SokukoJi Buddhist Temple Monastery

Are you ready to step into this kind of training, working with your opinions and preconceptions, your judgements, your beliefs, your unexamined conclusions? If you need to step on the path, it will be obvious to you. It will probably be necessary to meet someone who sees what this is and can teach it out of their realization, out of what they see. If you are ready to be a student, not just someone...

https://youtu.be/rMz_DIJT5vQ

Quite often we hear this from others: “Just let go.” The very nature of self-centeredness is to manipulate or take control of something. It just reinforces the self-centeredness. You don’t have to let go. Rather, see the way in which you hang on. It’s about looking at that area that’s not very pleasant to observe. In Trungpa Rinpoche’s words, be genuine, get to know yourself, and make friends with...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DeL0NTdZDA

This is another way of saying, “Receive.” If it shows up in your mind stream, take it in. Allow things to come toward you. You don’t necessarily have to produce some kind of activity or go out toward something. Whatever shows up, whether in thought patterns or relationships, needs to occur. This is another way of talking about dependent origination or pratitya samutpada. To just fundamentally eat...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=266DA7Wb48I

Whatever shows up in the mind stream, don’t second it, agree with it or go along with it. The added commentary tends to validate and personalize it as somebody who feels this way. That “me” feeling is unreal – it’s a collection of ideas and opinions, hope and fear. Don’t try to fix it, and don’t set up standards to try to protect yourself from the open dimension in which everything is arising with...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4xU7ZGedX0

We constantly do things we don’t have to do because of paranoia about what might happen. The idea is to put a little bit of tension on our impulsiveness to act. When you do that, there is much more clarity around that which you are doing and what you actually have to do. Hopefully, it’s to train your mind. Don’t go in any direction unless there’s some kind of understanding. Less is better. This is...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHRwsxl-zlk

In this five minute excerpt of Sokuzan's full talk, he explores the idea of "I don't know." All Sokuzan - no Q&As. Please let us know if you are enjoying these short talks and whether they are of value. We listen to and appreciate your feedback! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUWOYJ5Ry0k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HE1H2p51L4k

Zen master Seung-Sahn talked about “only don’t know mind.” This whole area is very powerful if it comes out of your awareness. Knowing and not knowing is something the egoistic mind creates. It is necessary to go into not knowing first and not to panic into your ego with, “I know.” The grasping mind will not allow an open dimension. In the area of consciousness that is without form, your knowledge...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_LLqTs-Ec8

https://youtu.be/XAK7VMbv0OU

Specifically edited for listeners who have only ten minutes to listen. This abridged version of Sokuzan's full talk contains 7 minutes of Sokuzan's teachings and 3.5 minutes of Q&A time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fgWemQzr4I

Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche talked about working with the negativity that arises in your mindstream as making friends with your ego. This is the area that we judge, that’s embarrassing, that we want to do away with. We try to stop it based on thinking it’s real. Just observe the the circularity of passion, aggression and ignorance. What’s being suggested here is that befriending ego is not likely to...

Specifically edited for listeners who have only ten minutes to listen. This abridged version of Sokuzan's full talk contains five minutes of Sokuzan's teachings and five minutes of Q&A time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWb6ASjRtrw

Through the sitting practice of meditation, you can retrain your mind to observe what’s arising rather than what you think is there. The idea is to see clearly and deeply what is arising so you know fundamentally what it is. You don’t have to stop covering up, just be aware of it. If you don’t cover it up, ego finds its own space in the form of dependent origination. If you see what this is, all t...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJRbTT1IDj8

What is the observer that can’t be seen as content? That aspect of consciousness which is just receiving and processing does not have a spacial dimension or a time reference. It doesn’t have an identity, particularly. You could call it tathagatagarbha, jnana, prajna or wisdom. Even calling it an aspect is going too far. This and other questions from sangha are addressed in depth in this talk. http...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6TmuW464j8

This is something I often say when someone runs into difficulty. It’s not an order, it’s something to consider. True devotion is not about obedience. If someone is trying to get control of you, red flags should go up everywhere. There’s only one authority and you’re it. Progress is materialism, and on the spiritual path progress is invisible. The idea is to encourage you to proceed, to help you be...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X50EdXpoB_I