou earnestly asked Nanquan, “What is the Way [the Dao]?” Nanquan said, “The ordinary mind is the Way.” Zhaozhou said, “Should I direct myself toward it or not?” Nanquan said, “If you try to turn toward it, you go against it.” Zhaozhou said, “If I do not try to turn toward it, how can I know that it is the Way?” Nanquan said, “The Way does not belong t...

This Thurs. we will have our usual sitting at 7pm. The dharma talk will conclude our discussion of chapter 2 of the Lotus Sutra and then move on to chapter 3 which includes the first parable in the text, the parable of the burning house. 

For Sat. I'd like to solicit sangha input as to any points of dharma/practice that you'd like to have discussed.  

 The talk on Thurs. will continue our look at chapter 2 of the Lotus Sutra titled "Skillful Means" or "Tactfulness" depending on the translation used.

Our monthly Jukai class takes place on Sat. at 9:30am when we will be continuing our study of the Eightfold Path by looking at right concentration. We have looked at this in the recent past when we have talked about the Theravadin approach to this aspect of the path - jhana practice. Consequently, my focus on Sat. will be with our practice of zazen within the context of concentration.&nb...

Thurs. at 7pm when the dharma talk will be on chapter two of the Lotus Sutra entitled "Tactfulness" and for the service we will be doing the full moon ceremony.