Zencare Podcast

“Faith is not blind belief, but confidence born of seeing what's actually possible—the willingness to plant a seed without yet seeing the fruit.”

In this recent talk given on a snowy Sunday morning, Koshin Sensei explores the Buddha's teaching on three forms of generosity: giving out of faith, material generosity, and the gift of fearlessness (abhaya dana).

Drawing on Suzuki Roshi's gardening metaphor, Koshin asks: Are you just planting a seed and walking away, or are you tending to it day after day? Do you evaluate your practice after...

“Do an audit of how you spend your money. Does it match what you say you really care about?”

In this powerful recent talk, Koshin Sensei tackles a topic many spiritual communities avoid: money. Often, topics like finances and business can be deemed “not spiritual”, but does it have to be so?

Drawing on Suzuki Roshi and the Buddha's teachings on generosity (dana), Koshin explores how money is simply another form of impermanence. When it circulates, there's vitality. When it freezes, whether through fear, scarcity thinking, or the belief that “I...

“Our practice doesn't ask us how to end wars, it asks us where the wars begin. In this body. In this flash of rage. In this certainty that I am right and you are wrong.”

Amid news of global conflicts and war, Chodo Sensei offers a profound reflection on the second Buddhist precept: do not steal. But what does stealing mean when the world is organized around taking; lives, safety, homes, childhood, trust, and ultimately, humanity itself?

Drawing on Suzuki Roshi's teaching about entering the Buddha Hall with clean feet...

“When you encounter obstacles, do not see them as hindrances separate from practice.”

In this talk from the beginning of the year (and in preparation for the Year of the Fire Horse), Koshin Sensei reflects on what it really means to make effort. Not as self-improvement, but as a vow to be fully here.

Drawing on Dōgen’s teachings on continuous practice, he offers simple, direct questions we can live inside: How are you using your time? How are you caring for your body, (the personal and the collect...

“Many people can study lots of things, but are you living that way?”

On the 12th day of our Commit to Sit, during a winter blizzard, Koshin Sensei explores a profound question: What's the difference between talking about spiritual practice and actually living it?

Drawing on teachings from Suzuki Roshi and the 13th-century Zen master Dogen, Koshin examines how we often get caught in our thoughts; arguing with teachers in our minds, feeding our sense of entitlement, constantly debating whether we're “doing it right.”

But what...

“Each in breath is bringing life into the body, and each out breath is a death. We never know if there'll be another inhale.”

On the third day of our recent Winter Sesshin (silent retreat), Chodo Sensei offers a profound teaching on the practice of bowing and the art of surrendering the constructed self.

Through the story of Gray Wolf and Zen Master Raven, he explores why true bowing leaves no self left to be humiliated; it is awakening expressing itself.

Chodo Sensei shares his...

“The best way to observe precepts is just to be you yourself and then the precepts are always with you.”

What does it mean to “be yourself” in Zen, not as self-improvement, but as a direct, embodied intimacy with life as it is?

We were honored to recently host Jiryu Rutschman-Byler, co-abbot of the San Francisco Zen Center, at our zendo in New York for this moving dharma talk on the newly released collection of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi’s teachings, Becoming Yourself, that Jiryu and the late Sojun Mel Weitsman w...

“Settling down is a protest against a society that values speed.”

We share this opening talk from our last Commit to Sit in honor of our upcoming 90-day program starting this January.

In it, Koshin sensei invites us into studying Shakyamuni Buddha's final teaching on becoming a great person, explored through Dogen Zenji's commentary and Uchiyama Roshi's wisdom.

Through powerful stories of the Buddha stopping Angulimala mid-chase, Ryokan wishing he could give away the moonlight, a student rubbing fire sticks until they see flame, Kosh...

“They will not ask me why I wasn't Moses. They will ask, ‘why weren't you Zosia? Why weren't you more yourself?’”

On the 82nd day of our recent Commit to Sit, Koshin Paley Ellison delivered this dharma talk on the Buddha's final teaching about useless and frivolous discussion.

Drawing from Dogen's commentaries and the Buddha's last instructions, Koshin asks how much of our day we spend entertaining confusion versus actually practicing presence.

Through humor and honesty, this talk illuminates how our tight grip on wanting...

“The truth had never been expounded before because the time to do so had not yet come. Now is the time to drop the story about what should have happened.”

What if your practice wasn’t about self-improvement, but about opening the door of Buddha wisdom for all beings?

Drawing on Chapter Two of the Lotus Sutra, Koshin Sensei speaks about skillful means, our wildly different capacities, and the confusion we create when we cling to comfort or try to please everyone.

