Shasta Abbey

Rev. Koten Benson, visiting Prior from Lion's Gate Buddhist Priory in Lytton B.C. Canada, leads a week long retreat at Shasta Abbey during the week of June 23, 2024. His focus is on the founder of the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives and Shasta Abbey, Rev. Master Jiyu Kennett. Rev. Koten shares stories about Rev. Master Jiyu's life in Japan, her training as a Zen priest, and her establis...

Rev. Master Meian Elbert, Abbess of Shasta Abbey, talks about compassion as foremost in our daily life practice. This talk was given at Shasta Abbey on Sunday May 19, 2024. Twitter/X: @shastaabbey YouTube: https://youtu.be/eEDKnGPk-h4

Rev. Margaret Clyde shares some stories from her own life, both as a monk and before, where she had to notice and sit still with the complaining mind. She talks about how she began to notice this habit of mind and realized she needed to convert it. This talk was given at Shasta Abbey on Sunday May 26, 2024. Twitter/X: @shastaabbey YouTube: https://youtu.be/SAKrqz8oxYI

Rev. Astor Douglas takes up the topic of simplicity. She leads us into looking at how we get drawn into the busy-ness of life and what we can do to stop and find our still center.  This talk was given at Shasta Abbey on Sunday May 12, 2024. Twitter/X: @shastaabbey YouTube: https://youtu.be/eFI6DGC0VMw

Rev. Valora Midtdal suggests that taking responsibility for our suffering is, "ceasing to blame others for our difficult mind states...and looking clearly at how our own actions of body, speech, and mind contribute to our own distress." This talk was given at Shasta Abbey on Sunday April 21, 2024. YouTube: https://youtu.be/fRlBZWO8Y9M Twitter/X: @shastaabbey

Rev. Master Meian Elbert, Abbess of Shasta Abbey, gives a general talk on practice. "Putting the Dharma into practice: we can read about it, we can hear about it, how do we actually practice it?" How do we bridge the gap between an intellectual understanding of practice and the actual DOING of practice. This talk was given at Shasta Abbey on Sunday April 14, 2024. YouTube: https://youtu....

Rev. Oswin Hollenbeck continues with his 'Attitude of Gratitude' series. He encourages us that, “living the life of a Bodhisattva is a noble thing to do”, and illuminates how we can achieve this way in our daily lives.  This talk was given at Shasta Abbey on Sunday May 5, 2024. YouTube: https://youtu.be/j_kUQUE7eUo Twitter/X: @shastaabbey

Rev. Scholastica Hicks gives a dharma talk on the teaching of No Self. This talk was given at Shasta Abbey on Sunday April 7, 2024 YouTube: https://youtu.be/x1-83Y5kUME Twitter/X: @shastaabbey

The late Rev. Jisho Perry talks about Rev. Master Jiyu Kennett. Rev. Master Jiyu was the first Abbess and Founder of Shasta Abbey. Rev. Jisho talks about her training in Japan and what she found during her time there. This talk was given at Shasta Abbey in 2012. YouTube: N/A Twitter/X: @shastaabbey

This is the fourth talk in a series of lectures done by Rev. Master Jiyu in around the year 1979. In this talk Rev. Master Jiyu talks about How To Grow a Lotus Blossom in order to round out our understanding of Great Master Dogen's 'Shushogi' as spoken on in the previous episode. SHUSHOGI: https://www.shastaabbey.org/pdf/bookZel.pdf   pg.94 Link to talk#3: https://www.buzzsprout.com...

