Zencare Podcast

Editor's Note(s): Just a few weeks ago, Jisho Siebert, teacher at Zen Fields in Ames, Iowa offered the first guest-teacher dharma talk for our summer Commit to Sit . It's an incredibly refreshing take on a classic Zen...

Editor's Note: In celebration of Commit to Sit starting this week and Chodo sensei's birthday last week, we share his talk from this past Winter Commit to Sit. Enjoy and may it offer some comfort and guidance for you...

Editor's Note: In honor of our Commit to Sit practice period starting July 1st and our Wholehearted Sesshin (silent retreat) in August, we share this opening talk from the first night of both our Winter Commit to Sit...

“How you bow is not just for you.” In this recent dharma talk, Koshin Sensei reflects on what it means to practice consistently: to be the same person regardless of who's watching, what conditions you're in, or whether...

“The precept does not ask us to be passive in the face of injustice. The question is always: from what place do we speak?” In this recent talk, Chodo Sensei explores the sixth and seventh precepts: not speaking of...

“The purpose of practice might be to enter the question so fully that it begins to reshape us.” What is the purpose of practice after all? In this talk on doubt and the practice of not-knowing, Chodo Sensei shares a...

“In Zen practice, we talk about bearing witness; not as a passive act, but as a form of deep engagement. To really see what's happening. Not escaping into numbness, but also not hardening into fixed views.” In this...

“In this moment, what does it mean to care?” What do the precepts ask of us in a time of injustice, division, and outrage? In this recent talk, given the day after millions took to the streets in protest across the US...

“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...

“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...

“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...

“When you encounter obstacles, do not see them as hindrances separate from practice.” In this talk from the beginning of the year (and in preparation for the Year of the Fire Horse), Koshin Sensei reflects on what it...

“Many people can study lots of things, but are you living that way?” On the 12th day of our Commit to Sit , during a winter blizzard, Koshin Sensei explores a profound question: What's the difference between talking...

“Each in breath is bringing life into the body, and each out breath is a death. We never know if there'll be another inhale.” On the third day of our recent Winter Sesshin (silent retreat), Chodo Sensei offers a...

“The best way to observe precepts is just to be you yourself and then the precepts are always with you.” What does it mean to “be yourself” in Zen, not as self-improvement, but as a direct, embodied intimacy with life...