He introduces the fi...

“There is no enemy except our delusion, and even that, when bound to the path, becomes a place of support.”

In this talk, Koshin Sensei reflects on the ancient figure of Fudo Myo-o, the “Immovable Wisdom King”, and the role of the abbot as one who stands on the stone mountain in the midst of fire.

Drawing on the Lotus Sutra’s parable of the burning house, he invites us to bind everything to the path: our fears, our demons, our need to control the future, even our suffering storylines...

“A good teacher will take the mask off your face.”

In this recent drama talk, Koshin Sensei reflects on the first two chapters of the Lotus Sutra.

There is a crowd gathering to hear the Buddha teach, millions of beings of all kinds. One of the Buddha's disciples is repeatedly imploring the Buddha to speak and the Buddha finally agrees.

Just as he is about to address the crowd, five thousand monks stand up, bow, and leave.

Koshin reflects on w...

“The wisdom of the Buddhas is infinitely profound and immeasurable... and that door is difficult to understand and difficult to enter when we believe our stories.”

In this recent dharma talk, Koshin Sensei reflects on becoming an “assistant gardener” whose job is to sit zazen with the plants, learning to practice not just for ourselves, but with all beings.

Drawing from the opening chapters of the Lotus Sutra, Koshin explores what it means to sit in the middle of life without excluding anything or anybody, even in the face of termi...

“When I forget who I am, I return to the Buddha. When I’m lost in confusion, I return to the Dharma. When I feel alone, I return to the Sangha.”

In this tender and luminous talk, Chodo Sensei reflects on the Three Refuges of Buddhism—Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha—through the lens of impermanence, community, and compassion.

With stories of accompanying his dear friend Rande in her final days, and reflections on awakening amid global unrest, Chodo reminds us that refuge is not found in escape, but in presence.<...

“I love birthdays because they remind us: I was born, and I’m going to die. This is my one shot.”

In this talk from his birthday this past Sunday, Koshin Sensei reflects on the gift of being alive and the simplicity of a nourishing life.

Drawing on the teachings of Bodhidharma (who, legend has it, share's Koshin Sensei's birthday), he explores the four all-inclusive practices: suffering injustice, adapting to conditions, seeking nothing, and practicing the Dharma.

Through humor, tenderness, and vivid stories—childhood friends r...

“The true way is not something bestowed by others... it is found in the depths of your own heart-mind.”

On the 68th day of our recent Commit to Sit, Koshin Sensei reflects on teachings from Shakyamuni Buddha, Dogen Zenji, and Uchiyama Roshi, reminding us that practice never ends—not even for the great teachers.

Through stories both profound and playful (including an unexpected giant Labubu doll appearing in the zendo), he challenges us to see failure not as weakness but as the essence of practice.

How...

“The discipline of zazen is the refusal to be manipulated by your own mind.”

In this talk, Koshin Sensei reflects on the liberating power of discipline, the courage to make effort, and the serenity that comes not from outer conditions but from the clarity of mind itself.

Drawing on the teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha, Dōgen Zenji, and Uchiyama Roshi, he explores how daily reverence for concentration allows the Dharma (wisdom) to flourish in our lives.

From the story of Dōgen meeting the tenzo...

"A boat without a rudder drifts with the current, sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly, but always away from the true shore."

In this recent dharma talk, Koshin Sensei invites us to reflect deeply on what it means to “not lose sight of true dharma.”

Drawing from Shakyamuni Buddha’s final teachings and Dogen Zenji’s commentary, Koshin reminds us that vigilance and effort are not punishments but the armor and encampment that protect us from distraction, defensiveness, and the pull of the senses.

With humor and tend...

“The challenge is not sustaining the silence (on retreat), but bringing the silence with you when you leave.”

In this dharma talk from the final day of our recent summer silent retreat, Chodo sensei explores what it means to practice without seeking reward.

Through the powerful story of 13th-century nun Mugai Nyodai, whose awakening came when the bottom fell out of her water bucket, and a poem by Marie Howe about a dog transfixed by moonlight, this talk explores mushotoku: the art of gaining nothing.

Thr...

“Sangha (community) is not a retreat from suffering but a mirror to it.”

In this lively and direct dharma talk, Koshin Sensei invites us to explore what it truly means to cultivate serenity and quietude; not as an escape from life’s messiness, but as a way of meeting it fully.

Drawing on a Jataka (lives of the historical Buddha) tale of a hollow tree, teachings from our Zen ancestors, Dogen Zenji and Uchiyama Roshi, and reflections on the challenges and beauty of Sangha life, Koshin reminds us that imperm...