The Berkeley Zen Center Audio Archive

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Showing 3306 talks

Title	Speaker	Date
Let The Mystery Be Serial: BZ-02868 The talk examines grief through the five remembrances, treating recollection as a practice that gathers experience into wholeness and keeps a deceased teacher present in community memory. It links zazen’s work of “settling the... *Suzuki Roshi, Zazen, Priest*	Hozan Alan Senauke	Jan 09 2021
Inconceivable Life Serial: BZ-02809 The talk presents “inconceivable life” as the reality realized in zazen, where life and death merge moment by moment and practice means responding fully to what is, rather than clinging to an imagined plan. Amid the community’s... *Ceremony, Sangha, Community*	Mary Duryee	Dec 26 2020
Birth and Death, Part 2 Serial: BZ-02808 The talk presents birth and death as mutually arising phases within each moment, emphasizing Dōgen’s instruction to face and actualize each without avoidance or attachment. Zazen supports living each moment fully, while practice... *Zazen, Shosan, Emptiness*	Hozan Alan Senauke	Dec 20 2020
Birth and Death, Part 1 Serial: BZ-02807 The talk presents birth and death as dynamic, mutually containing phases of life, each fully actualized in the present moment. Drawing on Dōgen’s Shōji and Zenki, it links liberation to meeting each moment without avoidance or... *Suzuki Roshi, Zazen, Dogen*	Hozan Alan Senauke	Dec 19 2020
Attention and Attachment Serial: BZ-02806 The talk frames attention and attachment as fundamentals of Buddhist and Zen practice: suffering arises from clinging, while practice involves meeting experience without commentary, judgment, or self-improvement agendas. It... *Zazen, Koan, Ordinary Mind*	Ron Nestor	Dec 12 2020
Total Dynamic Working Serial: BZ-02805 The talk presents Dōgen’s Zenki (“Total Dynamic Working”) as an account of existence arising through the interdependence of all causes and conditions. Using the boat metaphor, the collapse of the Arecibo telescope, and pandemic... *Zazen, Impermanence, Suzuki Roshi*	Hozan Alan Senauke	Dec 05 2020
Women Ancestors Class Serial: BZ-02804 - *Blue Cliff Record, Gratitude, Soto Zen, Transmission*	Kosei Laurie Senauke	Nov 30 2020 3 of 3 Zoom
Yogacara Deconstructs Whiteness Serial: BZ-02803 The talk applies Yogācāra’s mind-only teaching, eight consciousnesses, and three natures to the construction of racial meaning and white supremacy. It argues that racial projections arise through conditioned mental processes yet... *Consciousness, Precepts, Enlightenment*	Kosei Laurie Senauke	Nov 28 2020
Women Ancestors Class Serial: BZ-02798 - *Lay Practice, Priest-and-Lay, Priest, Transmission, Monastic Practice, Dharma Transmission,...*	Karen DeCotis	Nov 23 2020 2 of 3 Zoom
Women Ancestors Class Serial: BZ-02802 - *Lay Practice, Priest, Transmission, Monastic Practice, Dharma Transmission, Teacher-and-...*	Karen DeCotis	Nov 23 2020 2 of 3 Zoom
Way-Seeking Mind Talk Serial: BZ-02801 The talk examines how family history, bereavement, and Zen practice shape a sense of being “marked” by experience. The robe inscription “take the backward step into the circle where light issues forth,” attributed to Master... *War, Poetry*	Sue Oehser	Nov 23 2020
Dogen's Vow Serial: BZ-02800 The talk interprets Dōgen’s Great Vow through the practice of compassion amid illness, personal depletion, and collective suffering. Dongshan’s illness koan frames compassion as caring for suffering without being consumed by it:...	Gerry Oliva	Nov 21 2020
