SokukoJi Buddhist Temple Monastery
905 episodes - English - Latest episode: 4 days ago - ★★★★★ - 19 ratingsA Sōtō Zen Buddhist Temple. Visit: SokukoJi.org
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Episodes
Projecting Confusion - 11-26-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org
November 25, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 59.3 MBThe projecting part is thinking things occur because of our interpretation of the situation. We conclude without really looking beyond our thoughts about it. Only awareness sees beyond thought. Thought is trapped by thought. https://youtu.be/G3ruIm_Uqz0
Ego Algorithms - 11-19-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org
November 18, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 61.5 MBThese are opinions or structures we use to protect self-centeredness and to reify and reinforce that we are someone going somewhere and doing something, which is also ego. The impulse is to stop it. Just try to be aware of what’s happening rather than trying to control it. https://youtu.be/qhw3tZVIa1k
Commenting On What Arises - 11-15-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org
November 14, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 56.5 MBSomething happens and instead of just receiving what that is, we comment on it: thinking, judging, concluding. Rarely do we receive something as it is, unless it’s so intense, we can’t help but receive it. It’s not about getting rid of anything; it’s about awareness. https://youtu.be/vc8g21FbGjI
Knowing Beyond Thoughts - 11-12-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org
November 11, 2023 00:00 - 57 minutes - 52.3 MBA reading from the Majima Nikaya, the Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha, speaks about the bondage and shackles of of theorizing. The Buddha said, “It does not lead to nirvana; This is the danger I perceive in these views, which makes me discard them all.“ https://youtu.be/1QTfjFiqwPI
Empty Of Self Empty Of Other - 11-05-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org
November 04, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 59.5 MBEmpty of Other is a third turning teaching. The otherness is what confuses the self-centeredness and gives the illusion that you have some say so about things. That doesn’t mean there isn’t something here, but it’s not a centralized entity, a ‘me’ with some kind of credential. Bodies come and go - you don’t go anywhere. https://youtu.be/Q8K3pgIDnew
Just Observe - 11-02-23 by Sokzuan - sokukoji.org
October 31, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 56.3 MBIt’s very important to just observe. We never can look at what something actually is. We add on things; what that is and, and almost imperceptibly, the person who is looking at it. We create an individual over and over again. Not only is what it looking at is unreal but that which is being looked at or observed is unreal. https://youtu.be/0OJvaOL0xxY
Therapy And Meditation - 10-29-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org
October 26, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 73.1 MBA subject that comes up with students that there is often misunderstanding about is therapy, and how it relates to meditation. There are many ways to get into the structure of the way in which you’re confusing yourself. A good therapist will meet you, “where you’re at.” https://youtu.be/w1Ngynkd8VA
Confusion Is Not Confused - 10-25-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org
October 23, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 65.4 MBObserve the Confusion. If you try to fix it, change it or cover it up, you’ll miss what it actually is because you’re running away from what you think it is. It is not separate from you and also not the same as you. If you see confusion clearly, this is wisdom. https://youtu.be/OwFGbmqFOtY
When Concepts Rule - 10-22-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org
October 21, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 59 MBConcepts rule when you grasp onto your thoughts and ideas and the emotional dynamics that are reinforced by that structure. Just watch the movement that arises around any particular story. https://youtu.be/DtlqaY-_wDI
Why Meditate? - 10-18-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org
October 17, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 55 MBI’m not trying to convert you to Buddhism. You can just meditate without doing that. If you don’t meditate, you are at the mercy of your passion, aggression, and ignorance, your self deception. If you know about it, it starts to come apart. If you don’t know about it, it will run your life. https://youtu.be/Pi4856vHXDg
The Vow - 10-15-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org
October 14, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 57.6 MBThe vow to be with all things, or to save all beings, is the third of the three pure precepts. This means putting others before yourself and it is very hard to do. Don’t disrespect people’s confusion by correcting them. Anything that arises, give it the benefit of the doubt. https://youtu.be/Wy6DsSHM2yQ
Don't Maintain - 10-11-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org
