SokukoJi Buddhist Temple Monastery
925 episodes - English - Latest episode: 2 days ago - ★★★★★ - 19 ratingsA Sōtō Zen Buddhist Temple. Visit: SokukoJi.org
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Episodes
Just Observe #8 - 1-12-2019
January 12, 2019 00:00 - 46 minutes - 35.1 MBCommunication is very much about receiving, very much about just observing what is being said. Not only the voice or the words or the combination of sounds, but it’s also the way a person is holding their hands, punctuating their words, the space between words. It’s not that it adds up to something, it’s more about registering and not knowing what that is. It puts you in the entire mandala of communication. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTVWIXRspxM&t=1s
A Cause Is Not Singular - 1-13-2019 - By Sokuzan - Sokukoji.org
January 12, 2019 00:00 - 37 minutes - 28.6 MBEven though “this” causes “that”, the attribution that we present to ourselves about something solidifies our self-centeredness and other-centeredness. When you see anything, be careful not to lock down on just that cause. Cause is not singular. You can’t count the number of things that are behind any apparent event. Any time you do anything, this is called karma. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDXweVvfwJI
Just Observe #7 - 1-12-2019 - By Sokuzan - Sokukoji.org
January 12, 2019 00:00 - 51 minutes - 37.2 MBWhen we endeavor to observe whatever is moving, we often see how we just continue to pile on stuff. It is not about stopping that, it is about being aware of what it is. That’s why the meditation instruction is to “just observe”. Train to strengthen the observer part, because what starts to show up is the impostor behind the consciousness that we call a self. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wfXpYKcLWA&t=1s
Seeing Ignorance - By Sokuzan - Sunday, August 26, 2018 - http://sokukoji.org
January 09, 2019 11:00 - 34 minutes - 32.5 MBOf the three poisons: passion, aggression and ignorance, it is fairly easy to see passion and aggression. But can we see when we are ignoring, when we are shutting down on what is right in front of us? How do we work with that? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDccbssZL7c
Dont Land - By Sokuzan - Saturday, August 25, 2018 - http://sokukoji.org
January 08, 2019 18:37 - 40 minutes - 38.6 MBThe path of suffering is to see how much we keep landing on everything. The slightest comment will bury your consciousness for weeks, months or years. It can be as simple as something like: “Oh, there I go again”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JX1Hn6qwRRE
Spontaneity In Disguise - 08-22-18 by Sokuzan - http://sokukoji.org
January 05, 2019 10:00 - 41 minutes - 31.5 MBThe intension of Sokuzan’s dharma talk is to describe and show the differences between spontaneity and impulsivity. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEHqF3IQ3hY&t=1s
Wednesday August 22 2018 - Spontaneity In Disguise - By Sokuzan - http://sokukoji.org
January 05, 2019 10:00 - 31.5 MBThe intension of Sokuzan’s dharma talk is to describe and show the differences between spontaneity and impulsivity. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEHqF3IQ3hY&t=1s
A Raw Heart - By Sokuzan - Sunday, August 19, 2018 - http://sokukoji.org
January 04, 2019 10:02 - 30 minutes - 23.1 MBA raw heart means that you’ve dropped out of your paranoia of thinking and risen out of the feeling in your gut of hope and fear and you go in to the heart that is raw, unfiltered, uncovered, unprotected. This is called “bodhichitta”, the mind of awakening. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3tDyvTw5J0&t=1s
No Guarantees - By Sokuzan - Wednesday, August 15, 2018 - http://sokukoji.org
December 30, 2018 13:00 - 35 minutes - 29.4 MBOn the mundane path, the everyday do this and you get that, there’s practically a guarantee if you spend enough time. On the spiritual path, you put in the time and there are no guarantees. On the Buddhist path, this may be called faith. if there is an outcome, it is the mundane path. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_2SqflmyKc
More About Karma - By Sokuzan - Sunday, August 12, 2018 - http://sokukoji.org
