Podcasts about Sesshin

Dharma talk by Eran Junryu Vardi Roshi of Eiryu-ji Zen Center in Wyckoff, NJ, USA on 5/14/2026.

In this Teisho, given during the Second full day of Spring Sesshin 2026, Rinzan Osho examines The Rinzai Roku: Jodo IX. Here, we have Master Rinzai's most enigmatic and complicated case. Threes and threes and threes ... penetrating this matter, life presents itself as an unfolding fractal with no root. 

In this Teisho, given during the first full day of Spring Sesshin 2026, Rinzan Osho examines The Rinzai Roku: Jodo VII and VIII. Zen training points us toward an experience of life (a way of being) that is not divided. We open to this truth and let it express itself through our lives? How does this happen? How can we testify to the truth of Zen?

In this Teisho, given during the opening night of Spring Sesshin 2026, Rinzan Osho examines The Mumonkan: Joshu's Mu. Joshu answered the Monk's inquiry, "Does a dog have Buddha Nature or not?" by vocalizing the sound "Mu."  Mu translates as a negation: "No" or "Nothing." What is it that Joshu was pointing at? What is this Mu? How do we, as Zen practitioners use it to prod us toward greater intimacy with the ineffible.

Norman gives his thirteenth  talk on the “Awakening  of Faith in the Mahayana” at the 2026 Villa Maria del Mar Sesshin – Talk 7 referencing the book “The Awakening of Faith: Attributed to Asvaghosa.”  Asvaghosha's text, translated into Chinese in 500 AD, was written as a comprehensive summary of the essentials of Mahayana Buddhism. We study it as deep background on the principles that animate Suzuki Roshi's teaching in his book “Becoming Yourself.” Suggested donation: $7 https://bit.ly/donate-edz-online-teachings We cannot continue offering teachings online without it. Thank you. https://s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/edz.assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Awakening-of-Faith-in-the-Mahayana-Talk-13-Sesshin-Villa-Maria-Del-Mar-2026-Talk-6.mp3

Shuso Tracy Grubbs gives her second talk on the Villa Maria Del Mar Sesshin 2026 on “Everyday is a Good Day. Suggested donation: $7 https://bit.ly/donate-edz-online-teachings We cannot continue offering teachings online without it. Thank you! https://s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/edz.assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Sesshin-Villa-Maria-del-Mar-2026-Talk-6-Everyday-is-a-Good-Day-Shuso-Tracy-Grubbs.mp3  

Norman gives his twelfth talk on the “Awakening  of Faith in the Mahayana” at the 2026 Villa Maria del Mar Sesshin – Talk 5 referencing the book “The Awakening of Faith: Attributed to Asvaghosa.”  Asvaghosha's text, translated into Chinese in 500 AD, was written as a comprehensive summary of the essentials of Mahayana Buddhism. We study it as deep background on the principles that animate Suzuki Roshi's teaching in his book “Becoming Yourself.” Suggested donation: $7 https://bit.ly/donate-edz-online-teachings We cannot continue offering teachings online without it. Thank you. https://s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/edz.assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Awakening-of-Faith-in-the-Mahayana-Talk-12-Sesshin-Villa-Maria-del-Mar-2026-Talk-5.mp3

Norman gives his eleventh talk on the “Awakening  of Faith in the Mahayana” at the 2026 Villa Maria del Mar Sesshin – Talk 4 referencing the book “The Awakening of Faith: Attributed to Asvaghosa.”  Asvaghosha's text, translated into Chinese in 500 AD, was written as a comprehensive summary of the essentials of Mahayana Buddhism. We study it as deep background on the principles that animate Suzuki Roshi's teaching in his book “Becoming Yourself.” Suggested donation: $7 https://bit.ly/donate-edz-online-teachings We cannot continue offering teachings online without it. Thank you. https://s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/edz.assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Awakening-of-Faith-In-the-Mahayana-Talk-11-Sesshin-Villa-Del-Mar-2026-Talk-4.mp3

Norman gives his tenth talk on the “Awakening  of Faith in the Mahayana” at the 2026 Villa Maria del Mar Sesshin – Talk 1 referencing the book “The Awakening of Faith: Attributed to Asvaghosa.”  Asvaghosha's text, translated into Chinese in 500 AD, was written as a comprehensive summary of the essentials of Mahayana Buddhism. We study it as deep background on the principles that animate Suzuki Roshi's teaching in his book “Becoming Yourself.” Suggested donation: $7 https://bit.ly/donate-edz-online-teachings We cannot continue offering teachings online without it. Thank you. https://s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/edz.assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Awakening-of-Faith-in-the-Mahayana-Talk-10-Sesshin-Santa-Sabina-Sesshin-Talk-2.mp3

