SokukoJi Buddhist Temple Monastery
913 episodes - English - Latest episode: 17 days ago - ★★★★★ - 19 ratingsA Sōtō Zen Buddhist Temple. Visit: SokukoJi.org
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Episodes
Is Daydreaming Meditating? - 09-05-21 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
September 05, 2021 00:00 - 54 MBhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzsCChF1DvI We are currently working on improving our sound recording quality, and apologize for any difficulty in understanding Sokuzan's teachings. Thank you for your patience.
Is Daydreaming Meditation? - 09-05-21 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
September 04, 2021 00:00 - 58 minutes - 54 MBYour basic instruction is to sit down, hold still without being rigid, and intend to see what’s moving. If it’s a daydream, then observe that. There’s nothing to correct. Whatever arises, that’s the path. Don’t maintain it and don’t fight with it. Notice the tendency to do something with it. If you want to do something with it, enjoy it. Allow it to be just that, as it is. It’s not separate in the first place; it just looks like it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzsCChF1DvI We are current...
How to Practice Shikantaza Meditation - 09-01-21 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
September 01, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 63.5 MBhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwHRi0oYaAk&t
Mountains And Rivers 13 - 08-29-21 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
August 28, 2021 00:00 - 53 minutes - 48.9 MBHow does renaming what we call negativity help us to work with that in a different way? How do we not fight with what’s arising? If we are functioning out of the bodhisattva vow, what do we do? Can not doing much look like activity? How can we meet someone where they’re at if it looks like they’re insane? What is your primary teaching? Sokuzan responds to these and other questions in this Mountains and Rivers talk. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Wac2lvO2hI
It's Not About You - 08-25-21 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
August 24, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 61.4 MBWe are always trying to protect, extend, and defend ourselves, or do something about me me me and my wonderful stuff. When you are being accused of something and fear getting pulled into others’ projections, meet people where they’re at. The paranoia is dependently arisen; you can’t get rid of it. You may need to relate to whatever arises in your mind stream or the apparent mind stream of others in a skillful way. It’s not about you, except when you’re training your mind – then it is about yo...
Why Monks Beg - 08-22-21 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
August 22, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 65 MBhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7VP41IdYhU
Mountains and Rivers 12 - 08-18-21 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
August 17, 2021 00:00 - 55 minutes - 51.1 MBhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gaTyNXWQjc&t
Mind Your Own Business - 08-15-21 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
August 12, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 57.8 MBMinding your own business doesn’t mean you shouldn’t step in and help when you see something terrible happening, but do it situationally. Don’t do anything unless you have to. It doesn’t mean that you ignore things; in fact, when you lead with your awareness, you are very attentive to everything going on. When the thinking process is in the service of ego and paranoia, the situation isn’t seen clearly. If you see the details of the situation through working with your awareness, then you can r...
Creating Real Estate - 08-11-21 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
August 08, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 60.6 MBThe ego, or what I might call the land baron, is the one who has territory, owns things, and puts things there in the mind stream or even the life stream if they have a chance. When something arises in the mind stream like anger, the self-centered mind claims it and wants to hang on to it. That property owner gets support as someone whose anger this is. You don’t have to claim any of that. You’re not looking for property. This is narcissism and it can be very subtle. The encouragement here is...
Communication In The Three Jewels - 08-08-21 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
August 05, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 71.9 MBhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62A6MWCU6qo
Full Intention - 08-04-21 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
August 02, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 57.3 MBFull intention here means not spending time looking for results. The spiritual path is not about results, or using the structure of the mundane path to evaluate your progress. It doesn’t mean you won’t notice change as you go along in your meditation practice. If you give your full attention to practicing, to training your mind by watching and receiving whatever is moving, you won’t spend time evaluating. It’s about the awareness of what’s moving in the life stream or mind stream, and not abo...