October 10, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 61.9 MBJust observe. Everything is fluctuating and changing so much that if you try to maintain a standard or a rule, everything crystallizes into something that has no oxygen and doesn’t breathe or move with everything else that is dependently arisen. Don’t maintain, just return. https://youtu.be/N6lIJ78-7K0
Illusion Speaks - 10-08-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org
October 07, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 60.2 MBThis illusion is speaking to you. There’s no way I can lie to you and no way I can tell you the truth; YOU have to see it. The very nature of illusion is to grasp at relative truth, duality. There is no solid character that is substantial. Anytime you grasp at something you take all of its light away. https://youtu.be/xXpRhl3mVyg
My Teachers - 10-04-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org
October 03, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 70.7 MBIf you want to be an educator, practice meeting people ‘where they are at.’ Every single person is completely unique. Sokuzan talks about the teachers who responded to what was showing up in his mind stream rather than some authority about what was being taught. You don’t have to know, you don’t have to understand, you have to see what this is. https://youtu.be/jopNBULBy_M
Teacher And Student - 10-01-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org
September 30, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 59 MBSokuzan talks about his relationship to his teachers, and how the relationship to a teacher might show up for you. An insightful teacher will know who they are teaching. The student is one who understands what it means to be a student. It’s important to be genuine, honest and sincere with each other. https://youtu.be/RBlUPlDhi7A
The Foundation Needs To Be Awareness - 09-27-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org
September 26, 2023 00:00 - 58 minutes - 54 MBThere has to be a sky in order to have clouds. There has to be a foundation, and here it starts with Shikantaza. It’s not the importance of what arises in the sense fields, it is the space in which it occurs. See what arises in that fundamental space without doing anything with it. https://youtu.be/-ok8yGbVKCU
An Illusion Cannot Be Corrected - 09-24-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org
September 23, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 60.7 MBIf you think everything around you is real, you’ll continue to torture yourself with the illusion that you’re deluded by. You don’t have to get rid of the illusion; just see that it’s not real. It won’t be a conclusion. If you see through the illusion, you’ll just see yourself. https://youtu.be/6noqk256RZI
Inescapable Landslides - 09-20-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org
September 19, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 65.2 MBEven though the landslides are inescapable we fight against them anyway. One of the the landslides is the one in your mind that started before you were born. The source is unfindable. Your job as someone who is a meditator on a spiritual path is to observe that movement in your mind stream and see that there is no solid singularity anywhere. https://youtu.be/RXvZWRfsa3E
Without Location - 09-17-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org
September 17, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 59.7 MBhttps://youtu.be/rTjvhkv5NRQ
Discussing Dogen's Shobogenzo
September 12, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 64.4 MBThe poem from the Shobogenzo chapter ‘Flowers in the Sky’ was written by Zhang Zhuo upon his enlightenment. It begins, “Radiant light serenely illuminates the sands of the Ganges.” Talking about the mind of awakening is very difficult. The poem ends: “Nirvana and birth-and-death are both flowers in the sky.” https://youtu.be/34xQxJYoR1k
What Is Realized? - 09-10-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org
September 09, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 62 MBThe five dharmas are a good way to introduce looking at this. Things appear, we are compelled to name them, then we interpret, analyze, and stir things up. These three dharmas are in everyone’s lives. The spiritual path of buddha knowledge and suchness is understanding and seeing the illusion. https://youtu.be/5Y71iRIwjeQ
Respect - 09-06-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org
September 06, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 66.7 MBhttps://youtu.be/FxYJ6aov1kc
Panca-Dharma - 09-03-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org
September 02, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 67.3 MBThis has been called the five dharmas in the Lankavatara Sutra. The five dharmas are just one thing. It’s going to look like a path until it doesn’t. Even without the 4th dharma of buddha knowledge, you can awaken to muchness. https://youtu.be/IYHFKj6x6tI
Think Deeply - 08-30-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org
August 29, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 55.1 MBThink deeply comes from Dogen’s Shobogenzo in the fascicle, “Flowers in the Sky.” Receive thoughts without manipulating and interpreting them. If you think deeply there’s no thinker. Allow the self to fall away from the greediness of an imaginary self. https://youtu.be/9EsX40wIQBU
