San Francisco Zen Center Dharma Talks

San Francisco Zen Center
  • 4.3 (161)
  • BUDDHISM
  • UPDATED WEEKLY
San Francisco Zen Center Dharma Talks

Public lectures given at San Francisco Zen Center

  1. NOV 7

    The Temple Is Where You Are

    11/06/2024, Gengyoko Tim Wicks, dharma talk at City Center. This dharma talk was given at Beginner’s Mind Temple by tanto (head of practice) and practice period co-leader Gengyoko Tim Wicks. In the talk, Tim shares some of the teachings that are being studied this practice period and talks about practicing wherever we find ourselves. Recorded on Wednesday, November 6, 2024.

    21 min

  2. NOV 2

    Beginner’s Mind: Zen and Tibetan Buddhist Practice Understandings

    This dharma talk was given at Beginner’s Mind Temple by visiting teacher Gaylon Ferguson. During the Fall 2024 Practice Period at Beginner’s Mind Temple, the community is studying Dr. Ferguson’s book “Welcoming Beginner’s Mind: Zen and Tibetan Buddhist Wisdom on Experiencing Our True Nature.” Dr. Ferguson begins by talking about the historical and continuing connection between San Francisco Zen Center and the Shambhala International Buddhist community where he was trained. Shunryu Suzuki Roshi and Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche were close friends in life, and our communities continue that connection and shared practices. In the second portion of the talk, Dr. Ferguson looks at five phrases and their interpretations from Zen and Tibetan Buddhist perspectives. The five phrase-topics covered are: beginner’s mind; practice-realization; no gaining idea; buddha-buddha-buddha; and, “grief is a Buddha.” Recorded on Saturday, November 2, 2024.

    36 min

  3. OCT 31

    Feeding Our Hungry Ghosts

    10/30/2024, Jisan Tova Green, dharma talk at City Center. In this talk, given at Beginner's Mind Temple, Jisan Tova Green describes the Sejiki Ceremony, in which hungry ghosts are cajoled and offered food, including the sweet dew of the Dharma. She likens this to the experience many of us have when we set out on a spiritual path and describes the first of the Ten Oxherding Pictures, in which a person is walking in nature, seeking, looking a little lost. Something is missing. We all have within us hungry ghosts. Recorded on Wednesday, October 30, 2024.

    25 min

  4. OCT 24

    Welcoming All

    This dharma talk was given at Beginner’s Mind Temple by Fall 2024 Practice Period co-leader So-on Eli Brown-Stevenson. This talk centers on the Zen practice of welcoming, rooted in Suzuki Roshi's teachings. We explore how welcoming everything—joy, discomfort, and impermanence—brings us into deeper alignment with the present moment. Through the metaphor "The body is the temple, and awareness is the host," we uncover how zazen allows us to meet life with openness, breaking down the boundaries between self and the world. By fully welcoming our experience, we connect with our true nature and the interconnectedness of all things.

    34 min

  5. OCT 19

    Wu-tsu's Buffalo Passes Through the Window

    10/19/2024, Gengyoko Tim Wicks, dharma talk at City Center. This dharma talk was given at Beginner’s Mind Temple’s October one-day sitting, held at Unity Church, by Tanto (head of practice) Gengyoko Tim Wicks. Using this famous koan (Zen teaching story) Tim discusses the connection that our pasts have with the present and how it is that we practice with our difficulties.

    24 min

  6. OCT 13

    You Are Zen Center

    10/13/2024, Sozan Michael McCord, dharma talk at Green Gulch Farm. This dharma talk was given at Green Gulch Farm by San Francisco Zen Center president Sozan Michael McCord. While we honor and treasure the memories, lessons and times with people who we knew in the past, it is that very memory of how temporary this life is — that everything is changing — which helps us treasure those we have in our lives today. This also serves as scaffolding to do the work of being here now, in this moment. It helps us take into our bones the beating heart of now, and turn our complete attention to the seemingly special or mundane that the moment in front of us is offering.

    36 min

  7. OCT 12

    We Are the Ones We’ve Been Waiting For

    10/12/2024, Tenzen David Zimmerman, dharma talk at City Center. This dharma talk was given at Beginner’s Mind Temple by Central Abbot Tenzen David Zimmerman. In Case 36 of the ‘Gateless Gate’ (Mumonkan), Zen teacher Wuzu poses a question to his students: “Meeting a person of the Way, not using words or silence, how will you greet them?” Abbot David explores this koan, weaving throughout an account of his recent travels to meet various ‘persons of the Way’ as well as reflections on intimacy in Zen and the value of honoring our past, present, and future ancestors. He concludes by sharing a wisdom prophecy from a Hopi Elder.

    47 min

  8. OCT 10

    Words, Bridges, and the Buddha

    10/09/2024, So-on Eli Brown-Stevenson, dharma talk at City Center. This dharma talk was given at Beginner’s Mind Temple by So-on Eli Brown-Stevenson. Words are powerful, but they can also lead us astray—especially when teachings cross cultures and languages. In this talk, we’ll explore how mistranslations and misunderstandings of Buddhist concepts shape our practice and how we can move beyond intellectualization to a deeper, more direct experience of the Dharma.

    31 min
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Public lectures given at San Francisco Zen Center

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