Roshi thanked everyone for making the effort to connect via Zoom due to the inclement weather.  He next noted that we often talk about karma, our sense of identity, and what we consider real and then noting how all of this originates from our conditioning.  Practice is about looking at this conditioning and realizing…

Roshi opened his talk with a well-known passage from A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens: “Marley was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it. … Old Marley was as…

Tesshin Roshi opened his talk this week with a note of gratitude to the Sangha, thanking everyone for giving him the opportunity to study the Dharma more deeply as he prepares these weekly talks. He then continued our exploration of the Samurai koans. Last week, Roshi spoke about the founding of Enkaku-ji, the “Perfect…

Roshi used his talk this week to continue our exploration of the Samurai Koans. He began by reminding us that in 13th-century Japan, Zen practice was spreading beyond monks and clergy to new groups, including the samurai. A major challenge at the time was that most Zen teachers were Chinese and did not speak…

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…

This week, Roshi reminded us that we are just two weeks away from our annual Sesshin. To help us prepare, he turned our attention to a fascicle near the end of Shobogenzo titled “On the Mind’s Search for Truth” (Doshin). (see text below) Roshi explained that Do means “Way,” and Shin means “heart” or…