December 29, 2018 18:27 - 34 minutes - 31.9 MBKarma is an extremely complicated area. It is an interesting thing to contemplate using the concepts that describe it. The more you meditate, the more you contemplate, the more you extend your awareness deep within the more you begin to see the very subtle nuances that are happening that have boundaries and no boundaries. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCfRSbQFKuU&t=66s
When the 5 Skandhas Enter the 6 Realms - By Sokuzan in Traverse City - Saturday, August 11, 2018
December 09, 2018 13:00 - 1 hour - 49.1 MBKarma is an extremely complicated area. It is an interesting thing to contemplate using the concepts that describe it. The more you meditate, the more you contemplate, the more you extend your awareness deep within the more you begin to see the very subtle nuances that are happening that have boundaries and no boundaries. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCfRSbQFKuU
About Karma - By Sokuzan in Traverse City - Saturday, August 11, 2018 - http://sokukoji.org
December 08, 2018 13:00 - 58 minutes - 43.7 MBSokuzan talks about three types of karma: sanchita karma, parabdha karma and agami karma. (the echo stops during minute 22) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uccgaNqfuaY
Insist On The Preliminaries - By Sokuzan - Wednesday, August 8, 2018 - http://sokukoji.org
December 07, 2018 13:30 - 40 minutes - 34.2 MBIf you want to walk the spiritual path you are going to have to make some sacrifices. You are going to have to give up wanting something else. Find a way to return to the fundamental situation that you are in. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZRfmJI6f8U
Mountains and Rivers - By Sokuzan - Sunday, August 5, 2018 - http://sokukoji.org
December 06, 2018 13:30 - 34 minutes - 32.5 MBSokuzan responds to questions like: What does meaningful mean? What is a natural compared to an unnatural boundary? Can you want something to be different than it is and accept it at the same time? How can we be firm without being aggressive? Is there a way to know if we stop respecting and start indulging? If fear is abandoned, is hope also abandoned? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xk0RocstO5s
Dont Defend Paraphrase - By Sokuzan - Wednesday, August 1, 2018 - http://sokukoji.org
December 05, 2018 13:30 - 37 minutes - 36.4 MBIf someone throws an accusation at you, don’t defend, just receive. Try taking what someone says and put it in your own words, or ask the person to clarify what they are communicating to you. It may give the situation a little more breathing room. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2kXBYgsEUc
Dont Second That Emotion - By Sokuzan - Sunday, July 29, 2018 - http://sokukoji.org
December 05, 2018 01:48 - 33 minutes - 26.1 MBAs soon as you add anything to a feeling or emotion, you are shutting down on your awareness. This is circularity, the spinning mind. The technical word for this is samsara. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaWHmqld35A
Focus Is Ignorance - By Sokuzan - Saturday, July 28, 2018 - http://sokukoji.org
November 26, 2018 13:00 - 41 minutes - 34.8 MBTo say this is to encourage you to see the way consciousness works. If you focus on anything you are ignoring everything else. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ak8BVFcIDes
Dont Focus Just Gaze - By Sokuzan - Wednesday, July 25, 2018 - http://sokukoji.org
November 25, 2018 13:00 - 37 minutes - 31.1 MBEmphasize the awareness part of experience rather than focus or tighten down on one aspect. The wisdom mind doesn’t need a focus. With a soft gaze just watch what arises in any of the sense fields and practice receiving. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwzPnJrDpLE
The Teaching Of Thusness - By Sokuzan - Sunday, July 22, 2018 - http://sokukoji.org
November 24, 2018 13:01 - 28 minutes - 22.9 MBAs it is said in the first line of the Hokkyo Zanmai, The Song of the Jewel Mirror Samadhi:” The teaching of thusness has been intimately communicated by buddhas and ancestors.” “Thusness”, “suchness”, “just this”, “as it is”, “tathata” "soku", "tathagatagarbha", …. you are looking right at it. It can’t be taught but you might need some help to see it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKeB6L11mLw
Dont Polish Confusion - By Sokuzan - Wednesday, July 18, 2018 - http://sokukoji.org
