San Francisco Zen Center

10/06/2024, Gyokuden Stephanie Blank, dharma talk at Green Gulch Farm. In this talk, from Green Gulch Farm by Gyokuden Steph Blank, Steph reflects on practice in the temple and in the marketplace with an abiding love for both environments.

This talk was given at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center (Zenshinji) by Heather Shoren Iarusso. Heather highlights one of the most striking stories about Buddhist women, from the "The Hidden Lamp" collection - Miaozong's dharma interview. She talks about how the story's frankness helps reclaim women's power. Recorded on August 30, 2024.

This talk was given at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center (Zenshinji) by Shogen Danielson. Shogen's talk touches on the absolute, the inconceivable aspects of the human condition, that we also call Buddha Nature. Recorded on August 23, 2024.

This talk was given at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center (Zenshinji) by Shindo Gita Gayatri. Shindo discusses the unique quality of zazen, and references Dogen's Fukanzazengi, Thich Nhat Hanh, and Ayurvedic medicine in her talk. Recorded on August 16, 2024

In this talk, given at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center (Zenshinji), Shindo Gita Gayatri reflects on times of change at Zen Center and in the wider world, using Dogen's fascicle Uji (Being Time) and the non-dual Advaita Vedanta teachings from her native India to illustrate her thoughts. Recorded on August 14, 2024.

11/16/2024, Paula Arai, dharma talk at City Center. This dharma talk by visiting teacher Paula Arai at Beginner’s Mind Temple explores Buddhism from a woman’s perspective, focusing on the liberating power of storytelling in sutras. Combining rigorous research and an embodied approach, Arai humanizes Buddhist women’s experiences. She shared two stories—Queen Shrimala and "Bowing With the Dharma"—fr...

11/13/2024, Eli Brown-Stevenson, dharma talk at City Center. This dharma talk was given at Beginner’s Mind Temple by So-on Eli Brown-Stevenson, co-leader of the fall 2024 Practice Period at City Center. Inspired by the teachings from Suzuki Roshi and the symbolism of the bell in Zen practice, this talk explores the Bodhisattva’s unwavering path of sincerity, presence, and purpose. Through Ox-Herdi...

11/09/2024, Jisan Tova Green, dharma talk at City Center. This dharma talk was given at Beginner’s Mind Temple by Fall 2024 Practice Period co-leader Jisan Tova Green. How can we welcome what we find unwelcome—from pain, disturbing emotions or thoughts in Zazen to events in our country or the world? Drawing from teachings on Bodhicitta (awakening mind) and her experience as a hospice worker, Tova...

11/06/2024, Gengyoko Tim Wicks, dharma talk at City Center. This dharma talk was given at Beginner’s Mind Temple by tanto (head of practice) and practice period co-leader Gengyoko Tim Wicks. In the talk, Tim shares some of the teachings that are being studied this practice period and talks about practicing wherever we find ourselves. Recorded on Wednesday, November 6, 2024.

This dharma talk was given at Beginner’s Mind Temple by visiting teacher Gaylon Ferguson. During the Fall 2024 Practice Period at Beginner’s Mind Temple, the community is studying Dr. Ferguson’s book “Welcoming Beginner’s Mind: Zen and Tibetan Buddhist Wisdom on Experiencing Our True Nature.” Dr. Ferguson begins by talking about the historical and continuing connection between San Francisco Zen Ce...

10/30/2024, Jisan Tova Green, dharma talk at City Center. In this talk, given at Beginner's Mind Temple, Jisan Tova Green describes the Sejiki Ceremony, in which hungry ghosts are cajoled and offered food, including the sweet dew of the Dharma. She likens this to the experience many of us have when we set out on a spiritual path and describes the first of the Ten Oxherding Pictures, in which a per...

This talk was given at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center (Zenshinji) by Joan Amaral. In this talk, Joan invites everyone to cherish and enjoy the shared body practice of being in the mountains. Recorded on August 10, 2024.

07/14/2024, Jisan Tova Green, dharma talk at Green Gulch Farm. Each life is a journey and we are all travelers. Some are forced to travel, displaced by wars or the climate crisis, others are unhoused, others travel for work, study, or recreation. The roles of host and guest are heightened by travel. Many come to Green Gulch and other Zen centers for refuge and renewal. How can we welcome these tra...

