SokukoJi Buddhist Temple Monastery
925 episodes - English - Latest episode: 5 days ago - ★★★★★ - 19 ratingsA Sōtō Zen Buddhist Temple. Visit: SokukoJi.org
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Episodes
Not Being Found - 05-25-19 By Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
May 27, 2019 00:00 - 19 minutes - 18.1 MBSokuzan’s dharma talk is inspired by verse three of Vasubandhu’s “Tri-Svabhava-Nirdesa” also known as “The Three Natures”, here translated by Stefan Anacker: “The constant state-of-not-being-found of “how it appears” [the constructed] in that which appears [the interdependent] can be known as the fulfilled own being because of it’s state of non-otherness.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pHbjgUXNNY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuAB4Rsx8rU&t=2s
Intense Karma - 01-06-2019 - By Sokuzan - http://SokukoJi.org
May 26, 2019 10:00 - 36 minutes - 34.7 MBSomething happens that was little and it triggers an intense reaction. It is spontaneously arising pure karma that started as a combination of thirty-eight hundred and fifty-two thousand things. Stories about it protect ourselves. Acting out means avoiding the situation. If you blame something you are ignoring everything else. Meditation uncovers the confusion. You are looking at the things you have been shutting down on your whole life. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqm3mT8emLo
Dokusan - 01-02-2019 - By Sokuzan - http://SokukoJi.org
May 25, 2019 17:56 - 40 minutes - 36.4 MBDokusan is a Japanese work that refers to the private interview between teacher and student, usually in the hojo (the abbot’s quarters where interviews are conducted). Here it is taking place in the zendo to teach about this practice form. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fvhqUdTPfE
Observe The Form - 05-26-19 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
May 25, 2019 00:00 - 52 minutes - 48.5 MBWe have all kinds of forms. We have forms in the zendo and in the monastery, you have forms at home, you have the form of brushing your teeth…you probably do it the same way every time and you are probably not observing that form, you’re probably observing your daydream. We are caught by the forms that we’re not actually practicing. We are caught by the form of the mind when it’s trying to protect itself. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1-5DJUWqnA
Dont Look Away - 12-30-2018 - By Sokuzan - http://SokukoJi.org
May 24, 2019 10:00 - 48 minutes - 47.2 MB"Don’t look away" is a way of talking about and working with the poison of ignorance, one of the three poisons that cause suffering. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Py5AC_sbww8
Dissolving the Receiver - 12-29-2018 - By Sokuzan - http://SokukoJi.org
May 23, 2019 10:00 - 45 minutes - 45.4 MBSomething is receiving and what is being received tends to dissolve that which is receiving. Open your windows and take the doors off and let the ten thousand things come to you. No more walls of the mind. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3dBZYeswZ0
Dont Look Around - 12-26-2018 - By Sokuzan - http://SokukoJi.org
May 23, 2019 01:26 - 41 minutes - 39.3 MBLook at the way you look around. It is seductive when we think whatever we see means something else. If you’re searching for something else that means you’re ignoring the very thing that you’re leaving. Firewood doesn’t become ash. Firewood is firewood, ash is ash. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxotskLR3HA&t=2s
Apologize Once - 05-22-19 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
May 21, 2019 00:00 - 49 minutes - 45.4 MBIf you do something to offend someone or let someone down, apologize once. Any apology after that, the apology flips. The second apology is more about you wanting to get off the hook. Don’t look for forgiveness, it is a twisted form of self-centeredness. Be responsible for what you’ve done. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5PqEBgQZf8
Just Observe 6 - 12-23-2018 - by Sokuzan - http://SokukoJi.org
May 19, 2019 10:00 - 40 minutes - 38.6 MBA student asks “Is observation a skill that grows in strength?” Sokuzan responds “No. There’s no muscle there. The thing that grows in strength is getting to the cushion. As soon as you come to your cushion, you take your seat as an observer. This is called discipline: come in, sit down, hold still, observe. You are saying to the Universe “I’m ready to see this!”” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGb6W-1uCWM
Personality - 05-19-19 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