November 23, 2018 13:16 - 41 minutes - 37 MBWe’re so impatient with our minds, we want to be clear NOW! Don’t be that person who doesn’t want to be confused. The way to liberation is right through the confusion, that is your dharma gate. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtMaDfFa6Yw&t=1s
Free And Well Favored - By Sokuzan - Sunday, July 15, 2018 - http://sokukoji.org
November 08, 2018 17:49 - 36 minutes - 30.3 MBSokuzan’s dharma talk is inspired by the First Reminder in a traditional teaching called The Four Reminders That Turn the Mind toward the Dharma: “First, contemplate the preciousness of being free and well favored, difficult to gain and easy to lose, now I must do something meaningful.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5KbSb1LqJc
Clear Your Mind - Talk 2 - By Sokuzan In Traverse City - Saturday, July 14, 2018 - sokukoji.org
October 31, 2018 14:07 - 51 minutes - 32.4 MBThe afternoon dharma talk during today's meditation retreat continues the theme of the morning talk with Sokuzan responding to questions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vB0nlP9fyc
First Clear Your Mind - By Sokuzan In Traverse City - Saturday, July 14, 2018 - http://sokukoji.org
October 29, 2018 14:16 - 59 minutes - 42.7 MBThis talk was inspired by a student’s question from SokukoJi’s Monday evening book study of “Meditation on Emptiness” by Jeffrey Hopkins. These are translated teachings from the Gelukba order of Tibetan Buddhism. It says of the first stage of meditation on emptiness “First one concentrates and clears one’s mind” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGhIRVjDdb4
See The Contrast - By Sokuzan - Wednesday, July 11, 2018 - http://sokukoji.org
October 28, 2018 12:30 - 41 minutes - 36.2 MBFlash on the contrast. When the apparent polarity between two different things collapses, then the polarity becomes the observer and the observed. When the observer collapses into the observed…that’s the final collapse. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxy_KN760RM
Questions From Monastery Residents - By Sokuzan - Sunday, July 8, 2018 - http://sokukoji.org
October 27, 2018 17:47 - 31 minutes - 24.7 MBThe motivation for Sokuzan’s dharma talk is to address the effects of a strong daily practice of sitting, study, relating to a teacher and working with sangha by responding to questions from the monastery residents. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZQJECRl0AQ&t=1s
Choices Without Awareness - By Sokuzan - Wednesday, July 4, 2018 - http://sokukoji.org
October 25, 2018 12:00 - 42 minutes - 35.7 MBSit down and watch the way the mind makes decisions. Thoughts masquerade as awareness when narcissism wants a reference point. What you really have to do will be choiceless. Your unencumbered consciousness knows exactly what it needs to do next. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8t0dsq343Y
Gossip - By Sokuzan - Sunday, July 1, 2018 - http://sokukoji.org
October 24, 2018 12:00 - 35 minutes - 29.8 MBThe most complete speech or right speech is thorough, really seeing everything and not being seduced by your thought patterns. The teachings of the Buddha in the Anguttara Nikaya include five marks of right speech: “Is it true? Is it timely? Is it gentle? Is it purposeful? Is it with the mind of loving kindness?”. Extra talk is chatter, entertainment. The upside is social bonding and a feeling of belonging. The downside is that it may cause harm. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6jEDHN...
Remixing Thoughts - By Sokuzan - Saturday, June 30, 2018 - http://sokukoji.org
October 23, 2018 13:24 - 47 minutes - 40.4 MBWhen we don’t know what this is, when openness without reference point is just too frightening, we make up stuff instead of giving attention to everything that is happening. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77jzN1ygGrs
Tomal Gyi Shepa Ordinary Mind - By Sokuzan - Wednesday, June 27, 2018 - http://sokukoji.org
October 21, 2018 12:00 - 40 minutes - 36.8 MB“Tomal gyi shepa” is Tibetan for ordinary mind. Everyday mind. It is a teaching that emphasizes the ordinary or present nature of awakening, of clear understanding. You don’t have to go to a mountain top or somewhere else far away. You don’t have to get rid of your everyday difficulties so you can live in some kind of special enlightened state. What you’re looking for is right in front of you. It is ordinary mind. It is not an experience. It is authentic presence. Past and future are besi...