You Can Rationalize Anything - 08-01-21 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
July 30, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 139 MBRationalizing is abandoning what’s in front of us for why it makes sense or doesn’t work. It is caused by suffering and pain, by being mistreated or the perception that you’re being mistreated. From the perception of buddhadharma it’s a teaching. If you are a student, there are much, much deeper levels of learning and understanding. The understanding goes way beyond what arises in dependent origination, which creates the illusion of separation. You can’t change it so that you no longer ration...
Receiving The Teacher's Heat - 07-28-21 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
July 26, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 57.7 MBChogyam Trungpa Rinpoche once said, “If you get too far away from the teacher you don’t get enough heat, and if you get too close to the teacher you get burned.” Just because you have the illusion that you have control of your thoughts, your emotions, your feelings, your life with some kind of goal, that does not mean that the true teacher is doing that. What is meant by receiving the teacher’s heat is just to receive: hot cold, lukewarm, receive everything. Give the teacher the benefit of th...
More Questions About Devotion - 07-25-21 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
July 24, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 94 MBhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZtw9UEdCSQ
The Rationalizer - 07-21-21 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
July 19, 2021 00:00 - 51 minutes - 47.1 MBWe tend to rationalize anything we don’t understand. We don’t want to look at the fundamental situation. Anytime you jump to some sort of idea about what’s happening, you abandon what’s right in front of you. Ego does not want to lose its fuel supply of rationalization about everything. Look at the chaos in the world. The situation we are in is dependently arisen in its multiplicity and its complete illusory nature, yet it has not occurred at all. If you think so, you’re going to fight. This ...
Meditation is a Lie Detector - 07-18-21 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
July 17, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 63.1 MBhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trMQQyFRLjk&t
Questions On Emptiness - 07-14-21 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
July 12, 2021 00:00 - 51 minutes - 46.9 MBThat things are empty is an ultimate teaching and is also a path quality of Buddha-dharma. The Sanskrit word is shunyata. It’s not a relative emptiness, but that doesn’t mean it abandons relativity. It’s a concept that points to our grasping at how something appears as some kind of otherness, as a singularity. Once emptiness is seen, everything comes back and is full as it is. This is the third turning teaching. Emptiness is dependent origination and a way to encourage us to look deeply at th...
Questions On Devotion - 07-11-21 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
July 10, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 78.7 MBhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DP-AeXHjfQ
Embarrassment - 07-07-21 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
July 06, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 65.4 MBhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QS2i0UTSiU
Seeing The Skandhas - 07-04-21 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
July 02, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 68.1 MBThe five skandhas, or “heaps” are an ancient teaching. Simply put, form is the body and the other four are aspects of consciousness: feeling, perception, memory (or concept), and consciousness. Feeling includes the emotional quality that flows in through the thought patterns, which are very spacious until we seal it up with what we think about it. What an excuse to miss your life! You can actually meet your karma head on. I highly recommend that you do this. You don’t have to be a Buddhist, b...
No Demand - 06-30-21 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
June 29, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 56.2 MBDon’t demand anything, especially if you think you have a right to do so. In order to not demand, you might have to allow the feeling, the emotion, the energy to arise without hooking up your vocal cords. It seems to be very necessary to experience and accommodate the emotions that arise in the mind stream. The emotion is not the demand. It’s what we do to get away from the emotion. The way to work with it is to catch the negative emotion as soon as possible and meet it right there. If you ca...
Petty Speech - 06-27-21 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
June 27, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 59.6 MBhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4WgMguVaJg
Enemy Number One - 06-23-21 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
June 22, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 64.4 MBThe hidden aspect of consciousness that does not want to be discovered is called the ego, or narcissism. It’s the self that has no particular credentials except the ones it can forge. The self centeredness can thrive and get some kind of fuel or relative complement to the mind stream or the credibility of the self by pushing, pulling or shutting down. It tries to fool you, swindle you, and take away your wisdom mind. Trungpa Rinpoche once gave a talk called “Buddha-dharma Without Credentials....