May 19, 2019 00:00 - 52 minutes - 48.3 MBWith meditation practice, personality could become even more intense, or maybe not. It might slow down and be less articulated or less prominent. You don’t get rid of dependent origination just because you’re awakened or you’re moving in that direction. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJrboXyHf-Q
Prior to Thoughts - 12-19-2018 - by Sokuzan - http://SokukoJi.org
May 18, 2019 10:00 - 42 minutes - 39.3 MBPrior to thoughts. Before anyone has a problem with anything, there is a space that is not a person or lack of a person. Don’t crank up thoughts to help you stitch together protection against the unknown. Dogen refers to this as dropping off body and mind. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eDdX7RymG0
The Five Skandhas Part 2 - 05-18-19 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
May 18, 2019 00:00 - 59 minutes - 54.5 MBSokuzan continues to talk about The Five Skandhas in terms of another teaching called The Six Realms, or how the illusion of self cycles though six different states of mind. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8L-5zh7D9Vs
Just Observe 5 - 12-16-2018 - by Sokuzan - http://SokukoJi.org
May 17, 2019 10:00 - 34 minutes - 32.6 MBWhen something arises, we spontaneously add things out of hope and fear. The recommendation is to just observe. You may be observing the cover up rather than what is there. The actual understanding of something is obscured by your thoughts about it. If you see something clearly you won’t know what it is. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oujTeqHpOn8
The Five Skandhas - 05-18-19 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
May 17, 2019 00:00 - 1 hour - 64.1 MB“The Five Skandhas” is traditional way of talking about the nature of consciousness as it applies to ego or self-centeredness. The skandhas of form, feeling, perception, concepts or memory, and consciousness, this whole package of concepts is pointing out different ways in which the consciousness operates to convince us that we are somebody. During this dharma talk, the teachings are brought to life during a powerful exchange between Sokuzan and a close student. https://www.youtube.com/watc...
Transmuting Emotions - By Sokuzan in Traverse City - 12-15-2018 - http://SokukoJi.org
May 16, 2019 10:00 - 40 minutes - 36.3 MBWhen ego-mind feels like it is being swamped by emotions, we try to stop them by distracting ourselves, by blaming someone or blaming ourselves. It has been said that emotions can be transmuted into compassion, into serving others. It seems to come from the ability to spend time looking closely, deeply, precisely at what arises in mind. Transformation is not something you do, it is something you are. Participation mystique. It is complete involvement, complete non-separation from whatever i...
Path and Goal - By Sokuzan in Traverse City - 12-15-2018 - http://SokukoJi.org
May 15, 2019 10:00 - 1 hour - 55.5 MBThe Path, using this twenty-five-hundred-year-old teaching and though your awareness, is to see what the Goal is and go straight to it rather than get sidetracked into little rest areas that we call our life. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRviQLDtxL4
So, You're Feeling Worse - 05-15-19 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
May 15, 2019 00:00 - 49 minutes - 45.4 MBOften the expectation is that when we meditate, we are going to feel better and quite often this doesn’t happen. We start to uncover areas that, up until the time we started practice, were ignored. So, when we’re feeling worse, how do we work with this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vh11uv8YhbI
Just Observe 4 - 12-12-2018 - By Sokuzan - http:SokukoJi.org
May 14, 2019 10:00 - 41 minutes - 40.6 MBIt says in the Fourth Reminder “…I will cut desire and attachment and attain enlightenment through exertion”. Meditation is about seeing the root of desire. The exertion is the intention to stay with that, to just observe. You are sharpening the blade of awareness. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjjcUvuk0q4
Just Observe 3 - 12-09-2018 - By Sokuzan - http://SokukoJi.org
May 13, 2019 17:42 - 32 minutes - 29.7 MBJust observe, not only in sitting but in post meditation. The idea behind emphasizing that is that it is so difficult to miss what is in front of you and go into some kind of commentary on everything. See of you can maintain observation and not grasp at any commentary. It’s not that the commentary doesn’t arise spontaneously, just don’t do anything with it, because will take you into a labyrinth of analysis judgment, pushing, pulling, mini skirmishes and little tiny warfares with yourself and...