Distractions - By Sokuzan - Sunday, June 24, 2018 - http://sokukoji.org
October 20, 2018 12:00 - 31 minutes - 27.2 MBTrying not to be distracted is spiritual materialism. Awareness of distraction isn’t exactly distraction. Whatever is happening, include; don’t sell the wine of delusion. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=godsB99GbHo
Forgiveness - By Sokuzan - Wednesday, June 20, 2018 - http://sokukoji.org
October 19, 2018 12:00 - 48 minutes - 47 MBWhen someone has done something “wrong”, go slow with the idea of forgiveness. If you’re forgiving someone, there’s already some kind of blame going on. When you forgive or blame you are reinforcing the basic mistaken identity that Buddhism addresses: that we think we are solid beings who can be make mistakes or be forgiven. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_Y-TknNba0
Deep Attention - By Sokuzan - Sunday, June 17, 2018 - http://sokukoji.org
October 18, 2018 16:31 - 28 minutes - 23.4 MBSurface attention is glancing and immediately abandoning what we just gave our attention to and going into thoughts about it. Glancing is very casual, very disrespectful to your environment, your world, your mind. Deep attention would be looking and not abandoning. Don’t abandon the blackness of black. See redness of red without going into about red. It won’t get deep unless you stay with the surface. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECgi2dBNntw
Dogens Enlightenment - By Sokuzan at Traverse City - Saturday, June 16, 2018 - http://sokukoji.org
October 16, 2018 10:39 - 1 hour - 43.7 MBSokuzan paraphrases a line of Genjokoan from Dogen’s Shobogenzo to inspire today’s dharma talk: Buddhas are enlightened about delusion; sentient beings are deluded about enlightenment. There isn’t anything other than this, this is sometimes called suchness, or actualizing the fundamental point. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vHo_qtwCek&t=161s
Without Elaboration - By Sokuzan - Wednesday, June 13, 2018 - http://sokukoji.org
September 24, 2018 12:15 - 42 minutes - 40.2 MBFirst become aware of much you elaborate about anything that happens, “out there” or "in here”. When we have negative feelings come up about anything and immediately jump to conclusion about it, we actually abandon the thing that is happening to us and go into a description or elaboration about it. This is called delusion. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_2Wv7JYhQ4
Looking Is Not Seeing - By Sokuzan in Brooklyn NY - Sunday, June 10, 2018 - http://sokukoji.org
September 20, 2018 12:00 - 35 minutes - 33.5 MB“Looking” is glancing around looking at things coming and going, often based on the agenda of the present moment, where we’re going what we are doing and what we are trying to get done, mixed in with apparent memories, thoughts of the future, imaginations…. those are making a great deal of salad right in the midst of our perception. Nothing wrong with blending but when the motivation behind the apprehension is hope and fear, it leads to more suffering. “Seeing” is that whatever arises in con...
Beyond Ignorance - By Sokuzan at O-An Zendo - Wednesday, June 6, 2018 - http://sokukoji.org
September 19, 2018 14:23 - 52 minutes - 50.4 MBWhen we begin to see what we’ve been ignoring, this can be embarrassing. It can also be your dharma gate. Going beyond ignorance it to first see how much we ignore. Sokuzan talks about using your meditation practice to understand the nature of ignorance in a very deep way. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgycwJHo7N8
Transparent Thoughts - By Sokuzan - Sunday, June 3, 2018 - http://sokukoji.org
September 17, 2018 14:55 - 33 minutes - 27.5 MBThoughts are pretty opaque most of the time. Heavy, weighing us down, haunting us. The sitting practice of meditation is to look at all of that stuff right in the face. Our thoughts convince us that this world is solid, but if you look at yesterday and think of tomorrow…if you look at this physical space right now, what is that?
Labels Lie - By Sokuzan - Wednesday May 30 2018 - http://sokukoji.org
September 13, 2018 10:55 - 37 minutes - 19.5 MBLabels can function to help show us where to look, but when the label slides in front of what is being looked at, you may be fooled by it.
Open Interviews - By Sokuzan - Sunday May 27 2018 - http://sokukoji.org
September 10, 2018 13:01 - 32 minutes - 16.9 MBIn the Zen tradition, and interview (dokusan) is an opportunity for the student to ask the teacher questions and have discussion about practice, often in a private interview room (hojo). Here Sokuzan is giving open interviews in the zendo.
