Ocean Mind Sangha

When your spiritual practice feels dull or remote and it’s difficult to remember its living, breathing power, here are eight ways to re-engage—find the one that speaks to you now. This dharma talk begins with the Student Entering Ceremony of Eric Geist.

In this last study session on Pema Chödrön’s No Time to Lose: A Timely Guide to the Way of the Bodhisattva, Zuisei takes up the practices of offering (dedicating the merits of our practice) and letting go (acknowledge, surrender, and grieve). This talk draws on the teachings of Shantideva and Pema Chödrön, the experience of ultramarathon runner Jenn Hughes, and more.

Explore the practice of prayer—learn how we as Buddhists can engage this powerful tool in the service of ending distraction and reclaiming love and liberation.

Explore the practice of faith and the ways it sparks, sustains, and guides us on our path.

Fear can be practiced, no matter how strong or subtle it appears to us. Drawing on the Buddhist sutras, this talk illustrates the path of meeting our fears and moving beyond them.

Zen monasteries around the world practice oryoki, the meal ceremony that highlights that eating is a sacred act— one that puts us in touch, not just with physical hunger, but with our deeper aspiration to awaken.

To live in a time and place where we can actively seek and find the Buddhist teachings is remarkable. If you’re wondering how this might unfold in your life in a way that leads to the liberation of all beings, look to the Buddha’s path. This talk draws on the life of Shakyamuni Buddha and more.

In the midst of what can be an awesome fear, and grief, the teachings on death and dying can also be a source of great power, wonder, and love

Zuisei shares just how the practice of love is the heart, the path, and the realization of the Buddhist teachings

We say this often, Be present. But what does it really mean to be present? How can we be present to the teachings offered to us in every moment or even just this very moment? Zuisei guides us through the Dutiyakālasutta, a Buddhist teaching from the Pali Canon that, through four steps, shows how, with care, patience, and faith in ourselves, we can simply and actively pay attention, allowing our li...

There’s a slow and quiet changing of a mind, even when we think nothing is happening. We can just begin or continue our steady effort to get close to all of it—the joy and the mess—as it is. It’s a simple instruction, but maybe the most difficult to put into practice. So what can you do when the mind gets in the way of getting close and your thoughts become obstacles? SWITCH. In this talk Zuisei d...

Not only did the Buddha teach that we need good friends along the spiritual path, the heart of Buddhist practice gives us the tools and concrete guidance on how to be that resource for others. This talk draws on teachings from Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana Buddhism, including a couple of the Pali Canon’s sutras, as well as the "Prajnaparamita in 8,000 lines."

The Ocean Mind Sangha’s first Jukai ceremony—listen to and join in as Brian Pontolilo formally commits to a life guided by the ethical teachings of Buddhism with his teacher Zuisei, and the sangha.

There is a real medicine for loneliness. Reaching in all the ways we do to assuage it only touches its surface. How can we truly root out the hunger that keeps our phones in our hand and our gaze outward? Zuisei teaches how the heart of Zen, a practice of being completely and intimately alone, is the most powerful way to face the heart of loneliness, and to shed the ignorance that sustains it.

Zen training can prepare us to move skillfully through times of apparent isolation and disconnection that we may encounter in our day to day. This talk is a deep dive into one aspect of training that addresses just this—koan study—in which the teacher presents a case and asks a question. Answering requires entering into and vowing to stay with the question and the world it entails, as ungraspable...

Could your next meal be a celebration of the sacred, no matter where or with whom? This mondo on mindful eating dives into the many ways we relate to food in light of Buddhist practice, from eating disorders and the art of parenting, to dinner parties and dining alone.

In this study session, Zuisei and the sangha relate their daily lives and practice to Koso Uchiyama’s Opening the Hand of Thought, a contemporary Zen text that speaks about the importance of zazen and letting go of thoughts in order to see the nature of the self. In the words of Uchiyama Roshi: You are within me. I'm just facing myself. In other words, you exist within myself, and it is to that yo...

Join Zuisei and the sangha in conversation with Lama Karma Yeshe Chödrön and Karma Zopa Jigme. Yeshe and Zopa are Western teachers in the Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism who describe their mission as empowering practitoners to engage spiritual practice with integrity , creativity, and joy, by making available the authentic teachings of the Kagyu lineage to all who seek to eradicate suffering and...

Where you are and what you are doing is exactly right—even when it’s a struggle. In this talk Zuisei reminds us that the focus of Buddhist practice is not liberation from anything but liberation within everything, and that when practicing with this intention, there are no obstacles in our path.

Take a look into how our sense of self gets in the way of our lives and catch a glimpse of what remains once we let go…

According to the poet David Whyte, there is a faith in loving fiercely the one who is rightfully yours. What if the one who is rightfully yours is you?

Discover what it means to create this world and how we might face it and ourselves in spaciousness and love…

In this study session, Zuisei explores Koso Uchiyama’s Opening the Hand of Thought, a contemporary Zen text that speaks about the importance of zazen and letting go of thoughts in order to see the nature of the self. In the words of Uchiyama Roshi: You are within me. I'm just facing myself. In other words, you exist within myself, and it is to that you that I direct myself. That is what "vow" is.

In this talk Zuisei invites us to join a “zazen streak,” committing to sit in silent meditation at least ten minutes a day, every day, “no matter what,” pointing to the power of that kind of constancy and stability. Drawing on the heart of restorative justice, koan study, and specifically the koan “Dongshan’s No Cold or Heat” (Blue Cliff Record Case 43), Zuisei explores what it means to be fully p...

December 8 was Bodhi Day, the celebration of Buddha’s Enlightenment. In this talk, which brings a weekend sesshin to a close, Zuisei speaks of the Buddha’s life of practice and realization, focusing specifically on the aspiration, courage and determination that supported his vow to awaken. Most importantly, she links his aspiration to our own, stressing the point that we have everything that the B...