Triggered Emotions - 08-27-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org
August 26, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 65.6 MBYour emotions are always there. When something happens to trigger our emotions we may think something or someone caused it. This is untrue. Cause and effect are much more complicated than that. Don’t torture others by blaming them. https://youtu.be/QByjiVDODb0
Suffering - 08-23-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org
August 22, 2023 00:00 - 53 minutes - 49.1 MBBuddha’s first teaching was suffering. If you’re alive, you’re going to suffer. Even when nothing seems to be wrong, we’re worried about what might be coming just around corner. Most people do not know they are suffering because they’re successful in the relative area of covering it up. https://youtu.be/ykwbYVOhzYI
Without Direct Mind Training - 08-20-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org
August 21, 2023 16:19 - 1 hour - 70.4 MBhttps://youtu.be/OUep2HD6Ies
Second-Hand Confusion - 08-16-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org
August 16, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 57.1 MBhttps://youtu.be/Gi7k4iePRkk
More About Cover-Ups - 08-13-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org
August 12, 2023 00:00 - 54 minutes - 49.9 MBAnytime anything occurs, if you have any thoughts about it at all, it’s more than likely a cover-up. Rather than see what is there we fight with it, or we blame. It’s about being aware or this, not stopping or fixing it. It seems to take a lot of sitting meditation in order to see this clearly. https://youtu.be/_aea6TrHwzA
Self-Liberated - 08-09-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org
August 08, 2023 00:00 - 55 minutes - 50.7 MBAnytime anything occurs, if you have any thoughts about it at all, it’s more than likely a cover-up. Rather than see what is there we fight with it, or we blame. It’s about being aware or this, not stopping or fixing it. It seems to take a lot of sitting meditation in order to see this clearly. https://youtu.be/453_2g1Iyi8
Talking To The Movie - 08-06-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org
August 04, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 61.2 MBThis is an image to help us see what we have been doing. We’re constantly participating in everything, commenting on whatever shows up, reifying, justifying, and validating ego, reinforcing the reality of whatever is happening in our mind stream.You don’t need to conclude anything. https://youtu.be/GV_AoCSo5Ro
The Mirage Of Duality - 08-02-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org
July 31, 2023 00:00 - 59 minutes - 54.7 MB“The mirage of duality” is a line from the Sadhana of Mahamudra by Trungpa Rinpoche. The apparent multiplicity of everything is the mirage. When you believe the illusion is true, it’s called delusion. It’s not about correcting that. https://youtu.be/RbfuYEEc2Ps
No Experiencer - 07-30-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org
July 29, 2023 00:00 - 56 minutes - 51.8 MBWe automatically receive all kinds of things: smells, touch, memories, thoughts, emotions. When something shows up we grasp at it. This creates a grasper and the illusion of a person, an identity. If you’re constantly producing out of the illusion you are fueling that part of consciousness that thinks there’s a self. You don’t need to get rid of it; you just need to see that it’s unreal. https://youtu.be/0Ok8uoyLB_I
Immaculate Perception - 07-26-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org
July 24, 2023 00:00 - 53 minutes - 49.3 MBWhen your perception of what is right in front of you is completely free of the debris of your conceptions, preconceptions, opinions, ideas and junkyard dog conclusions, this is immaculate perception; no one is perceiving, nothing is perceived. https://youtu.be/wn0y2Ww-Iao
Enlightenment Has No Substance - 07-23-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org
July 22, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 59.8 MBEnlightenment or realization is seeing the truth and no longer being deluded by anything. It has no substance; you can’t find it. You have to see if for yourself with your awareness. https://youtu.be/NyD8E0kIeGg
Communicate Cooperate Collaborate - 07-19-23 by Sokuzan- sokukoji.org
July 18, 2023 00:00 - 57 minutes - 53 MBFirst, listen. If you’re having difficulty communicating, use the 90/10 rule; Listen 90% of the time and talk 10%. Wait for the period. Receive what is being triggered in your mind stream. https://youtu.be/IWns0Yl6w0Q
Stuck To A Belief System - 07-16-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org
July 15, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 68.1 MBThis is the only way most of the world can continue on a spiritual path. Even in a non-theistic tradition, we set up an authority. It’s possible to practice without this authority. https://youtu.be/XxUBMcFoxMQ
Six Realms Cover Up - 07-12-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org
July 10, 2023 00:00 - 54 minutes - 50 MBThe model of the 6 realms is a traditional Buddhist teaching about states of mind. Each realm is characterized by one of the three poisons and describes the way we are working with them. Bodhisattvas are said to appear in every realm in order to save beings. https://youtu.be/Qr1iLddzLuE
