Young Urban Zen SF

Kōgetsu Mok talks about the 5 Remembrances, a very powerful Buddhist teaching on impermanence and on owning our karma and actions.

Resentment often lingers quietly, heavy, unspoken, and rooted in pain. But it can be your teacher, showing you where you are still holding on. In this talk, Hiro Ikushima explores how Zen practice in…

As children, many of us were raised by parents who told us to “be patient—and yet, few of us learned exactly what patience is or how to cultivate it. Mei Elliott explores what patience looks like, an…

Eli Brown-Stevenson talks about the transformative power of ‘affinity’—that natural resonance of being seen and welcomed—and how zazen practice can help us meet ourselves and others with openness, tr…

Zachary Smith reflects on a talk given by Zentatsu Richard Baker, SFZC’s second Abbot, in 2012 about the idea of “mental posture”. Zach discusses how this idea can help us both with sitting and with …

Kōgetsu Mok talks about how our Zen practice can help us better approach love and intimacy. How can the Bodhisattva Precepts, Eightfold Path, and other tools help us be upright with our relationships…

Michael McCord discusses taking refuge in sangha, from the standpoint of Buddhist training for being with not only the sangha and the world, but clues to our own mystery of suffering. How good is our…

Zachary Smith unpacks the English word “Love”—perhaps the most overloaded word in the language—and talks about its experiential footprint in practice, as well as how practice can foster love in our e…

Kōgetsu Mok talks about how our Zen practice can help us better approach love and intimacy. How can zazen and our practice of the Bodhisattva Precepts help us be upright with our relationships to oth…

Michael McCord talks about the Triple Treasure and taking refuge in Soto Zen Buddhism.

Zachary Smith shares two koans from the Blue Cliff Record.

Kodo Conlin says farewell and talks about practice and leadership transition at YUZ.

Kōgetsu shares thoughts and reflections on a poem, The Song of the Jewel Mirror Samadhi, and how understanding the nature of duality can alleviate suffering.

The topic is (yet another) Zen story, suitable for the late season and the promise of a New Year, that brings up the question of what actually happens when the world ends. For those who have a copy o…

Our topic for this talk is A True Companion: Zazen & Mortality. We will begin with embodiment and stay close to our resources as we take an honest, Dharmic look into the transformative power of this …

The topic is focused on an old Zen story (Case 4 of the Blue Cliff Record for those who are familiar with the literature), which discusses the apparently paradoxical relationship between what we migh…

What is the intersection of Zen and Politics?  What principles in Zen practice are most pertinent to engaging/not engaging/digesting the political discourses of our times?

When we're struggling or feeling lost, what do we have faith in? In other words, what do we believe will bring greater happiness? In this sense, we're all placing our faith in something-- whether tha…

The topic is the koan of "Jumping Off the Hundred Foot Pole" (Case 79 Blue Cliff Record) and how we can find trust and faith in ourselves and our practice. How can we cultivate loving kindness and co…

Zachary Smith, inspired by a Koan—Case 30 of the Blue Cliff Record—talks about what we’re actually “supposed" to be practicing with.