Zencare Podcast

“Who do you recognize as part of your community?”   In this talk from earlier in the year, Chodo Sensei introduces the Three Jewels – Buddha, Dharma, Sangha – and focuses his attention on the last; the Sanskrit word for community. Chodo invites his listeners to walk with him: past his doorman, through his neighborhood, […] The post The Three Jewels are Everywhere | Chodo Robert Campbell appeared first on New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care.

“Life always presents us with pairs. There are always two aspects that complement each other – sun and moon, day and night, mother and father, life and death – but how easily our minds become occupied in a one-sided way. When we see one aspect and ignore the other, however, we feel incomplete and the […] The post Cultivating One Buddha Mind | Koshin Paley Ellison appeared first on New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care.

“When we do just one activity, we express our true nature.” – Suzuki Roshi    In this recent dharma talk, Chodo Sensei looks at the scattering tendencies of the mind. He shares his own difficulties remaining in the present. His invitation, and ongoing practice, is to fully attend to whatever experience is happening right now. […] The post Ichigyo-Zammai: Full Concentration | Chodo Robert Campbell appeared first on New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care.

“Our willingness to be compassionate and generous in our speech changes relationships both inside of our selves, in our sangha, and in our world.”   What happens when we don’t hold ourselves and each other accountable? Koshin Sensei explores the meaning and implications of practicing “Kind Speech,” one of Dogen’s ‘Four Methods of Guidance’. We […] The post Kind Speech is Not Always Comfortable | Koshin Paley Ellison appeared first on New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care.

“If we know we are going to die, then we are right where we are supposed to be.”   In this dharma talk from our recent Winter Sesshin, Chodo Sensei explores three of the Buddha’s first five remembrances – that we are of the nature to grow old, to become ill, and eventually, to die. […] The post Zen Practice and the Body | Chodo Campbell appeared first on New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care.

“What does leaving our sense of loneliness and entering community have to teach you?”   In this opening dharma talk from Commit to Sit Winter 2023, Koshin Sensei invites us to explore what causes us to suffer. He encourages us to confront and work with what holds us back, what keeps us from living fuller […] The post Seizing Our Opportunity to Live | Koshin Paley Ellison appeared first on New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care.

“But most of all, continuing to sit without moving, not even shifting a foot or lifting our eyes, it builds the strength that we need, and that others need in us in the face of pain or crisis. Sit there with your heart breaking. But sit tall, see and hear everything. Breathe low and slow […] The post Train Hard, Your Spirit Counts | Cristina Moon appeared first on New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care.

“The flame of the dharma you have lit, humbly and respectfully, I transmit to the next generation.” —Shundo Aoyama Rōshi   In this opening dharma talk from our last Commit to Sit 90-day practice period (summer ’22), Koshin Sensei discusses a myriad number of things that a consistent practitioner will have to face as they […] The post The Importance of Good Spiritual Friends | Koshin Paley Ellison appeared first on New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care.

“Enlightenment is the ending in yourself of that hope for something other than life as it is” —Charlotte Joko Beck   We can understand the craft of meditation as the joining of a physical posture with a mental posture. In this talk by guest dharma teacher and Guiding Teacher of Boulder Zen Center, Zenki Christian […] The post The Mental Postures of Meditation | Zenki Christian Dillo appeared first on New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care.

“We have to release the clamp of our own jaw around our suffering. The uniqueness that we want to hold on to is usually not our actual uniqueness. We get into a habit of holding on to some gunky old stuff that I call ‘me’. We maintain this strange altar of our own suffering and […] The post Running On the Edge of a Sword | Koshin Paley Ellison appeared first on New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care.

“It’s important to be courteous; not just to sit in Zazen but to cultivate the body and mind in the dignity of the Buddha. To give ourselves dignity and respect. This is difficult. It’s easier to welcome others than to welcome yourself.”   Rev. Anna Maria Iten Shinnyo Marradi, spiritual guide of Shinnyoji Temple in Florence, […] The post Cultivating the Dignity of the Buddha | Rev. Anna Maria Iten Shinnyo Marradi appeared first on New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care.

“So what is this great light flashing through her mind? (It is) how you really see the blackness of a cup of coffee… how you really see the fractals of the broccoli or cauliflower… how you are present to how you move.”    José Shinzan Palma, a Zen teacher and dear dharma friend from San Diego, […] The post Everything Must Go | Jose Shinzan Palma appeared first on New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care.

“This moment may be the only moment in the circle. But any point will do. Any point is the Alpha and Omega—a special time or place is not needed. In other words, you’re all exactly where you need to be whether you like it or not.”   In the midst of the New York Zen […] The post You Must Be Your Own Teacher | Dai En Friedman appeared first on New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care.

“One of the strongest characteristics of the role of shuso is its innate awkwardness. One is always both junior and senior. This is a given to the path to those on the shuso path. This fact is confronted deeply. The faces of the junior and senior are constantly being switched, sometimes both worn at the […] The post What is the Role of Shuso? | Chodo Robert Campbell appeared first on New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care.

“We are the like the apex of a pyramid – the levels of the pyramid ever widening toward its base represent past generations of our ancestors. Our present existence is the sum of all they did and we are the starting point for our descendants. All that our ancestors did reflect on us and all […] The post Practicing Appreciation for Your Ancestors | Chodo Robert Campbell appeared first on New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care.

“What helps to enrich us and make us strong is not favorable circumstances, but failure, misfortune, or illness. What matters most is how we take misfortune. The saying ‘A branch of plum blossoms harmonizes fragrantly with snow’ teaches us how to deal with difficult circumstances.” —Shundo Aoyama Rōshi   As part of our third annual […] The post Plum Blossoms Harmonize Fragrantly with Snow | Koshin Paley Ellison & Chodo Robert Campbell appeared first on New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care.

If you do, you can. If you don’t, you can’t. When you say you can’t do what can be done, It means you haven’t set out to do it. —Junkyo Oishi (1888-1968)   Pulling from Zen Seeds, Shundo Aoyama Rōshi’s timeless book on life and practice, Koshin Sensei shares the story of Junkyo Oishi, otherwise known […] The post Do Not Let Your Heart Be Crippled | Koshin Paley Ellison appeared first on New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care.

“Prajnatara asked, ‘What amongst all things is the greatest?’ Bodhidharma said, ‘True nature, of all things, is the greatest.’”   In this dharma talk, Sensei Koshin shares a koan describing the meeting between Prajnatara and Bodhidharma, which would lead to Prajnatara becoming Boddhidharma’s teacher and paving the way for the founding of the Zen lineage. […] The post Realizing the Tathāgata’s True Meaning | Koshin Paley Ellison appeared first on New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care.

Fear can lead us to do regretful, hateful, and even violent things. Lion’s Roar & NYZC’s new online course Medicine for Fear is inspired by Zen teacher Eihei Dogen’s essential instructions for awakening. The course, featuring Sensei Koshin and Sensei Chodo, as well as Mushim Ikeda, Pamela Ayo Yetunde, Kodo Nishimura, and Mirabai Bush, offers […] The post Fear and Knowing How to Be Satisfied | Koshin Paley Ellison appeared first on New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care.

“To devote ourselves to everything we encounter and throw our life force into doing just that is quite different from simply exhausting our energies playing with toys.” —Kōshō Uchiyama Rōshi   In celebration of the Shakyamuni Buddha’s birthday, the NYZC sangha gathered on April 10th, whether in person or virtually, to chant, bathe the baby […] The post Happily Putting Down Our Habits | Koshin Paley Ellison appeared first on New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care.