By Kelly Branan Good morning, everyone. I’m glad you’re here. I want to start with a question that has probably followed every one of us around at some point in our lives. What is the meaning of life? It’s one of those questions that usually doesn’t show up when everything is going well. It comes…
The Purple Pill
by Kimmy dojinyo For today’s Dharma Talk, I would like to share something I have been thinking a lot about lately: The Purple Pill. Before you get up and leave, no, this Dharma Talk is not brought to you by “big pharma.” This isn’t one of those commercials that interrupts your favorite show every 7…
Right Concentration
By Steve LeFevre For the past several months, we have walked the Noble Eightfold Path together. Right View. Right Intention. Right Speech. Right Action. Right Livelihood. Right Effort. Right Mindfulness. Today we arrive at the final step. Right Concentration. If you’re anything like me, when you hear those words, you think: “Oh. This is the…
Cracks in the Plaster: Uncovering Buddha Nature
By Laura Bennett Good morning, everyone. Before I get into my talk, I’d like to start with a question, and I’d love for you to sit with it for a moment before I go any further. What comes to mind when you think of Buddha-nature? Take a breath. Let whatever arises, arise. An image, maybe….
Let’s Talk About Sex
A Dharma Talk from our archives – by Christopher Kakuyo Leibow A Dharma Talk: Sex, Sexual Ethics, and the Third Precept I want to talk about sex today, and I want to start with this quote from the Buddha: “One is not called noble who harms living beings. By not harming living beings one is…
The Stories The Bind Us
by Kelly Branan The World We Think We See I’d like to begin with an old Buddhist story. Perhaps you’ve heard it before. Several blind men were asked to describe an elephant. One reached out and touched its leg. “The elephant,” he said confidently, “is like a tree.” Another grasped the trunk. “No,” he replied….
Nature as Teacher of Dharma
by Rio Branham Intro I have to be honest. I’m cheating a bit today. I’m going to share a re-write of a talk I gave at retreat last year. I was working on a different talk about stories, but, as fate would have it, I was too stuck in my own stories to get it…
At the Peak of Light, She Turns – A Dharma Talk on Guanyin
Summer Solstice Sunday I. Begin With the Name We just did something ancient. We sat together, and we listened. Not to fix. Not to advise. Not to correct or redirect or make someone else’s experience into a teaching moment for ourselves. We just… listened. We held what was shared, and we let it be what…
Right Mindfulness — This Moment Is Not For Sale
A Dharma Talk by Rojin Genyo (Steve LeFevre) You are seen. You are heard. You are welcome here. You are not alone. Nothing to fix. Nothing to prove. Nothing to achieve. Just this life— as it is. Tonight we continue our journey along the Noble Eightfold Path. We’ve explored Right View, Right Intention, Right Speech,…
The Seed Opens – Entrusting Ourselves to the Oneness of Life
by Gwen Juvenal (Shoka Itsuro) Welcome to the celebration! For something vital, something extraordinary is happening right here and now. And its fragrance fills this room. Perhaps you noticed it during meditation. Perhaps you’ve noticed it before and simply called it by another name. This fragrance is here now. Not reserved for after we finally…
Everyday Nembutsu 