Norman gives his ninth talk on the “Awakening  of Faith in the Mahayana” at the 2026 Villa Maria del Mar Sesshin – Talk 1 referencing the book “The Awakening of Faith: Attributed to Asvaghosa.”  Asvaghosha's text, translated into Chinese in 500 AD, was written as a comprehensive summary of the essentials of Mahayana Buddhism. We study it as deep background on the principles that animate Suzuki Roshi's teaching in his book “Becoming Yourself.” Suggested donation: $7 https://bit.ly/donate-edz-online-teachings We cannot continue offering teachings online without it. Thank you. https://s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/edz.assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Awakening-of-Faith-in-the-Mahayana-Talk-9-Sesshin-Villa-Maria-del-Mar-Talk-1.mp3

Sesshin Day 1: The Habituated Mind by Ordinary Mind Zen School

Sesshin Day 2: Integrating Emotion in Practice by Ordinary Mind Zen School

Norman gives a dharma talk on “Turning the Wheels of Dharma” to the Mountain Rain Sesshin May 2026. Suggested donation: $7 https://bit.ly/donate-edz-online-teachings We cannot continue offering teachings online without it. Thank you! https://s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/edz.assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Turning-The-Wheel-of-Dharma-Sutra-Mountain-Rain-Sesshion-May-2026.mp3

Norman gives a dharma talk on “Dogen’s Refrain  From Unwholesome Action” to the Mountain Rain Sesshin May 2026.     https://s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/edz.assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Dogens-_Refrain-From-Unwholsome-Action_-Mountain-Rain-Sesshin-May-2026.mp3

Sesshin day 3. Teisho by Sangen Salo sensei during the April 7-day sesshin 2026 at Sanneji Zen Temple in Karjaa, Finland.

Sesshin day 2. Teisho by Sangen Salo sensei during the April 7-day sesshin 2026 at Sanneji Zen Temple in Karjaa, Finland.

In this final talk of the Spring Practice Period Sesshin, Sensei Ryotan and Sensei Shinzan bring the Ten Ox-Herding Pictures to their close with the tenth stage — Entering the Marketplace — the return to ordinary life, barefoot and unadorned, carrying what was glimpsed back into the world. Ryotan traces the inner movement this stage points to: the small self receding as the larger self comes… Source

In this first formal talk of the Spring Practice Period Sesshin, Sensei Monshin takes up virya — the Sanskrit term for joyful effort — as the essential energy of practice. What does it mean to sit day after day with the whole catastrophe of the mind: the boredom, the fear, the stories we tell about ourselves? Drawing on the ox-herding pictures' imagery of taming, she explores the difference… Source

In this third-day talk, offered during the Spring Practice Period Sesshin, Sensei Ryotan takes up the habit of self-judgment — that familiar contraction after a mistake, the script of not being good enough, and the perfectionism that keeps us small. Framing her teaching through the Lotus Sutra's Never-Disparaging Bodhisattva, who bows to every being's capacity for awakening even as rocks and… Source

In this fifth-day talk, offered during the Spring Practice Period Sesshin, Senko and Sensei Monshin explore the ninth ox-herding picture, Returning to the Source — the stage where effort ceases and life simply flows. Drawing on Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching, the Xin Xin Ming, and the Song of the Grass Hut, Monshin traces the difference between striving and ease, and how returning to the source is not… Source

During the second day of the Spring Practice Period Sesshin, Senko takes up the koan of relaxed effort — how effort and ease, far from being opposed, are expressed in the same movement. Drawing on Seung Sahn's story of a bear who, long after escaping his circus cage, keeps turning somersaults in the mountains hoping to be fed, Senko asks us to look honestly at the conditioning we carry into… Source

Sesshin Day 4: The Priest and the Fox by Ordinary Mind Zen School

Sesshin Day 5: Wu Tsu's Buffalo Passes Through the Window by Ordinary Mind Zen School

Sesshin Day 1: Zen and the Art of Living by Ordinary Mind Zen School

Sesshin Day 2: Seizei Alone and Destitute. by Ordinary Mind Zen School

Sesshin Day 3: Joshu's Dog. Working with the first Koan Mu by Ordinary Mind Zen School

Rev. Patrick Teverbaugh - Buddha's Birthday Sesshin Day Four, Readings on the story of Buddha's birth from the Lalita Vistara Sutra

Rev. Patrick Teverbaugh - Buddha's Birthday Sesshin Day Three, Don't be afraid of the dragon

Rev. Patrick Teverbaugh - Buddha's Birthday Sesshin Day Two, Beyond Thinking

Rev. Patrick Teverbaugh - Buddha's Birthday Sesshin Day One, The free and untrambled way

March 2026 Sesshin, Day 6 Teisho by Sensei John Pulleyn.  Automated Transcript The post Commentary on Joko Beck's “Everyday Zen” appeared first on Rochester Zen Center.

March 2026 Sesshin, Day 5 Commentary on “Everything Arises, Everything Falls Away: Teachings on Impermanence and the End of Suffering” by Ajahn Chah  Teisho by Sensei John Pulleyn.  Automated Transcript The post Everything Arises, Everything Falls Away #5 appeared first on Rochester Zen Center.