07/07/2024, Jiryu Rutschman-Byler, dharma talk at Green Gulch Farm. In this talk, Jiryu discusses traditional Zen practices of generating doubt and wonder - through meditating on "huatou" questions like "who drags this corpse around?" - and discusses how Soto Zen practice expresses that same wonder in a more subtle way as a point of posture in sitting and daily life.

06/30/2024, Myoju Erin Merk, dharma talk at Green Gulch Farm. This talk was given at Green Gulch Farm by Myoju Shinjin Erin Merk on Pride Day 2024 in a celebration of gratitude and Queer Joy. This is Erin's first talk following her three week Dharma Transmission ceremony at Green Gulch Farm Zen Center.

This dharma talk was given at Beginner’s Mind Temple by Fall 2024 Practice Period co-leader So-on Eli Brown-Stevenson. This talk centers on the Zen practice of welcoming, rooted in Suzuki Roshi's teachings. We explore how welcoming everything—joy, discomfort, and impermanence—brings us into deeper alignment with the present moment. Through the metaphor "The body is the temple, and awareness is the...

10/19/2024, Gengyoko Tim Wicks, dharma talk at City Center. This dharma talk was given at Beginner’s Mind Temple’s October one-day sitting, held at Unity Church, by Tanto (head of practice) Gengyoko Tim Wicks. Using this famous koan (Zen teaching story) Tim discusses the connection that our pasts have with the present and how it is that we practice with our difficulties.

10/13/2024, Sozan Michael McCord, dharma talk at Green Gulch Farm. This dharma talk was given at Green Gulch Farm by San Francisco Zen Center president Sozan Michael McCord. While we honor and treasure the memories, lessons and times with people who we knew in the past, it is that very memory of how temporary this life is — that everything is changing — which helps us treasure those we have in our...

10/12/2024, Tenzen David Zimmerman, dharma talk at City Center. This dharma talk was given at Beginner’s Mind Temple by Central Abbot Tenzen David Zimmerman. In Case 36 of the ‘Gateless Gate’ (Mumonkan), Zen teacher Wuzu poses a question to his students: “Meeting a person of the Way, not using words or silence, how will you greet them?” Abbot David explores this koan, weaving throughout an account...

10/09/2024, So-on Eli Brown-Stevenson, dharma talk at City Center. This dharma talk was given at Beginner’s Mind Temple by So-on Eli Brown-Stevenson. Words are powerful, but they can also lead us astray—especially when teachings cross cultures and languages. In this talk, we’ll explore how mistranslations and misunderstandings of Buddhist concepts shape our practice and how we can move beyond inte...

10/05/2024, Shosan Victoria Austin, dharma talk at City Center. This dharma talk was given at Beginner’s Mind Temple by Shosan Victoria Austin. When we are challenged by anger, it's easy to react and difficult to respond. How might Zen practices of giving, tolerance and enthusiasm help us let go of relational barriers, transforming them into gateways to increased intimacy? In times of conflict and...

02/10/2024, Ryushin Paul Haller, dharma talk at City Center. Our narratives and our histories shape our conditioned being. Acknowledging this conditioning, we take Refuge in Buddha, the innate capacity to awaken. In this talk, given at Beginner's Mind Temple, Ryushin investigates how our stories and narratives influence our experience of the world. By examining the truth of our lives, we can recog...

09/22/2024, Thiemo Blank, dharma talk at Green Gulch Farm. This dharma talk was given at Green Gulch Farm by Tanto Thiemo Blank. ​The talk gives an introduction into the precepts of the Zen lineage ​as well as T​hiemo's ​p​ersonal path in finding meaning in the precepts beyond a seemingly rule-driven moral guideline.

09/08/2024, Stephanie Blank, dharma talk at Green Gulch Farm. This talk was given at Green Gulch Farm by Gyokuden Steph Blank. In the talk, Gyokuden invokes dragon energies and invites us to awaken together right now; heartbreak welcome, dharma companions manifest, failure being no obstacle to practice. Discussing the role of intention as the determiner of karmic consequences, she encourages us to...

09/01/2024, Gil Fronsdal, dharma talk at Green Gulch Farm. This extemporaneous talk was given at Green Gulch Farm by Gil Fronsdal. In the talk, Gil brings forward the teachings that arose in that moment.