Just Observe #13 - 05-12-19 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
May 12, 2019 00:00 - 40 minutes - 37.4 MB“Just observe” is to encouragement you to drop your agenda around everything, even sitting practice. As you observe what comes through the six sense fields, just notice the leading edge of anything. Trungpa Rinpoche said, “First thought, best thought.” This absolute as it appears relatively is pretty close to first thought. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aitxei0eG7c
Just Observe 2 - 12-05-2018 - By Sokuzan - http://SokukoJi.org
May 09, 2019 10:00 - 51 minutes - 46.4 MBWhatever shows up: just that. Whatever comes out of your action, reaction, please, just observe. It is possible to do that, to just witness what’s happening. You can begin to penetrate reality and see what it fundamentally is yourself. You can do it! Start now. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frva3l_Fy24&t=1s
A Part Of Me Wants - 05-05-19 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
May 05, 2019 00:00 - 58 minutes - 53.9 MBhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQfqILHDIdM&t=1304s
Just Observe 1 - 12-02-2018 - By Sokuzan - http://SokukoJi.org
May 02, 2019 10:19 - 28 minutes - 25.6 MBWhen you have an emotion or memory the thoughts are more than happy to jump in and tell you what it is, explain it to you. We see it’s a snake and we reach for it and grab it right by its head. As it is said, “hold your horses!”. Don’t grab the snake. Take your time. Just observe. As soon as you start to analyze based on trying to get somewhere, you cover up the very information that is freely given: your own neurosis that is full blown in front of you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDCtS...
Who Senses - 05-01-19 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
May 01, 2019 00:00 - 46 minutes - 43 MBWhen you see anything, start with something simple like the color red, instead of going immediately to the thought process about it you could back up a quarter of an inch and ask, “Who sees that red? Who sees that color before you even name it red? Who perceives that? Just before anybody perceives that, who’s there?” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HUnI0YqhGU&t=31s
This Moment - 11-28-2018 - By Sokuzan - http://SokukoJi.org
April 30, 2019 10:30 - 32 minutes - 30.9 MBThis moment is something we talk about. It has no dimension to it. It is there, a useful concept or structure to bring us into the mandala of realizing what this is, fundamentally. You realize you’ve always known this, innately, deeply. It is not even a when, it tends to happen outside of time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KO4eFdrJ2I8
This Moment - 11-28-2018 - By Sokuzan - http://SokukoJi.org
April 30, 2019 10:30This moment is something we talk about. It has no dimension to it. It is there, a useful concept or structure to bring us into the mandala of realizing what this is, fundamentally. You realize you’ve always known this, innately, deeply. It is not even a when, it tends to happen outside of time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KO4eFdrJ2I8
Bad Neighborhoods - 11-24-2018 - Sokuzan - http://SokukoJi.org
April 30, 2019 10:27 - 1 hour - 61.7 MB“Bad neighborhoods”. This is a metaphor to help people see more quickly the way they get into an area that has kind of a suction to it, but if you can stay away from that, then you may not end up in trouble. It’s a little easier to avoid a physical bad neighborhood in that you can avoid it. When the bad neighborhood is a physiological habit like addiction that compromises intelligence, it may be a more difficult situation. Sokuzan talks about working in the realm of these neighborhoods. ...
Bad Neighborhoods - 11-24-2018 - Sokuzan - http://SokukoJi.org
April 30, 2019 10:27“Bad neighborhoods”. This is a metaphor to help people see more quickly the way they get into an area that has kind of a suction to it, but if you can stay away from that, then you may not end up in trouble. It’s a little easier to avoid a physical bad neighborhood in that you can avoid it. When the bad neighborhood is a physiological habit like addiction that compromises intelligence, it may be a more difficult situation. Sokuzan talks about working in the realm of these neighborhoods. ...
Recede - 11-21-2018 - By Sokuzan - http://SokukoJi.org
April 30, 2019 10:00 - 43 minutes - 35.7 MBWhatever you’re involved in, your everyday commotion--errands, errands, errands--just step back from your activity a little, without stopping that activity, and recede. Drop back. Hold still. Just notice the fundamental nature of everything, just the colors and shapes without naming anything. Recede slightly from the conceptual part, take some energy away from the naming area that keeps establishing the false basis that things are separate. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bp6VG2ObiQQ
Landing In Emotion - 11-18-2018 - By Sokuzan - http://SokukoJi.org
April 29, 2019 17:00 - 33 minutes - 31.2 MBhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rr8bdkHrYbM When an emotion arises, it could be triggered by some event, it could be something simple like someone took the dish soap and let you down, we abandon the emotion and go toward blame or rationale. We can’t handle being in just the feeling. But if you can stay in the feeling, and this is not a maintenance or fixation because the emotion is still moving around, if you can stay with it, this is an incredible dharma gait.
