Zenkai (April 12, 2026) with Lee Shields – In Person and Zoom
Three Treasures Sangha will hold this event in-person at our Dharma Gate facility and live by Zoom. Registration information (for in-person) and current Covid-19 Guidelines are posted below the schedule. Guidelines are likely to change before the event, so check again as the date gets closer. If you are able, please join all or part of this opportunity for intensive practice with others. Zoom Link: Send email to ttssangha@gmail.com. If this will be your first event with TTS, we will arrange for an orientation prior to...
Read MoreTalks from the March, 2026 Sesshin
Talk 1 – The Crow called, “Ikkyū, Ikkyū, Ikkyū” – by Leland Shields Read the transcript Talk 2 – Life and Death Is a Great Matter – by Leland Shields Read the transcript Talk 3 – No Questions, No Answers – by Leland Shields Read the transcript
Read MoreNo Questions, No Answers — a talk by Leland Shields (March, 2026)
No Questions, No Answers Leland Shields, March 2026 Someone asked, “What is the fundamental teaching?” Master Yunmen said, “No question, no answer!” (section 30) App, Urs. Zen Master Yunmen: His Life and Essential Sayings (p. 46). Shambhala. Kindle Edition. This is taken from Urs App’s translation titled, Zen Master Yunmen: His Life and Essential Sayings. No question no answer. We can get lost in the simple statement, but it’s easier to rest in it when we’re not thinking of it as a general principle. It’s not a teaching or a command; it is a generous response to a sincere question. Yunmen’s...
Read MoreLife and Death Is a Great Matter — a talk by Leland Shields (March, 2026)
Life and Death Is a Great Matter Leland Shields, March 2026 I beg to urge you everyone Life and death is a great matter All things pass quickly away… Each of you must be completely alert Never neglectful, never indulgent. This is the encouragement that ends our retreat day, and I’ve been moved and encouraged by it for these many years. It is encouraging when the day ends with fatigue, and still so when the day ends with openness. But it is encouragement to what? In the phrase, “life and death is a great matter,” “life and death” opens the aperture of our attention to include the four...
Read MoreThe Crow called, “Ikkyū, Ikkyū, Ikkyū” — a talk by Leland Shields (January 11 and March 12, 2026)
The Crow called, “Ikkyū, Ikkyū, Ikkyū” Leland Shields, January and March 2026 Ten dumb years I wanted things to be different furious proud I still feel it One summer midnight on my little boat on Lake Biwa Caaaawwwweee Father when I was a boy you left us now I forgive you Ikkyū, translation by Stephen Berg Crow With No Mouth, (p. 26) This is one of several poems identified as the one Ikkyū wrote after his enlightenment when he was twenty-six years old, in 1420 Japan. From accounts of his life – or I could say the accounts of his “antics”– he was passionate, irreverent, unpretentious,...
Read More