SokukoJi Buddhist Temple Monastery

The Vow - 10-15-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org

The vow to be with all things, or to save all beings, is the third of the three pure precepts. This means putting others before yourself and it is very hard to do. Don’t disrespect people’s confusion…

01:02:56 | Sat 14 Oct 2023

Don't Maintain - 10-11-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org

Just observe. Everything is fluctuating and changing so much that if you try to maintain a standard or a rule, everything crystallizes into something that has no oxygen and doesn’t breathe or move wi…

01:07:33 | Tue 10 Oct 2023

Illusion Speaks - 10-08-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org

This illusion is speaking to you. There’s no way I can lie to you and no way I can tell you the truth; YOU have to see it. The very nature of illusion is to grasp at relative truth, duality. There is…

01:05:42 | Sat 07 Oct 2023

My Teachers - 10-04-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org

If you want to be an educator, practice meeting people ‘where they are at.’ Every single person is completely unique. Sokuzan talks about the teachers who responded to what was showing up in his mind…

01:17:13 | Tue 03 Oct 2023

Teacher And Student - 10-01-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org

Sokuzan talks about his relationship to his teachers, and how the relationship to a teacher might show up for you. An insightful teacher will know who they are teaching. The student is one who unders…

01:04:25 | Sat 30 Sep 2023

The Foundation Needs To Be Awareness - 09-27-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org

There has to be a sky in order to have clouds. There has to be a foundation, and here it starts with Shikantaza. It’s not the importance of what arises in the sense fields, it is the space in which i…

00:58:57 | Tue 26 Sep 2023

An Illusion Cannot Be Corrected - 09-24-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org

If you think everything around you is real, you’ll continue to torture yourself with the illusion that you’re deluded by. You don’t have to get rid of the illusion; just see that it’s not real. It wo…

01:06:20 | Sat 23 Sep 2023

Inescapable Landslides - 09-20-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org

Even though the landslides are inescapable we fight against them anyway. One of the the landslides is the one in your mind that started before you were born. The source is unfindable. Your job as som…

01:11:14 | Tue 19 Sep 2023

Without Location - 09-17-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org

https://youtu.be/rTjvhkv5NRQ

01:05:09 | Sun 17 Sep 2023

Discussing Dogen's Shobogenzo

The poem from the Shobogenzo chapter ‘Flowers in the Sky’ was written by Zhang Zhuo upon his enlightenment. It begins, “Radiant light serenely illuminates the sands of the Ganges.” Talking about the …

01:10:20 | Tue 12 Sep 2023

What Is Realized? - 09-10-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org

The five dharmas are a good way to introduce looking at this. Things appear, we are compelled to name them, then we interpret, analyze, and stir things up. These three dharmas are in everyone’s lives…

01:07:44 | Sat 09 Sep 2023

Respect - 09-06-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org

https://youtu.be/FxYJ6aov1kc

01:12:51 | Wed 06 Sep 2023

Panca-Dharma - 09-03-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org

This has been called the five dharmas in the Lankavatara Sutra. The five dharmas are just one thing. It’s going to look like a path until it doesn’t. Even without the 4th dharma of buddha knowledge, …

01:13:31 | Sat 02 Sep 2023

Think Deeply - 08-30-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org

Think deeply comes from Dogen’s Shobogenzo in the fascicle, “Flowers in the Sky.” Receive thoughts without manipulating and interpreting them. If you think deeply there’s no thinker. Allow the self t…

01:00:09 | Tue 29 Aug 2023

Triggered Emotions - 08-27-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org

Your emotions are always there. When something happens to trigger our emotions we may think something or someone caused it. This is untrue. Cause and effect are much more complicated than that. Don’t…

01:11:42 | Sat 26 Aug 2023

Suffering - 08-23-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org

Buddha’s first teaching was suffering. If you’re alive, you’re going to suffer. Even when nothing seems to be wrong, we’re worried about what might be coming just around corner. Most people do not kn…

00:53:35 | Tue 22 Aug 2023

Without Direct Mind Training - 08-20-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org

https://youtu.be/OUep2HD6Ies

01:16:54 | Mon 21 Aug 2023

Second-Hand Confusion - 08-16-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org

https://youtu.be/Gi7k4iePRkk

01:02:19 | Wed 16 Aug 2023

More About Cover-Ups - 08-13-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org

Anytime anything occurs, if you have any thoughts about it at all, it’s more than likely a cover-up. Rather than see what is there we fight with it, or we blame. It’s about being aware or this, not s…

00:54:29 | Sat 12 Aug 2023

Self-Liberated - 08-09-23 by Sokuzan - sokukoji.org