Awareness As A Practice - 11-14-2018 - By Sokuzan - http://SokukoJi
April 28, 2019 10:00 - 41 minutes - 39.5 MBPractice strengthening the awareness by holding still and observing or receiving what’s happening in your mind. If you don’t to this you will be at the mercy of the areas of your mind that are unexamined and are impulsive, reactionary and are based on hope for good things and fear of bad things and are constantly going back and forth between the two. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y69sH7DCv9I
Questions From Sangha - 04-28-19 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
April 28, 2019 00:00 - 53 minutes - 49.1 MBSokuzan interacts with students as an example of dokusan, a Zen word that is used to describe a private interview between student and teacher for question and response. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nnuf43Vb8U
No Noble Silence - 11-11-2018 - By Sokuzan - http://sokukoji.org
April 27, 2019 17:24 - 35 minutes - 30.4 MB“Noble silence”, or “functional speech” creates a standard to live up to. It is about control. You may go to a retreat and never get a chance to relate to others who are practicing. We are quiet when we sit down, hold still and look. When we get up off of the cushion, it is important for sangha to talk to each other. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seeM5uCYJQw
Something Arises - 04-27-19 By Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
April 27, 2019 00:00 - 56 minutes - 51.3 MBSokuzan talks about the Yogacara teaching of “The Five Dharmas” from the Lankavatara Sutra: something arises, naming it, projecting onto it, buddha knowledge and suchness. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GI4MBkgiVM
No Noble Silence - 11-11-2018 - By Sokuzan - http://SokukoJi.org
April 23, 2019 10:30 - 35 minutes - 30.4 MB“Noble silence”, or “functional speech” creates a standard to live up to. It is about control. You may go to a retreat and never get a chance to relate to others who are practicing. We are quiet when we sit down, hold still and look. When we get up off of the cushion, it is important for sangha to talk to each other. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seeM5uCYJQw
Well Favored - 04-24-19 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
April 23, 2019 00:00 - 53 minutes - 48.7 MBIf you hear the teachings of the Buddha, you are well favored. If you are not snagged by the circularity of all the people in our society, our culture, our families, our neighborhoods, our schools, our workplaces where ideas and opinions come around and take you into the orbit of confusion and away from your true nature, you are well favored. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-RPj36V_AU
Desire In The Six Realms - 11-10-2018 - By Sokuzan at Traverse City - http://SokukoJi.org
April 22, 2019 10:30 - 48 minutes - 43.1 MBSokuzan talks about the Buddhist conceptual construct of “The Six Realms” or six ways of breaking down the way the mind functions and the importance of curiosity in the spiritual practice of the human realm. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NbXtHTxkFQ
How To Study The Dharma - 11-10-2018 - By Sokuzan at Traverse City - http://SokukoJi.org
April 21, 2019 10:00 - 47 minutes - 41.3 MBWhat seems to be very important in studying the Dharma is to study with community, interacting with others around the material that is actually pointing away from itself. All those conceptual constructs are meant to help you transcend this world while you’re in it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlnGii9vPds
Gaps - 04-21-19 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
April 21, 2019 00:00 - 47 minutes - 43.5 MBIn our life there’s all kinds of gaps between this and that, the natural gaps that are happening all the time. The word Bardo means gap, it means the space between this and that. Quite often we space out we don’t see the gaps, we go into some other area and daydream on some level. Very good to bring awareness to that situation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSW7cYYlRvM&t=3s
When Knowing Ceases - 11-07-2018 - By Sokuzan - http://SokukoJi.org
April 20, 2019 10:01 - 44 minutes - 37.2 MBWhat would it be like to walk across the room and not do anything except receive? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFU8LVqbBjo
The Mundane and Spiritual Paths - 11-04-2018 - By Sokuzan - http://SokukoJi.org
April 19, 2019 10:00 - 39 minutes - 35.8 MBThe mundane path is practical, but it can be run by hopes and dreams, wishes and desires in the material world. Any spiritual path has some component of materialism. But in order to walk the spiritual path, it seems to be necessary to have some kind of inspiration that goes beyond the mundane path. Anytime someone wants to dedicate their life to others, this is starting to have a quality of the spiritual path. The mundane path is practical, but it can be run by hopes and dreams, wishes and...