Where Is The Jealousy? - 06-20-21 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
June 20, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 69.4 MBhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yNlLzbaDUY
Motivation - 06-16-21 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
June 15, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 66 MBWe try to find ways to get things done that we want to accomplish. In our situation it’s the motivation to do the sitting practice of meditation as it’s taught here, called shikantaza. This is probably the most radical, minimalist form of meditation. How do we get ourselves to to do something that doesn’t always really show any kind of immediate results? Return to the original inspiration that got you to practice in the first place. It’s important to have some kind of form set up to remind yo...
Angry? - 06-13-21 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
June 14, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 69.9 MBWhat is the dynamic that causes our whole emotional structure to get all tightened up so that we want to destroy something? It happens on all kinds of levels from tiny irritations with others, to something being not quite right with ourselves. The imaginary self gets some kind of nourishment out of rage and anger that comes from the fear of all the versions of being nobody; that people won’t like who you are or that you’ll look foolish. Don’t try to get rid of your anger – feed the demons. Yo...
Natural Sanity - 06-09-21 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
June 09, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 59.5 MBhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oYzd9fcK08
Kinds Of Love - 06-06-21 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
June 06, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 71.4 MBhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdqkPyzpMxg
Don't Fight With Anything - 06-02-21 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
June 01, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 63.3 MBWhatever is arising in the mind stream, don’t argue. Even though it’s difficult, just look at it. It will never show up the same way twice. You might consider seeing what it actually is. In order to fundamentally relate to anything that arises in the mind stream, you may have to be at the mercy of the emotion; in other words, receive that. The so called object is the subject. You can’t think your way into that, but you can train your mind to see what this is. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q...
Fear And Control - 05-30-21 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
May 29, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 56.5 MBSee how these two show up for you. Is someone trying to control you? Someone who is afraid may have some kind of nondescript paranoia or anxiety. Someone who is covering up fear may not know they are afraid at all. They might just think they are angry about something, some other situation that needs to be controlled or governed. I am recommending that you train your mind so there will be less projection and more receiving what’s there. It will feel like you don’t know what’s happening. And it...
Trying To See More Clearly - 05-23-21 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
May 27, 2021 12:08 - 1 hour - 61.5 MBAnytime you’re trying, “efforting” you might as well be looking for one thing and going towards something else. Don’t do that. Wherever you are is where you’re at; just hang out there, whether it’s at the top of the hill or the bottom. If we push too much we stop the very investigation we are trying to do. The clarity IS the confusion; this will not show up as a relative understanding. Just look at the confusion. If there’s no one there, the confusion is just dependent origination. https://w...
Who's Paranoid? - 05-25-21 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
May 26, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 56.7 MBhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHXbHG-AP3o
No-One Understands Me - 05-19-21 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
May 18, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 61.9 MBIs feeling like you’re misunderstood a form of blame? There are times when it might not be all that definite. It could relatively be true, but if you’re making some kind of attribution based on how you feel, then you are shifting things around to lighten the cause and effect situation. Thinking that there is someone who could be understood is a way of validating your identity. Just observe, so you can see what it is fundamentally, rather than concluding what it’s about. https://www.youtube.c...
Jumpy Conclusions - 05-16-21 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
May 15, 2021 00:00 - 52 minutes - 48.3 MBhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyJa1NDJ7ZY
Be With All Things - 05-12-21 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
May 11, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 56.3 MBThis vow of the bodhisattva is otherwise known as the vow to save all beings. Another way of saying it is, “Put everyone before yourself.” You have to start somewhere; you might as well be with the stuff that’s arising in your mind stream. We get triggered. Instead of staying with the texture of that disturbance, we call it something, like depression. The spiritual path is seeing deeply for yourself what is fundamentally true. It’s not easy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ua3vUe44AT8&t=49s
Relationship To The Teacher - 05-09-21 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
May 07, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 70.3 MBThe relationship between the student and the teacher is very unique and different for each person. It’s up to you. The teachings are handed down from warm hand to warm hand. If you’re a monk, the relationship to your teacher needs to come first. Of course, that doesn’t mean getting rid of your partner or children, so it’s a little different. Give the teacher the benefit of the doubt and include the teacher in everything. When you sit down, hold still and go into the mind, you might feel agor...
