Gratitude practice isn’t about forcing a feeling — it grows through presence, participation, and deep listening. In Sangha life, simply showing up, serving, and engaging with others can quietly transform how we see our lives. Gratitude arises as recognition of interdependence and support, not obligation. Through mindful awareness and community practice, appreciation becomes less a technique and more a way of meeting reality as it is.
Category: Everyday Buddhism
The Delusive Self
Rio Branham How do you come as you are when you’re not happy with who you are? How do you accept the phrase nothing to fix when it feels like things are falling apart? Like my car door handle that broke so now I have to roll down the window and open the door using…
Already Held: The Journey of Self-Compassion
By Laura Bennett Lately, I’ve been on a journey to be more compassionate towards myself. For me, this has meant learning to offer more compassion towards the thoughts, sensations, emotions, perceptions, and habitual patterns that arise. This journey has also naturally lent itself toward learning how to truly receive compassion. When I say compassion here,…
Attend to All and Each
Chris Leibow’s dharma talk invites us to embrace the Buddhist mantra “come as you are” through Namu Amida Butsu, focusing on compassion, interdependence, and mindful presence. He reflects on the meaning of attending to ourselves and others within a unique, trans-ectarian Buddhist fellowship inspired by Pure Land teachings. This talk blends poetry and ancient wisdom to guide listeners toward awakening and wholeness in everyday life.
Embracing Impermanence – Mono No Aware –
In Chapter 32 of the Diamond Sutra, the Buddha teaches impermanence through poetry, likening our conditioned existence to dew, lightning, and dreams. This dharma talk reflects on impermanence (anicca), grief, and gratitude, inviting us to embody—not merely understand—the fleeting nature of life and to meet it with tenderness and presence.
The Dharma of Creativity
By Rio Branham I want to talk about an idea expressed in this quote from Rev. Gyomay Kubose, Living in oneness with [the] Buddha’s teachings is a creative life in which everything becomes meaningful. I’ve been coming across this idea in lots of different places, that a spiritual life, awakening, enlightenment, is related to creativity…
Is not impermanence the very fragrance of our days?
Good morning. So the title of this dharma talk is actually a quote from Rainer Maria Rilke: “Is not impermanence the very fragrance of our days?” I love this quote because it reminds me that our impermanence is what gives life meaning. The fleeting, unknowable, ephemeral, impermanent nature of being alive can bring heartbreak and…
Build-a-Buddhism: Choosing what spirituality means to you
By Rio Branham I want to start by talking about a favorite book of mine. The Alchemist by Paulo Cuelho. It’s a story about a boy named Santiago who decides to leave all he has and all he’s known behind to follow a dream. Without knowing much about what will come of his pursuit, he…
In Praise of Failure
Dharma Talk – Christopher Kakuyo Leibow I want to start with a personal story. Let me paint you a picture. I’m about 43. I sit on the floor in a small room in a stranger’s house with my back against a wall. It’s late. I am watching reruns of Perry Mason on a 12-inch black…
THE WAY OF THE FOOLISH BEING
DHARMA TALK BY CHRISTOPHER KAKUYO SENSEI The Path of the Foolish Being Preface It is interesting how wandering through a bookstore on an unremarkable Wednesday can change your life forever. On one of those Wednesdays, while I was walking the aisles of Ken Sander’s bookstore looking for something to read, I serendipitously found what I…
Everyday Nembutsu 