March 2026 Sesshin, Day 4 Commentary on “Everything Arises, Everything Falls Away: Teachings on Impermanence and the End of Suffering” by Ajahn Chah  Teisho by Sensei John Pulleyn.  Automated Transcript The post Everything Arises, Everything Falls Away #4 appeared first on Rochester Zen Center.

March 2026 Sesshin, Day 3 Commentary on “Everything Arises, Everything Falls Away: Teachings on Impermanence and the End of Suffering” by Ajahn Chah  Teisho by Sensei John Pulleyn.  Automated Transcript The post Everything Arises, Everything Falls Away #3 appeared first on Rochester Zen Center.

March 2026 Sesshin, Day 2 Commentary on “Everything Arises, Everything Falls Away: Teachings on Impermanence and the End of Suffering” by Ajahn Chah  Teisho by Sensei John Pulleyn.  Automated Transcript The post Everything Arises, Everything Falls Away #2 appeared first on Rochester Zen Center.

March 2026 Sesshin, Day 1 Commentary on “Everything Arises, Everything Falls Away: Teachings on Impermanence and the End of Suffering” by Ajahn Chah  Teisho by Sensei John Pulleyn.  Automated Transcript The post Everything Arises, Everything Falls Away #1 appeared first on Rochester Zen Center.

This Dharma Discourse was given by Rev Rinsen Roshi during Fall Ango of 2025.  In this discourse, Rinsen Roshi discusses the Vimalakirti Sutra and asks "Why are you here?".  The discourse discusses how a practioner can pull the thread of sesshin into their daily life.

February 2026 Sesshin, Day 2 Dharma Talk by Ven. Trueman Taylor.  Automated Transcript The post Guo Gu “Silent Illumination: A Chan Buddhist Path to Natural Awakening” #2 appeared first on Rochester Zen Center.

Rev. Patrick Teverbaugh - Parinirvana Sesshin Day Three - The Parents of the World

February 2026 Sesshin, Day 1 Dharma Talk by Ven. Trueman Taylor.  Automated Transcript The post Guo Gu “Silent Illumination: A Chan Buddhist Path to Natural Awakening” #1 appeared first on Rochester Zen Center.

Rev. Patrick Teverbaugh - Parinirvana Sesshin Day Two - Turning Dharma Flowers

Rev. Patrick Teverbaugh - Parinirvana Sesshin Day one, Opening up the Parinirvana Brief Admonitions Sutra and the Lotus Sutra's Lifespan of the Tathagata

February 2026 Sesshin, Day 6 kkklakjdakjalkja;lkjsa;lkjsaj;ak Teisho by Sensei John Pulleyn.  Automated Transcript The post Beyond Words and Concepts appeared first on Rochester Zen Center.

On the fifth and final day of the Winter Practice Period Sesshin, Roshi Joan Halifax, and Senseis Kodo and Dainin gather the threads of practice into a teaching on Magnanimous Mind, intimacy, and not knowing. Kodo explores not knowing as a gateway to vastness, questioning how thought and naming can obscure direct experience. Roshi Joan continues this inquiry, inviting practitioners to stay with… Source

Day two of the Winter Practice Period Sesshin opens with Sensei Dainin recalling placing the names of Renee Good and Alex Pretti—both killed in recent shootings involving federal agents in Minneapolis—on the altar. Visibly moved by these tragedies Dainin reflects on Nyoho (thusness), the practice of embracing “the good, the bad, the ugly, everything.” She invites us to consider wether even those… Source

On the third full day of the Winter Practice Period Sesshin, Sensei Kodo and resident priest Butsumon reflect on how practice comes alive through ordinary activity. Butsumon opens with stories from samu (work practice), contrasting effort driven by efficiency with work done in care and attention. Drawing on Dōgen's Three Minds, he explores how Joyful, Caring, and Magnanimous Mind transform any… Source

On the fourth day of the Winter Practice Period Sesshin, Sensei Kodo and Sensei Dainin continue the exploration of Dōgen's Three Minds. Kodo opens by situating the dharma talk itself within silence, inviting practitioners to listen as they would to wind, creaking floorboards, or the laughter and screams arising from the nearby park, quoting Mahatma Gandhi “Do not speak unless you can improve upon… Source

On the first full day of the Winter Practice Period Sesshin, Roshi Joan Halifax reflects on alignment and presence, exploring how practice begins by meeting things as they are. She emphasizes that Zen training is not performance but a return to our natural state—learning to act with care, attention, and nonviolence in relationship with others and the world. Addressing ongoing social violence in… Source

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 1/31/26 – The wellspring of wisdom in Zen is meditation. Yet wisdom alone is not enough; the path of liberation must also fully embody compassion. Compassion is not separate from awakening but an essential and indivisible expression of it, permeating every aspect of practice and life. In this Sesshin talk, Shugen Roshi encourages us to draw compassion close within our zazen, leaving nothing outside our practice.