A. Jesse Jiryu Davis's dharma talks
32 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 1 month ago - ★★★★ - 2 ratingsTalks on Zen from a senior student at the Village Zendo. Frequent delusion and swearing.
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Episodes
Bodhisattvas Always Smile
March 22, 2024 12:05 - 28 minutes - 38.9 MBBodhisattvas smile, though they hear the suffering cries of the world. You should smile too! A Zen talk I gave against doomerism.
Give Something Away to a Stranger
February 08, 2021 18:38 - 23 minutes - 10.3 MBRich countries and drug firms act selfishly the COVID pandemic. Selfishness is natural, but we can strengthen our universal goodwill through training.
These Unreliable United States
November 10, 2020 22:35 - 19 minutes - 26.3 MBThe United States as we know it will someday come to an end. It's shocking to see how vulnerable our democracy is, but as Buddhists we aren't surprised: Buddha told us that nothing lasts, and we can't rely on anything except the truth revealed by our own practice. A talk at the Village Zendo, November 8, 2020.
American Religion in America's Time of Crisis
November 10, 2020 22:16 - 24 minutes - 33.8 MBBuddhists must respond to the current political crisis, just as abolitionists like Frederick Douglass did in the 19th Century. A talk at the Village Zendo, September 3, 2020.
Who Can You Trust?
May 16, 2020 11:49 - 19 minutes - 27.4 MBOur leaders are plainly untrustworthy. And when we hear about toilet paper hoarders, or protestors storming the Michigan governor's office, or covidiots crowding together on beaches, we stop trusting each other, too. But there is someone we can trust. Listen to find out.
How Buddhism Survived The Japanese Internment
April 13, 2020 02:06 - 28 minutes - 38.7 MBJapanese Americans founded our practice, and they preserved and adapted it to life in the internment camps during WWII. Today we must adapt our practice in a crisis, are we up to the challenge?
How Not To Panic
February 15, 2020 03:14 - 33 minutes - 45.3 MBPanic obliterates the self. We need a strong self to face fear in meditation and all of life. Dharma at the Village Zendo, February 23, 2020. Photo: Sam Bald https://www.flickr.com/photos/28931095@N03/3115110964
You Look So Zen
January 03, 2020 00:30 - 22 minutes - 20.7 MBOn a visit to some Buddhists incarcerated on a jail barge, I had to improvise how to practice Zen, just like we always have to improvise our practice.
When The Buddha Met A Murderer
December 16, 2019 03:39 - 27 minutes - 25.2 MBEveryone deserves a place where we can practice together. Everyone deserves the opportunity for redemption. A talk I gave at the Village Zendo on December 5, 2019.
Five Ways to Establish a Rock-Solid Meditation Habit
October 23, 2019 10:31 - 34 minutes - 31.7 MBMeditation can transform your life, but it only works if you sit regularly. You can establish a strong, serious practice following these five methods. Recorded October 3, 2019, and the Village Zendo.
How To Dissolve The Self
October 09, 2019 02:21 - 29 minutes - 33.3 MBWhen you do something with attention, your self merges with your activity. Watch how the self shifts and moves, and you'll start to see through the illusion of ego.
How To Be Free From Greed
August 01, 2019 02:32 - 27 minutes - 25.5 MBWe waste our lives chasing temporary, superficial things, and our disappointment leads to grief. Here’s a practice that loosens greed’s grip on our minds, and frees us to appreciate this moment.
Are the Six Senses True Reality, Or Not?
May 24, 2019 08:20 - 27 minutes - 22.6 MBWhen we practice mindfulness of what we're experiencing here and now, we can be at peace and free of worry. But we can go much deeper than that. Buddha taught that we can see through our greedy, self-centered delusions and clearly comprehend the truth of our lives.
Meaningless Striving
January 31, 2019 13:26 - 23 minutes - 31.9 MBEach new year, Americans resolve to work harder and be more austere, for no reason. Let's stop torturing ourselves.
The Day That Yunmen Broke His Foot
December 11, 2018 04:04 - 23 minutes - 21.4 MBThe old stories all have the same punchline: the monk was suddenly enlightened. What really happens when we have an experience of insight? Transcript: https://emptysqua.re/blog/the-day-yunmen-broke-his-foot/
Rules for Hyenas
December 11, 2018 03:27 - 24 minutes - 22.3 MBIf we treat the Zen precepts as a set of rules to obey, that's just conformity. Let's use them instead as a tool for busting the hierarchy! Transcript: https://emptysqua.re/blog/rules-for-hyenas/
The Meteor
August 28, 2018 19:16 - 20 minutes - 19.1 MBWhat if you knew you had 30 minutes to live? Would you want to be awakened?
