Zencare Podcast

“Faith is not blind belief, but confidence born of seeing what's actually possible—the willingness to plant a seed without yet seeing the fruit.”In this recent talk given on a snowy Sunday morning, Koshin Sensei explores the Buddha's teaching on three forms of generosity: giving out of faith, material generosity, and the gift of fearlessness (abhaya dana).Drawing on Suzuki Roshi's gardening metaphor, Koshin asks: Are you just planting a seed and walking away, or are you tending to it day after day? Do you evaluate your practice after one visit, one year, even ten years or do you give yourself fully to the ongoing work of showing up?Koshin also reflects on his own journey: after ten years of steady practice, he realized he was still deeply self-involved, lazy in zazen, and “one of those people you wouldn't want over for dinner”; lecturing everyone about veganism and Buddhism until a friend finally told him, “you're being an asshole.” Real friendship, real generosity, means being willing to say it like it is out of love, not just making people feel good.At the heart of this talk is a question about faith. Not blind belief, but the willingness to plant a seed without knowing what will grow. Can you give yourself fully to this moment, whatever it brings? Can you offer steadiness in times of your own panic? And most importantly: Are you taking care of the garden every day, whether that be your practice, your relationships, your mind, your sangha, your heart and the hearts of others?

“Do an audit of how you spend your money. Does it match what you say you really care about?”In this powerful recent talk, Koshin Sensei tackles a topic many spiritual communities avoid: money. Often, topics like finances and business can be deemed “not spiritual”, but does it have to be so?Drawing on Suzuki Roshi and the Buddha's teachings on generosity (dana), Koshin explores how money is simply another form of impermanence. When it circulates, there's vitality. When it freezes, whether through fear, scarcity thinking, or the belief that “I don't have enough”, there's suffering.Reflecting on 19 years of building the New York Zen Center, starting with $200 a month in payroll and a smelly room behind a hospital, Koshin invites us to examine our relationship with giving. Do you give freely, or with a closed fist? Does your bank statement match what you say you care about?This isn't about guilt or shoulds–it's about recognizing that the tight fist is exhausting, while freely giving is not. Whether you have $1 or $100,000, the practice is the same: widening the circle in your own mind, including generosity in your life, and understanding that what you give today allows someone to practice decades from now.

“Our practice doesn't ask us how to end wars, it asks us where the wars begin. In this body. In this flash of rage. In this certainty that I am right and you are wrong.”Amid news of global conflicts and war, Chodo Sensei offers a profound reflection on the second Buddhist precept: do not steal. But what does stealing mean when the world is organized around taking; lives, safety, homes, childhood, trust, and ultimately, humanity itself?Drawing on Suzuki Roshi's teaching about entering the Buddha Hall with clean feet and the classic Zen story of the samurai and the master, Chodo explores how war begins long before bombs fall. It begins when we steal each other's humanity through language that turns people into targets, grief into statistics, and suffering into abstraction. It begins in the mind that divides the world into “us and them.”With students sheltering from bombs in multiple countries, this isn't abstract philosophy, it's an urgent question: How do we sit with the sorrow of the world without collapsing into it? How do we notice our own anger without weaponizing it? How do we refuse to let suffering become something “out there” that we're not part of?

Koshin Paley Ellison, a Zen teacher known for Dharma talks on practice and ethics, offers a warm, direct reflection on continual practice. He explores making vows versus habit, treating obstacles as the field of practice, and auditing time, body care, and resources. Short, grounded prompts invite returning again and again to uprightness and presence in daily life.

A teacher questions the gap between talking about practice and actually living it. They explore Dogen and Suzuki Roshi on true transmission as lived embodiment, not mere words. The talk examines guarding the Dharma from erosion, responsibility that comes with receiving teachings, and how practice shows up when no one is watching.

A talk about bowing as a practice of surrendering the constructed self and letting go of egoic resistance. Stories include struggles with body image, addiction recovery, and adapting to physical limits in practice. A koan about Gray Wolf and Zen Master Raven reframes humiliation as dissolving self. Reflections on breath, impermanence, and releasing expectations of dramatic awakenings.

Jiryu Rutschman-Byler, co-abbot at San Francisco Zen Center and teacher at Green Gulch, brings Suzuki Roshi’s teachings to life. He talks about posture and zazen as a chrysalis, the felt sense of being alive, thoughts as useful clutter, letting go, and precepts as natural intimacy rather than rules. Short, vivid images invite practicing presence and including everything in the present moment.

The talk explores planting deep inner roots so turbulent times do not uproot us. It weaves stories from Buddhist tradition to illustrate restraint, enoughness, and generosity. Listens are invited into steady practice, receptivity, and wholehearted effort. The conversation highlights study as attitude, tending inner life, and becoming a responsible, grounded adult.

A dharma talk about noticing useless inner chatter and choosing presence instead. Reflections on life-death urgency and how embarrassment can reveal wasted attention. Stories that explore becoming yourself in relation to others, not as ego. Practical prompts to soften tight grip, discriminate what is wise, and practice together with more care.

A conversation about practice as a way to open Buddha wisdom for all beings. Discussion of skillful means, unique capacities, and the confusion caused by clinging to comfort or people-pleasing. An introduction to Fudō Myōō and how righteous energy can protect the Dharma. A call to live by vow and service rather than habit.