Public Dokusan 13 Serial: BZ-02799 The talk centers on non-separation from the whole universe as a basis for meeting aging, work, and death without resistance. Zazen, described as Buddha’s practice rather than an individual’s, joins the discriminating world of... *Zazen, Buddha Nature, Dogen*	Sojun Mel Weitsman	Nov 20 2020
Women Ancestors Class Serial: BZ-02797 - Continuous Practice, Gratitude, Impermanence, Liberation, Non-violence, Vinaya, Zoom...	Susan Marvin	Nov 17 2020 1 of 3 Zoom
Dead Or Alive Serial: BZ-02795 The talk examines Case 55 of the Blue Cliff Record, in which a student asks whether the deceased is alive or dead and the teacher repeatedly refuses to answer. The refusal returns the question to the student: birth and death are... *Samadhi, Duality, Koan*	Sojun Mel Weitsman	Nov 07 2020
Public Dokusan 12 Serial: BZ-02794 The discussion presents Zen practice as the work of meeting each moment without self-blame or fixed evaluations: zazen balances effort and ease, while thoughts and surrounding conditions are allowed to arise without attachment.... *Zazen, Effort, Lay Practice*	Sojun Mel Weitsman	Nov 06 2020
Senior Student Tributes for Sojun Roshi Serial: BZ-02793 - *Birth-and-Death, Conversation, Don't Know Mind, Ego, Gratitude, Heart Sutra, Lay Practice...*	BZC Sangha	Nov 01 2020 Zoom
Courage, Part 2 Serial: BZ-02792 The talk develops courage as active engagement with fear, grounded in Zen’s three pillars: great faith, great doubt, and great determination. Drawing on Dōgen’s accounts of ancestral austerities, it distinguishes nonattached... *Doubt, Effort, Bodhidharma*	Gerry Oliva	Oct 31 2020
Public Dokusan 11 Serial: BZ-02791 The talk frames Dōgen’s Genjō Kōan as a teaching on the partiality of perception: practice reveals both the limits of understanding and the inevitability of incompleteness. Discussion applies this to mind-only, birth and death,... *Emptiness, Zazen, Suzuki Roshi*	Sojun Mel Weitsman	Oct 30 2020
Living On A Mountain Serial: BZ-02790 The talk frames Sojin Roshi’s abbatial transition through the Zen image of the mountain: the ceremony marks a change in role, while the teaching emphasizes continuity beyond distinctions such as ascending and descending. Berkeley... *Ceremony, Suzuki Roshi, Sangha*	Hozan Alan Senauke	Oct 24 2020
Undivided Serial: BZ-02789 The talk examines integration as holding multiple, shifting identities and experiences without reducing them to fixed labels. Through the koan of Qian’s divided self and the story of Patachara’s losses, it argues that language... *Duality, Suffering, Koan*	Karen DeCotis	Oct 18 2020
Kika's Ordination Serial: BZ-02787 From the November/December 2020 newsletter: Sojun Ordains a New Priest On October 17 in the zendo Sojun Roshi ordained Doko Kika Susan Hellein as a priest, with online participation in the ceremony of over seventy-five members... - Ordination, Equanimity, Karma, Precepts, Zoom	Sojun Mel Weitsman, Kika Susan Hellein	Oct 17 2020 Berkeley Zen Center
The Whole Earth Is Medicine Serial: BZ-02788 The talk reads the “Medicine and Disease” case as a teaching on emptiness: because nothing exists independently, the whole universe—including self and suffering—functions as medicine. Embodied experiences of gardening, Tonglen,... *Emptiness, Manjushri, Effort*	Mary Duryee	Oct 17 2020
Problems, Prospects Serial: BZ-02786 - *Impermanence, Dharma Transmission, Gratitude, Nirvana, Conversation, Ordination, Mahayana,...*	Hozan Alan Senauke	Oct 10 2020
Dealing With Difficulties Serial: BZ-02785 The talk presents difficulty as both a source of suffering and the ground from which practice and renewed stability arise. Drawing on Suzuki Roshi and Dōgen, it frames zazen as attention to impermanence, and emphasizes meeting... *Suffering, Impermanence, Enlightenment*	Hozan Alan Senauke	Oct 10 2020