Forget Everything I Said - By Sokuzan - Saturday, May 26, 2018 - http://sokukoji.org
August 16, 2018 12:04 - 28 minutes - 13.5 MBDon’t attach to words and phrases, but don’t turn away either. You can’t use the teachings to figure this out, you have to see it yourself. If you are on the cushion and you’re sitting still, if you do enough of it, you will see everything you needed to see. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzgCBnBLpYI
Was Dogen Confused - By Sokuzan -Wednesday, May 23, 2018 - http://sokukoji.org
August 09, 2018 11:57 - 55 minutes - 26.8 MBSokuzan is using quotes from the teachings of Dogen Zenji to comment on the possibility that Dogen may be incorrect in his teaching. Of course, Sokuzan is only joking but is using that example to further teach about the lack of separation that we so often grasp in our everyday life. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9JC-SsFWjc
Listen To Silence - By Sokuzan - Sunday, May 20, 2018 - http://sokukoji.org
August 07, 2018 13:10 - 31 minutes - 16.5 MBListen To Silence https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Lan8OQh6YI
Traverse City - When Thoughts Recycle - By Sokuzan - Saturday, May 19, 2018
August 02, 2018 11:28 - 19 minutes - 9.39 MBWhen Thoughts Recycle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltx6eWkhZ3U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWOoDC5OG0U
Traverse City - Wandering Thoughts - By Sokuzan - Saturday, May 19, 2018 - http://sokukoji.org
July 31, 2018 11:49 - 42 minutes - 21.1 MBWandering Thoughts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2p9M73tIt8
Traverse City - Seeing The Space Around Thought Patterns - By Sokuzan - Thursday, May 17, 2018
July 27, 2018 12:54 - 1 hour - 50.2 MBSeeing The Space Around Thought Patterns https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0NfIlRGxl0
Dont Land - By Sokuzan - Wednesday, May 16, 2018 - http://sokukoji.org
July 26, 2018 12:14 - 39 minutes - 19.6 MBYou may need to fall, just don’t land. Don’t take a position. It is not necessary to conclude anything. Have a willingness to fail, to not be successful so you can begin to understand the bigger picture that the whole idea of success and failure is really about reinforcing a self that needs to be right or industrious or successful. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caOm5Fs378g
Hidden Triggers - By Sokuzan - Sunday, May 13, 2018 - http://sokukoji.org
July 25, 2018 12:25 - 31 minutes - 17.2 MBHave you ever made a mountain out of a molehill? Sometimes we have intense reactions when we are blind-sided by emotions that are stuffed. It’s like claws around your heart, and what do we do? We try to stop it. We have reactions that reinforce the sense of separation. Whatever is triggered needs to be played out in awareness. If you sit enough, your awareness that is not phenomena will begin to see what this actually is. Find out who you are, make friends with yourself deeply. https://w...
Ego Rhetoric - By Sokuzan - Wednesday, May 9, 2018 - http://sokukoji.org
June 06, 2018 13:09 - 43 minutes - 22.2 MB“Well, I’m never going to get this right!”, “What problem?”, “I should be doing something else”, “It’s my fault/their fault”, etc. You could live your whole life trapped in incessant comments. You don’t have to get rid of them, just listen. Every time you sit, you’re prioritizing the witnessing part of your consciousness. Endeavor to look and see how much of the language coming out of our thought patterns is just ego rhetoric. To realize this is liberation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=...
More ASAPs - By Sokuzan - Sunday, May 6, 2018 - http://sokukoji.org
June 05, 2018 11:10 - 26 minutes - 13.8 MBIn this dharma talk, Sokuzan gives more examples of Alternating Sense Awareness Practices (ASAPs) to support meditation as awareness practice on the cushion and as a way to help liberate your mind from subconscious gossip in your everyday life. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_9ORXYMaXI
Vertical Thoughts - By Sokuzan - Wednesday, May 2, 2018 - http://sokukoji.org
June 04, 2018 13:53 - 19.7 MBHorizontal thoughts are looking to elaborate, looking for reference points, what’s right, what’s wrong, gossip... it’s conversation like “What do you think about what I think about what you’re thinking I’m thinking?” Vertical thoughts are looking at that kind of structure and by training the mind to sit still and watch what moves eventually starting to recognize that the thoughts are just showing up in open space. They begin to transcend the self-centered mind. When that occurs the thoughts ...