As we attune to the truth of impermanence (anicca) the very preciousness of life itself begins to penetrate our awareness: the flowers will not last forever, our dear friends will come and go, those we love will grow old. Even how we chop our vegetables matters if we wan’t to be touched by the the richness and joy of a human life. I invite you to join me for a period of practice and discussion emphasizing the cultivation of confidence in the Dhamma, the knowledge that the Buddha’s subtle teachings are accessible and that the fruit of practice is available to us in this life time. Known as pasada, this confidence, which is both a trust in the Dhamma and in one’s own capacity for freedom, can be recognized in the knowledge that we have everything we need to be awake.
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The Delusion of Separateness
Recorded :
October 27, 2019 There seems to be a sense of disorientation, disjointedness and overall running around in circles happening in the world today. And for some reason, many of us think that we’re the only ones who are feeling it; as if it’s our own personal failing. As we move into the changing of seasons, this is the…
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Embodying cultural diversity: dancing with the basket of virtue
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July 2, 2017 Our Sangha has been predominately white since it branched off from the Asian countries. This Dharma talk offers a path for deeper inquiry and greater insight into how we can embody cultural diversity. The Eight Noble Truths will guide us toward a healthier way of conducting ourselves in the arena of cultural diversity, taking a…
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Love’s in Need of Love: The Practice of Love as Social Resistance
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July 1, 2017 The great Black American singer and songwriter Stevie Wonder once sang, “Love’s in need of love today.” His words couldn’t be more true as we face a global community struggling with war, poverty, illness, climate instability, and the rise of political authorities and governments who do not seem to be grounded in compassion or kindness….
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Wake up to your Life: Cultivating Courage & Compassion in the Everyday
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March 23, 2025 Awakening to Life means harmonizing our values and our actions. Many of us merely go through the motions, sleepwalking through the hours, without actually feeling alive. Cultivating courage and joy entails slowing down, paying close attention, and practicing being fully engaged with what each moment has to offer. Koshin Sensei will share Zen teachings and…
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Ulla Koenig – Week of April 8, 2024
This week’s theme is “All Life is Practice”. In this week of exploring the four noble truths together, we will take a good look at the eightfold path and relate it to our own practice. Together we explore how all of our daily life can be seen as a part of a spiritual journey and heal the dualism between “practice” and “life”. May this week provide us with an inspiring expansion of what practice means for us.
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Liberation through the Heart (Citta Vimmuti)
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June 28, 2020 Most people associate Dharma practice with the concept of Wisdom. Here, the idea is that we need to “know” something that we don’t already know. For English thinking minds this can become very problematic and can turn our practice into a cognitive or intellectual endeavor. With the earliest teachings of the Dharma we see that…
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The Nonduality of Good and Evil? Buddhist Reflections on War
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April 19, 2026 Ukraine…Gaza…Iran… Can Buddhist teachings help us understand and respond to these modern conflicts? Quotation: If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere, insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil…
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The Dharma and the Drama of Sex: Everything you Wanted to know about Dharma and Sex but were too Spiritual to Ask
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November 18, 2018 Sex is everywhere. It’s how we got born, it teases us from advertising boards on every city street, it drives some of the biggest industries, and it provokes some of the most intense stimuli in body, heart and mind. Yet dharma teachings, even in a lay context, mostly ignore sex. It is not spoken about…
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