Public Dokusan 10 Serial: BZ-02784 The talk treats composure as a practice of relinquishing self-defense and self-centeredness: settle into the breath, notice what arises without immediate judgment, and respond with discernment rather than reactivity. Zazen is... *Zazen, Composure, Ego*	Sojun Mel Weitsman	Oct 09 2020
Hunger Serial: BZ-02783 The talk links Buddhist practice to material hunger and social responsibility: Mahā Ghosananda’s teaching that “the most important thing is eating” frames interdependence, feeling, and time as forms of consumption, while Zazen... *Zazen, Four Foundations of Mindfulness, Compassion*	Hozan Alan Senauke	Oct 03 2020
Letting Go Serial: BZ-02781 The talk presents zazen as a practice of turning toward present experience—body, emotion, and thought—without trying to control or hold on to it. It then extends this letting-go to awakening itself: the koan of stepping from the... *Zazen, Koan*	Ellen Webb	Sep 26 2020
Sojun Roshi At YEBZ Serial: BZ-02782 The talk interprets Suzuki Roshi’s teachings on “things as it is” and “independency” as expressions of the nonseparation of absolute and relative, unity and multiplicity, and dependence and independence. It connects this... *Precepts, Suzuki Roshi, Big Mind*	Sojun Mel Weitsman	Sep 26 2020
What Do You Call The World Serial: BZ-02779 The talk centers on Case 12 of the Book of Serenity, “Dijang Plants the Field,” especially the question “What do you call the world?” Ordinary activity—planting, preparing food, and responding to what is immediately present—... *Koan, Suzuki Roshi, Suffering*	Hozan Alan Senauke	Sep 19 2020
New Members Meeting Serial: BZ-02778 - *Conversation, Practice Period, Sangha, Zoom*		Sep 14 2020
All-Sangha Meeting Serial: BZ-02777 - *Conversation, Doubt, Fundraising, Impermanence, Dharma Position, Zoom*		Sep 13 2020
Appropriate Action Serial: BZ-02776 The talk reads Book of Serenity koan 54, “Ongan’s Great Compassionate One,” as a teaching on compassionate action that arises naturally when self-attachment and fixed views do not obstruct response. Appropriate action requires... *Bodhisattva, Koan, Compassion*	Penelope Thompson	Sep 12 2020
Public Dokusan 8 Serial: BZ-02775 The talk centers on non-attachment as an active practice: presenting views without clinging to them, meeting experience directly, and remaining willing to change in response to what is right. It also examines moral responsibility... *Buddha Nature, Nirvana Sutra, Happiness*	Sojun Mel Weitsman	Sep 11 2020
Humpty Dumpty Serial: BZ-02774 The talk interprets the Humpty Dumpty rhyme as a teaching on risk, failure, and perseverance in Zen practice: mistakes become resources when acknowledged, and practice consists in meeting each moment rather than pursuing a... *Zazen, Effort, Suzuki Roshi*	Sojun Mel Weitsman	Sep 05 2020
Zazen Refresher Serial: BZ-02773 - *Bowing, Chanting, Concentration, Emotions, Posture*	Sojun Mel Weitsman	Sep 04 2020
Dongshan Class 2 Serial: BZ-02772 The talk interprets Dongshan’s Five Positions as fluid perspectives on the relation between wisdom and vexation, rather than a hierarchy: practice moves through recognizing form and emptiness, holding vexation without being... *Emptiness, Study, Enlightenment*	Ross Blum	Sep 01 2020
Dongshan Class 2 Serial: BZ-02771 - *Bowing, Concentration, Duality, Five Ranks, Global Warming, Light-and-Darkness, Platform Sutra...*	Ross Blum	Aug 31 2020
Ordinary Mind Serial: BZ-02770 The talk interprets Nansen’s “ordinary mind is the Way” as a practice of releasing agitation and extra mental activity rather than striving toward an ideal state. Through zazen, awareness of mental states, and attending to one... *Ordinary Mind, Suzuki Roshi, Nansen*	Ron Nestor	Aug 31 2020
