Roshi spoke this week about Yorktown Zen’s ongoing efforts to support Buddhist practice within the neurodivergent community. He referenced a recent interview with the entertainer Trevor Noah, who has ADHD, and highlighted two coping strategies he uses. Roshi then connected these strategies to techniques familiar in our own practice. The first strategy is the…

This week, Roshi chose to focus on the topic of diversity within Soto Zen.  He began with updates on the “Ananda Project,” an initiative aimed at bringing Zen practice to neurodivergent communities. The name Ananda was chosen in honor of the historical Ananda, renowned for his extraordinary memory and for reciting much of the…

Roshi opened his talk this week by congratulating everyone who participated in Yorktown Zen’s recently completed Fall Sesshin. He acknowledged the hard work and diligence that each participant brought to their practice during the retreat. Throughout the Sesshin, Roshi focused on the theme of forgiveness, and he used this talk to bring that exploration…

This week, Yorktown Zen held its annual Fall Sesshin—a period of intensive meditation and practice. Throughout this period, we explored the theme of forgiveness, continuing our ongoing study of this profound and often misunderstood concept. Roshi began by noting that everyone recognizes emotions like fear and understands the process of overcoming them. Entire industries—books,…

This week, Roshi’s aim was to bring provisional closure—to “put a period,” as he put it—on our exploration of Wholesomeness before we enter Sesshin. Those of us who have gone through Jukai have already wrestled with this concept. At first, we tend to think we understand it: wholesomeness is good; unwholesomeness is bad. Simple…