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 one visit, one year, even ten years or do you give yourself fully to the ongoing work of showing up?Koshin also reflects on his own journey: after ten years of steady practice, he realized he was still deeply self-involved, lazy in zazen, and “one of those people you wouldn't want over for dinner”; lecturing everyone about veganism and Buddhism until a friend finally told him, “you're being an asshole.” Real friendship, real generosity, means being willing to say it like it is out of love, not just making people feel good.At the heart of this talk is a question about faith. Not blind belief, but the willingness to plant a seed without knowing what will grow. Can you give yourself fully to this moment, whatever it brings? Can you offer steadiness in times of your own panic? And most importantly: Are you taking care of the garden every day, whether that be your practice, your relationships, your mind, your sangha, your heart and the hearts of others?

“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 and the classic Zen story of the samurai and the master, Chodo explores how war begins long before bombs fall. It begins when we steal each other's humanity through language that turns people into targets, grief into statistics, and suffering into abstraction. It begins in the mind that divides the world into “us and them.”With students sheltering from bombs in multiple countries, this isn't abstract philosophy, it's an urgent question: How do we sit with the sorrow of the world without collapsing into it? How do we notice our own anger without weaponizing it? How do we refuse to let suffering become something “out there” that we're not part of?

“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 would it be like to simply be ourselves, our ordinary selves, without all that noise?At the heart of this talk is the concept of “transmission” from teacher to student, not as something claimed or awarded, but as something shown through how we live. Koshin asks us to consider: Do we practice only when it's convenient? Do we use spirituality as an identity or a lifestyle brand rather than a lived commitment? And perhaps most importantly: How do we practice when we're alone, when no one is watching?Koshin also reflects on his own struggles with “why not me?” and shares Dogen's wisdom about safeguarding genuine practice in a world that makes it easy to dilute or neglect.

“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 were co-editors on.Beginning with the simple form of upright posture, he offers vivid images; zazen as a chrysalis in which we can “melt,” thoughts like a bagel wrapper that’s useful until we keep holding it, and practice as “sharing the feeling” of right here, right now.In the latter half of the talk, Jiryu also explores Suzuki Roshi’s radical view of precepts: not moralism or rule-following, but the natural expression of a life that remembers its place in the cosmos and a self that includes everything, past, present, and future.We hope you enjoy this dharma talk and that you'll join us for our upcoming Commit to Sit, in which Becoming Yourself will be our guiding text!MUSICHeart Sutra by Kanho Yakushiji – Buddhist priest and musician of the Rinzai sect and Imaji temple in Imabari, Japan. In 2003, he formed “KISSAQUO”, a songwriting duo based in Kyoto.‍NYZC PUBLICATIONSUntangled here: https://bit.ly/untangled-bookWholehearted: Slow Down, Help Out, Wake Up here: https://amzn.to/2JTKF1tAwake At The Bedside here: https://amzn.to/3aijXdL‍‍CONNECT WITH US—Instagram—Facebook—Donate

“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 things to be different than they are creates suffering and loneliness. Koshin shares the story of Rabbi Zosia and Suzuki Roshi's teaching on “becoming yourself,” clarifying that this doesn't mean reinforcing our opinions, but becoming more ourselves with everyone. A call to soften wherever we're holding too tight, discriminate what's truly wise, and practice the beautiful way together.MUSICHeart Sutra by Kanho Yakushiji – Buddhist priest and musician of the Rinzai sect and Imaji temple in Imabari, Japan. In 2003, he formed “KISSAQUO”, a songwriting duo based in Kyoto.‍NYZC PUBLICATIONSUntangled here: https://bit.ly/untangled-bookWholehearted: Slow Down, Help Out, Wake Up here: https://amzn.to/2JTKF1tAwake At The Bedside here: https://amzn.to/3aijXdL‍‍CONNECT WITH US—Instagram—Facebook—Donate

“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.Rather than making enemies of our difficulties, we learn to let them become protectors and Dharma gates, burning away what no longer serves and revealing an unwavering vow at the heart of our lives.MUSICHeart Sutra by Kanho Yakushiji – Buddhist priest and musician of the Rinzai sect and Imaji temple in Imabari, Japan. In 2003, he formed “KISSAQUO”, a songwriting duo based in Kyoto.‍NYZC PUBLICATIONSUntangled here: https://bit.ly/untangled-bookWholehearted: Slow Down, Help Out, Wake Up here: https://amzn.to/2JTKF1tAwake At The Bedside here: https://amzn.to/3aijXdL‍‍CONNECT WITH US—Instagram—Facebook—Donate

“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 terminal illness, fear, and uncertainty.Through tender stories, including a friend facing death with curiosity and wonder, this talk illuminates how the wisdom of the Buddhas is “infinitely profound and immeasurable,” not something to understand intellectually but to embody.Koshin offers practical guidance on working with fear, releasing our stories, and practicing “soft belly” awareness rather than overthinking.‍MUSICHeart Sutra by Kanho Yakushiji – Buddhist priest and musician of the Rinzai sect and Imaji temple in Imabari, Japan. In 2003, he formed “KISSAQUO”, a songwriting duo based in Kyoto.‍NYZC PUBLICATIONSUntangled here: https://bit.ly/untangled-bookWholehearted: Slow Down, Help Out, Wake Up here: https://amzn.to/2JTKF1tAwake At The Bedside here: https://amzn.to/3aijXdL‍‍CONNECT WITH US—Instagram—Facebook—Donate

“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 reuniting in the zendo, watching the sunrise, creating our own suffering by dragging favorite stories out of the cupboard—Koshin reminds us that awakening begins in the ordinariness of our lives.What happens when we stop laying on the horn of our feelings and trust our actual experience rather than our preferences?Discover why feeling unimportant is liberating, and how to give your time and attention without needing recognition for it.

“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 (head cook at a monastery) who walked 20 miles for mushrooms to the simple mirror-like nature of zazen, this talk invites us to return again and again to the freshness of the present moment.