When Standards Obscure - 07-19-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org
July 08, 2023 00:00 - 2 hours - 119 MBWe attach ourselves to a standard when we don’t want to see what something really is. We need standards, but they need to be observed with respect. You may stick to it 90% of the time, but If you always just go to the standard you are ignoring the open dimension of your mind. https://youtu.be/BMYPTaDHIRY
Belief Is A Wall - 07-05-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org
July 02, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 59.3 MBPeople are controlled by their beliefs. These are positions the ego takes up in order to avoid looking into the darkness, the unknown. It’s hard to see if you're believing something because it shows up as an opinion. Just look at that and receive the discomfort without covering it up. https://youtu.be/7hoOaWAcpRc
Stories On Stories - 07-02-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org
July 01, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 67.8 MBWe make little short stories about everything. Be aware that you’re doing that. We’re not trying to not have stories; it’s always about awareness, not about controlling things. Observe what’s coming or going and what’s hanging around. https://youtu.be/s9vA4pPezbI
Anger "As It Is" - 06-28-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org
June 27, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 61.2 MBWhen anger arises in your mind stream, don’t stop it, don’t explain it, and don’t blame anyone for it including yourself. This just gets us deeper into the circularity of samsara.. Anger is dependently arisen and is not generated by a person. If you think it is, you’ll go in circles. https://youtu.be/KoT2ENAK0KQ
Ignoring The Ignorance - 06-25-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org
June 23, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 57.8 MBThe three poisons are passion, aggression and ignorance. The hardest one to identify and not jump to conclusions about is ignorance. The very nature of it is to not look, not to see it. Without instruction it’s very difficult not to mistake it for some kind of samadhi. https://youtu.be/LEwn_qKWGro
Buddha Nature - 06-21-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org
June 20, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 57.2 MBBuddha means awakened one. What is the nature of that? Buddha Nature does not come and go; it’s ineffable. Over time, through watching what is appearing and disappearing, you can change your allegiance over to the awareness of just what is dependently arising. https://youtu.be/nFAk5uz8Gbo
Observe Without Expression - 06-18-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org
June 16, 2023 00:00 - 55 minutes - 50.4 MBReceive without producing is saying the same thing. I want to encourage you to receive the thoughts. If you can, don’t express and don’t add. You may have to put a lunge line on that pony of your thoughts so that you can see the way you continue to take what arises and use it as a credential or proof of something else. https://youtu.be/kNNQb1Hc_aI
Kleshas May Increase - 06-14-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org
June 13, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 55.7 MBKleshas may appear to increase because you’ve been covering them up. Now that you’re practicing meditation and studying the buddha’s dharma, the cover-ups aren’t working quite so well. If it shows up in your mind, it is yours. Don’t fight with that. https://youtu.be/XbVK3xWYbww
Pushing Away Thoughts - 06-11-23 by Sokuzan- sokukoji.org
June 10, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 65.5 MBWhatever is arising in the mind stream at any given moment is dependently arisen. That means there’s no real thinker there. We may try to ignore what’s arising or shove down our emotions. In order to see that you’re even doing such a thing, just be aware. https://youtu.be/i0MJ_uRY1Ao
Observing - 06-07-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org
June 06, 2023 00:00 - 57 minutes - 52.7 MBObserving doesn't fixate. The tendency of the mind is to fixate in order to protect an imaginary person. If you’re actually observing you won’t latch onto anything. As soon as you lock down on anything, that’s fixation. You can sit down and just collapse into whatever this is. https://youtu.be/Dakz8DTUubI
More About Gratitude - 06-04-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org
June 03, 2023 00:00 - 57 minutes - 53 MBLook closely at your mind - that’s what you’re here to do. It doesn’t matter what happens, what matters is your intention. Consciousness has nerve endings. Be grateful for those feelings and be grateful for this precious human birth. https://youtu.be/1yhg0h4i3NQ
Confusion Knots - 05-31-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org
May 30, 2023 00:00 - 52 minutes - 48 MBLook at the confusion that arises in your mind relative to what’s happening with your interactions with others, whether pleasant, boring or disturbing. Rather than look for the cause of the confusion, train yourself to see what this is fundamentally by looking at the confusion directly. This is done through the sitting practice of meditation. https://youtu.be/HgotzWl4Hww