Courage Serial: BZ-02769 The talk argues that Zen courage is the capacity to remain present with fear and uncertainty, rather than their absence, and develops through everyday practice across physical, social, intellectual, moral, emotional, and... *Doubt, Sangha, Zazen*	Gerry Oliva	Aug 29 2020
Public Dokusan 7 Serial: BZ-02768 The talk presents zazen as the basis for meeting experience: equanimity includes both suffering and joy, while practice cultivates a quiet, open mind that responds appropriately to changing circumstances. Further discussion... *Big Mind, Enlightenment, Zazen*	Sojun Mel Weitsman	Aug 28 2020
Dongshan Class 1 Serial: BZ-02767 The class reads selected cases from Dongshan Liangjie’s record to examine direct realization as inseparable from ordinary practice, respectful engagement with the non-sentient, and the student’s responsibility to verify and... *Suzuki Roshi, Zazen, Transmission*	Ross Blum	Aug 25 2020
Thinking and Non-Thinking Serial: BZ-02766 The talk argues that zazen cultivates calm mind by interrupting habitual, self-centered thought and returning attention to body and breath. Drawing on Dōgen, the Noble Eightfold Path, and Vasubandhu, it connects non-thinking and... *Eightfold Path, Zazen, Suffering*	Karen Sundheim	Aug 22 2020
Three Doors Of Liberation Serial: BZ-02765 The talk presents emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness as three interrelated “doors of liberation,” grounded in the interdependence of all forms. Zazen enacts these teachings by loosening attachment to conceptual signs and... *Emptiness, Liberation, Buddha Nature*	Sojun Mel Weitsman	Aug 15 2020
Public Dokusan 6 Serial: BZ-02764 The talk presents Zen practice as sustained attention to breath, posture, and immediate circumstances, supported through sangha and mutual encouragement. It applies this orientation to social engagement, care for sentient and... *Zazen, Nirvana, Bodhisattva*	Sojun Mel Weitsman	Aug 14 2020
Three Marks Of Existence Serial: BZ-02763 The talk presents impermanence, the absence of an abiding self, and nirvana—not suffering alone—as the three marks of existence. Nirvana is described as the ground of ordinary life, realized through zazen, non-clinging, and... Three Dharma Seals, Impermanence, No-Self, Suffering, Nirvana, Three Marks of Existence, ...	Sojun Mel Weitsman	Aug 08 2020 Zoom
An Appropriate Response Serial: BZ-02762 The talk interprets Yunmen’s “an appropriate response” in The Blue Cliff Record as situational, accountable action rather than a universal prescription. Drawing on Suzuki Roshi’s translation, “the teaching confronts each,” and... *Suzuki Roshi, Community, Suffering*	Hozan Alan Senauke	Aug 01 2020
Public Dokusan 5 Serial: BZ-02761 The talk presents Zen practice as moment-to-moment engagement grounded in effort, breath, and nonduality. It emphasizes returning to the present circumstance rather than seeking certainty, cultivating kindness without collapsing... *Dogen, Koan, Effort*	Sojun Mel Weitsman	Jul 31 2020
Heart Sutra Serial: BZ-02760 The talk presents the Heart Sutra as both a teaching on boundlessness and an embodied practice used for comfort, healing, and release from distress. It traces the sutra’s formation in China from Prajñāpāramitā materials, its... *Heart Sutra, Chanting, Japan*	Hannah Meara	Jul 25 2020
Closely Watched Mind 4 Serial: BZ-02759 Class 4 of 4 - Karma, Don't Know Mind, Ego, Big Mind, Heart Sutra, Precepts	Hozan Alan Senauke	Jul 21 2020 4

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