Our Relationship Problem - 05-05-21 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
May 03, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 81.1 MBYou can’t avoid relationships; even if you go to a mountaintop, you’re in relationship with your own mind. The way the Vidyadhara Trungpa Rinpoche talked about this was to say said that the best relationship is no relationship. He talked about relationships in terms of a mandala, a sacred circle. The secret mandala, or inner mandala is your own personal circle. Work with your own mind steam by observing it without fiddling with it. The incredible illusion is otherness and the fundamental iss...
Karma Cover-Up - 05-02-21 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
May 01, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 60.3 MBWhen something is moving we cover it up, either literally or by interpreting it. Any kind of commentary or movement is a coverup. Don’t interfere with it. Take a radical, minimalist attitude. Whatever is showing up, train yourself to be on receive. Meditate a lot. Sitting has to be done for a few years, maybe more, before you can see the cover up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmSNVeutwH8&t=14s
The Body Is The Mind - 04-28-21 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
April 27, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 61 MBI move my hand as an expression of my mind. Although the frequencies are different, it is the same kind of movement. Mind and body are the same thing. We pull on the separation to try to control our mind, but we can’t do it. The conceptual mind is like shrink wrap, trying to hold on to things. The area of the mind that’s respectful of the space in which things occur is the mind space or mind stream where thoughts come and go. This area can be observed in sitting meditation. https://www.youtub...
Teaching From Realization - 04-25-21 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
April 25, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 74.3 MBhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HY8B-H1JQE
Questions From Sangha - 04-21-21 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
April 21, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 57 MBhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPx4MwqlqI8
A Time For Questions - 04-18-21 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
April 17, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 64.1 MBWhat is immediate light? Immediate light means light that’s very quick, that’s already here. Light is a metaphor for realization or understanding. Everything is already brilliant; there are no shadows. Immediacy is a commentary on our fascination with time. Sokuzan responds to this and other questions about confusion, dependent origination, form and content in this open question format. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=padJt-lZl4A
Confirmation Bias - 04-14-21 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
April 14, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 61.4 MBhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYA0FYrokMM
Just Let It Remain - 04-11-21 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
April 10, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 76.5 MB“Hum, Hum, Hum. Whatever occurs in the realm of the mind such as thoughts of the five poisons, one should neither lead nor follow. Just let it remain in its true state and reach the liberation of Dharmakaya.” This quote from the Sadhana of Mahamudra is a direct way of pointing at “just precisely this,“ the practice of Shikantaza. The relative experience of the true state comes and goes. Let it remain. Whatever arises in the mind stream is the buddha – don’t believe that, but don’t ignore it e...
Observe What? - 04-07-21 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
April 07, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 58.8 MBhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmIDtjYvYXE
"He Want To Be King" Chogyam Trungpa And Kobun - 04-04-21 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
April 04, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 76.7 MBhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKnKC1s-QiU
We Came On Foot - 03-31-21 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
March 31, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 62.2 MBEverything means something and yet everything means exactly what the words are. When the Buddha was challenged by Mara, he touched the earth in the sparsa mudra, saying the, “The earth is my witness.” The foot is the earth in motion. Return to your original, fundamental situation – your body/mind complex. Keep it very basic, minimal, radical. Sit down, hold still and watch what moves – for everyone it’s a little different. Don’t miss what shows up for what you think about it. https://www.yout...
Questions From Sangha - 03-28-21 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
March 28, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 78.7 MBhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yQbHtWq_OA&t=22s
Three Existential Aspects - 03-24-21 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
March 23, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 63.2 MBThe three existential aspects are the nature of being in the dynamic we call the human realm of desire. It is another way of talking about the three marks of existence. The basic suffering is discontent, wanting things to be different. Impermanence is the existential aspect that all compounded things will go away. It won’t last. See how each of these aspects shows up in your life. The awareness path is about seeing this, not about making it go away. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHIPUP-51-E
Perception Plus - 03-21-21 by Sokuzan - SokukoJi.org
March 21, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 65.8 MBhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSpc9BcigqA