Why Did Master Rinzai Slap Jo?
April 15, 2018 21:25 - 22 minutes - 31.3 MBIn the Blue Cliff Record, Case 32, a monk named Jo asks Master Rinzai, "What is the essence of Buddhism?" In response, Rinzai grabs the monk and slaps him. Why? In this talk I explain what all this hitting and slapping is about in Zen. There's a lesson in this story, about sustaining our own meditation practice over the long haul.
The Real Shit Stick
January 27, 2018 21:29 - 26 minutes - 24.1 MBA monk asked Unmon, "What is Buddha?" Unmon replied, "A dry shit stick." Why? Where is Buddha in this regular, shitty, unsatisfactory experience? I've heard a thousand times that ordinary mind is Buddha. Here, I try to explain how to actually practice this truth.
Running in Circles
December 26, 2017 01:54 - 21 minutes - 29.2 MBRunning a half marathon, serving a prison term, practicing Zen for a lifetime: I'm trying to learn how people make friends with time, and how to appreciate each moment within an eon.
Why Generosity Turns To Rage, And What To Do About It
November 04, 2017 15:35 - 31 minutes - 43.5 MBSo often, I find myself lashing out at someone I intended to help. The expectation that my generosity would require only a certain amount of effort, and would lead to a predictable payoff, is the culprit. How can I practice a Beginner's Mind that has no expectations?
Living While Dying is Tasty
August 01, 2017 13:26 - 26 minutes - 35.9 MBMy mother plans to die at 85. What will that final year be like?
Your Nerve Plant
July 07, 2017 14:02 - 26 minutes - 36.3 MBTo focus the mind, you first have to understand and accept the mechanism of mind-wandering.
Memorial Day
May 29, 2017 20:17 - 21 minutes - 29.6 MBMy father-in-law is a soldier and my mother is a peace activist. On Memorial Day weekend, 2017, I describe how Buddha's Middle Way allows us both to honor veterans and to oppose war.
"For or Against?"
September 22, 2016 23:13 - 31 minutes - 28.7 MBOn the 15th anniversary of 9/11, I describe my difficulties practicing nonviolence in a world full of violence.
"I Saw You Fall So I'm Helping": The Feminist Awakening in the Software Industry
May 24, 2016 02:50 - 35 minutes - 32.7 MBWomen have been systematically excluded from computer programming for decades. But it wasn't this way in the past, and it doesn't need to be in the future. The software industry, it seems, is waking up overnight to how unfairly we've treated women and minorities, and we're beginning to take action to fix it. A talk I gave at the Village Zendo on May 22, 2016.
A Fierce Tiger
April 08, 2016 21:14 - 26 minutes - 24.4 MBPractice with fear and overcome it, bit by bit, for the sake of a whole and liberated life. A talk I gave at the Village Zendo on April 7, 2016.
Year's End And The Insanity Of Self-Improvement
December 21, 2015 23:44 - 25 minutes - 23.4 MBBeing satisfied with what I have. A talk I gave at the Village Zendo in December 2015.
Facing Everything: Hiroshima and Our Complicity
August 08, 2015 19:20 - 38 minutes - 35.5 MBOn the 70th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, I talk about our double complicity in the history of WWII, both as Americans and as Zen students. Can we face in both directions and see the facts about our lineage?
Grace
July 21, 2015 02:19 - 33 minutes - 30.3 MBLiving on the streets of New York, for just a few days, and depending on generosity to get by.
Desires Are Inexhaustible
May 27, 2015 20:21 - 32 minutes - 11.1 MBThe second of the Four Vows is, "Desires are inexhaustible, I vow to put an end to them." What do we really mean when we make this promise, and how can we accomplish it?
Yangshan Plants His Hoe
April 06, 2015 12:50 - 24 minutes - 8.51 MBFor my first dharma talk at the Village Zendo I take up the Book of Serenity Case 15, "Yangshan Plants His Hoe." The koan may seem obscure, but in fact it's about our work now in New York City, our work to understand and end homelessness, unjust incarceration, and racism.