A. Jesse Jiryu Davis's dharma talks

Certain topics seem off-limits in Zen, like: What’s the goal of meditation? How do I get better at it? What is everyone else experiencing when they sit? I spoke at the New Paltz Zen Center about gett…

I look in the Bhagavad Gita and the life of radical abolitionist Benjamin Lay for examples: how do we live in stressful times, and how do we act when there are no good options?

Which animals are sentient, and how can we liberate them from suffering? I review the philosopher Jonathan Birch's book "The Edge of Sentience" and shares good news about humanity's moral progress re…

This is a dharma talk I gave at the Village Zendo December 12, 2024, about my mother’s brain surgery and end-of-life decisions. Here’s the video and a transcript.

Bodhisattvas smile, though they hear the suffering cries of the world. You should smile too! A Zen talk I gave against doomerism.

Rich countries and drug firms act selfishly the COVID pandemic. Selfishness is natural, but we can strengthen our universal goodwill through training.

The United States as we know it will someday come to an end. It's shocking to see how vulnerable our democracy is, but as Buddhists we aren't surprised: Buddha told us that nothing lasts, and we can'…

Buddhists must respond to the current political crisis, just as abolitionists like Frederick Douglass did in the 19th Century. A talk at the Village Zendo, September 3, 2020.

Our leaders are plainly untrustworthy. And when we hear about toilet paper hoarders, or protestors storming the Michigan governor's office, or covidiots crowding together on beaches, we stop trusting…

Japanese Americans founded our practice, and they preserved and adapted it to life in the internment camps during WWII. Today we must adapt our practice in a crisis, are we up to the challenge?

On a visit to some Buddhists incarcerated on a jail barge, I had to improvise how to practice Zen, just like we always have to improvise our practice.

Everyone deserves a place where we can practice together. Everyone deserves the opportunity for redemption. A talk I gave at the Village Zendo on December 5, 2019.

When you do something with attention, your self merges with your activity. Watch how the self shifts and moves, and you'll start to see through the illusion of ego.

We waste our lives chasing temporary, superficial things, and our disappointment leads to grief. Here’s a practice that loosens greed’s grip on our minds, and frees us to appreciate this moment.

When we practice mindfulness of what we're experiencing here and now, we can be at peace and free of worry. But we can go much deeper than that. Buddha taught that we can see through our greedy, self…

Each new year, Americans resolve to work harder and be more austere, for no reason. Let's stop torturing ourselves.