Without Grasping - 10-31-2018 - by Sokuzan - http://SokukoJi.org
April 18, 2019 10:00 - 36 minutes - 33.3 MBWe are not trying to meditate to get to some other state. It is difficult to point to something that is already the case then to suggest to someone that they see it. We have to spend a lot of time looking. If you could see without grasping, you would just see the fundamental experience of consciousness. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sOFqT3rY1c&t=539s
Paratantra Parikalpita and Parinishpana - 10-28-2018 - by Sokuzan - http://SokukoJi.org
April 17, 2019 10:00 - 20 minutes - 18.4 MBThe Three Natures: Paratantra, the nature of what is dependently arisen, Parikalpita, the imaginary nature that is added onto the dependently arisen, and Parinishpana, the nature of the awareness that no longer rejects, participates in or ignores what is dependently arisen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jYdBn52uGU&t=39s
Find Both At Once - 10-27-2018 - by Sokuzan - http://sokukoji.org
April 16, 2019 10:00 - 47 minutes - 37.2 MBFind the me feeling, the sense of “I” before the personal pronoun. Find that and find whatever it is that you are observing, it could be another person, the wall, a light bulb, a thought pattern an emotion, anything that is phenomena. Find both at once, perception only. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXr744DH-Gc&t=151s
Wisdom Has No Owner - 04-17-19 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
April 16, 2019 00:00 - 55 minutes - 51 MBThe idea of having no owner for your clarity, your wisdom, your insight, your ability to see deeply into the true nature of this doesn’t show up with a credential or accomplishment badge. Another way to say this is that your reference points, your clarity about the mundane aspect of the spiritual path, starts to collapse. As Trungpa Rinpoche said, “The path is one disappointment after the next, until the final disappointment ,which is realization itself”. So, is there some kind of proof? Do...
Getting Rid Of - 10-24-2018 - by Sokuzan - http://sokukoji.org
April 15, 2019 10:00 - 40 minutes - 34.1 MBSokuzan reads from the Samyutta Nikaya, chapter 1 verse 69 in the "Book with Verses" as translated by Bhikkhu Bodhi to inspire today's talk: [A devata asks:] “By what is the world bound? By the removal of what is freed? What is it that one must forsake To cut off all bondage?” [The Buddha replies:] “By desire is the world bound; By the removal of desire it is freed. Desire is what one must forsake To cut off all bondage.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9JgKN1m4Kg&t=104s
Block Sitting - 10-21-2018 - by Sokuzan - http://sokukoji.org
April 14, 2019 16:16 - 44 minutes - 38.7 MBThe idea with block meditation is to have a long continuous block sitting that is longer than your usual length of meditation. Sokuzan recommends a four-hour period, once a week or maybe once a month. Daily practice is good, but sometimes the only way to break into the iron box of ego is to sit there and just wait. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CzBvL_din8&t=121s
Meditation 101 - 04-14-19 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
April 14, 2019 00:00 - 42 minutes - 39 MBMeditation is about training yourself not to abandon anything, not to lock down or fixate on anything, and not to believe in or elaborate on or analyze anything. How do we do that? Here, Sokuzan gives a guided mediation as a way of instruction. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6IJnRFBuF4&t=3s
More Laminations - 04-13-19 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
April 13, 2019 00:00 - 53 minutes - 48.7 MBA continuation of the topic, Laminations. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPuMbK5N7ik&t=19s
The Laminations - 04-13-19 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
April 13, 2019 00:00 - 56 minutes - 51.5 MBWatch the way something occurs and we name it and laminate our ideas and about it. It’s not about stopping it or controlling it, more spinning. If you just look at it the name will slide away and what it is will keep showing up and what keeps showing up is not separate from what it’s covering up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdYqAwVeYQ8&t=1s