RM Daishin talks about daily practice and the goal of 'Nirvana'. He encourages us to see that Nirvana is not an end goal but an ever ongoing flow of practice: now.  Twitter/X: @shastaabbey YouTube: N/A

Rev. Kodo Kay talks about the practice of transferring Merit and how our practice has a deep impact upon the world. This talk was given at Shasta Abbey in 2018. Twitter/X: @shastaabbey YouTube: N/A

The late Rev. Chosei Swann talks about general themes of practice and religious conviction in our lives. He encourages us to not give up and to make practice the foundation of our lives. This talk was given at Shasta Abbey in 2015. Twitter/X: @shastaabbey YouTube: N/A

Rev. Shiko Rom gives a talk about faith and how we must start by having faith in ourselves. This talk was given at Shasta Abbey on Sunday March 24, 2024.  Twitter/X: @shastaabbey YouTube: N/A

Rev. Amanda Robertson talks about her life over the past six months and the difficulty she has had after sustaining injuries from a bad fall. She encourages us to see through the difficulties that life presents us with in order to realize that, fundamentally, we have everything we need. This talk was given at Shasta Abbey on Sunday March 17, 2024. Twitter/X: @shastaabbey YouTube: N/A

Rev. Daishin Yalon shares some reflections and advice from his fifty years as a Buddhist monastic. This talk was given at Shasta Abbey on Sunday March 10, 2024. Twitter/X: @shastaabbey YouTube: https://youtu.be/ZxlzO299m1Y

Rev. Master Meian Elbert, Abbess of Shasta Abbey, quotes a line from Great Master Dogen's 'Shushogi' that states, "our daily life should be spent constantly in selfless activity with no waste of time whatsoever". She discusses how we should understand this statement and make it a reality in our life and practice. This talk was given at Shasta Abbey on Sunday March 3, 2024....

   Rev. Enya Sapp encourages us to explore through our practice that place which is beyond the opposites. This talk was given at Shasta Abbey on Sunday February 25, 2024. Twitter/X: @shastaabbey YouTube: https://youtu.be/f7Jh_6OLaH8

Rev. Master Meian Elbert, Abbess of Shasta Abbey, talks about Buddhism with a 'big B' (in contrast to buddhism with a little b). This talk was given at Shasta Abbey on Sunday February 18, 2024 YouTube: https://youtu.be/P8ZYCazkTS0 Twitter/X: @shastaabbey

Rev. Allard Kieres talks about how we are all already Buddhas. He uses the movie Kung Fu Panda and other Zen stories to portray this idea and try to help us see that we already have everything we need. And although the journey to realizing this for ourselves is necessary, we paradoxically begin right back where we started: Buddha. This talk was given at Shasta Abbey on Sunday February 11, 2024. Yo...

Rev. Master Meian Elbert talks about Great Master Dogen's quote, "Impermanence is Buddha Nature" and what this means for our practice in daily life. This talk was given at Shasta Abbey on Sunday February 4, 2024. YouTube: https://youtu.be/HmvvhIom3wU Twitter: @shastaabbey

This is a reading of chapter 1 of Great Master Keizan's 'Denkoroku: The Record of the Transmission of the Light'. It is the Rev. Hubert Nearman translation. The Denkoroku records the stories of the masters in our lineage starting with Shakyamuni Buddha and going through the generations up to Koun Ejo who was Great Master Dogen's disciple and grand master to Keizan. The stories...

Rev. Hubert Nearman was a monk at Shasta Abbey who died in 2016 when in his eighties. He was a disciple of Rev. Master Jiyu and a translator for the O.B.C. (Order of Buddhist Contemplatives). His translations are vast, including the complete translation of Great Master Dogen's Shobogenzo.  This talk on impermanence took place at Shasta Abbey back sometime in the year 2000, and is a wonderful...

Rev. Master Koten Benson, Prior of Lions Gate Buddhist Priory in Lytton, B.C. Canada, talks about Rev. Master Jiyu-Kennett. This talk was given at Shasta Abbey in March of 2016. YouTube: N/A Twitter/X: @shastaabbey  

Rev. Master Haryo Young, Head of the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives, offers a metaphor for training. He explains that we a like a bird trapped in a golden cage and that our natural tendency to find freedom is to fly up and out: but we encounter the bars and remain imprisoned. The solution is actually so simple we often don't realize it. Twitter/X: @shastaabbey YouTube: N/A