One-Day Zen Retreat (Zazenkai) with talk by Larry Keil (June 12th, 2016)
Please join us for a day of sitting and a dharma talk. Larry will talk about the great vows and his personal project of rewording them a bit to resonate more closely with his own experiences. He hopes to keep the talking part short and then have a good discussion with time for whoever wants to contribute their wisdom. Schedule 9:00am Opening, Five Remembrances, Zazen 9:35am Zazen 10:30am Dharma talk by Larry 11:30am Zazen 12:00pm Informal lunch (Soup will be provided. Please bring food to share.No time to pull together food? – Come anyway.) 1:00pm Sutras 2:00pm Zazen, Interviews 2:50pm...
Read MoreMahaprajapati and the Philosophers’ Stone, a talk given by Madelon Bolling (May 8, 2016)
To carry yourself forward and experience myriad things is delusion. That myriad things come forth and experience themselves is awakening. (Dogen: Genjo Koan, Aitken and Tanahashi trans.) Mahaprajapati and the Philosopher’s Stone The first of the women ancestors honored in our dedication chant is Mahaprajapati Gautami, foster mother of Shakyamuni Buddha and founder of the women’s order. In a sense she’s ancestral mother of all who sit and practice here. Today I’ll tell a little of her story—and though the Philosophers’ Stone seems like something belonging more to...
Read MorePang Family Practice – A Talk Given by Madelon Bolling
January 10, 2016 Pang Yun Jushi asked Master Shitou: “Who is the one who is not a companion to the ten-thousand things?” Pang Family Practice: Pang Yun Jushi and Pang Lingzhao Today we continue becoming acquainted with Dharma ancestors honored in our sesshin dedication. Layman Pang (Pang Yun Jushi) and his daughter Lingzhao of the late 8th and early 9th century embodied one way of practicing Zen in the context of family. They showed that non-monastic practice could be done authentically and successfully. But this doesn’t mean that their story ought to be imitated. I think,...
Read MoreMiaodao and the Demon of Doubt — A Talk by Madelon Bolling
Miao-Dao was the first Dharma heir of Dahui, a pivotal teacher of the Linji school. Though she did not establish an enduring lineage of her own, Miao-Dao’s influence on Dahui shapes our Zen practice to this day: she is present in our experience of doubt. If you missed Madelon Bolling’s talk on Miaodao at our one-day Zen retreat in July, you can download it here. Download Miaodao and the Demon of Doubt.
Read MoreJishou Daojen, the Unknown: A Talk by Madelon Bolling
Madelon Bolling’s talk on Jishou Daojen, the Unknown, which she gave at this month’s zazenkai is now available for download.
Read MoreInto the Dark of the Year
By Madelon Bolling This piece was originally given by Madelon as a dharma talk at the Three Treasures Sangha zazenkai on December 14, 2014. The days are shorter now. It seems appropriate as we enter the dark of the year that we reflect on the lives of relatively unknown predecessors on the Way. Women and laypersons have always had an interest in seeing into self-nature, and they too influenced the course of Zen study significantly. Yet traditionally only monastics have been remembered and celebrated, and those were predominantly men. Not that women weren’t also monastics: they just weren’t...
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