Zen Community of Oregon Dharma Talks

The Heart of the Diamond Sutra - Hogen, Roshi

Hogen offers a simple, practical reading of the Diamond Sutra: help others, be generous, and act with humility. He explores how kindness and generosity can become an ongo

Keeping the Flame Burning - Bansho Green, Sensei

Bansho explores bodhicitta—the awakening heart and the aspiration to awaken for the benefit of all beings—as the sustaining force of Zen practice. Through the interplay o

The Three Pillows of Zen - Shonin Ashton, Zen Teacher

Shonin explores three interconnected aspects of Zen practice through teachings from Maezumi Roshi: samadhi, forgetting the self, and actualization. With the image of thre

The World Is More Than We Imagine - Jomon Martin, Zen Teacher

Jomon explores the Diamond Sutra and its invitation to loosen our grip on fixed ideas about ourselves and the world. Through the simple example of a cup of tea, stories o

A Mind Open to Wonder - Jogen Salzberg, Sensei

Jogen explores how Zen practice can restore our capacity for wonder and gratitude, even amid life’s difficulties and disappointments. Through meditation and inquiry inspi

Chanting Our Way to Wholeness - Hogen Roshi

Hogen explores how chanting the Buddha’s name can loosen our sense of separation and help us reconnect with the fullness of our experience. Through wholehearted practice,

Awakening Is Already Here - Shonin Ashton, Zen Teacher

This talk explores stories of awakening from Japanese women Zen practitioners, showing how moments of insight can reveal the Buddha nature present in all of life. Through

The Crucible of Practice - Bansho Green, Sensei

Bansho explores Zen practice through the image of fire, which can both destroy and transform, forging us through the challenges of being human. Drawing on Dogen’s teachin

The Teachings of Dipa Ma - Shonin Ashton, Zen Teacher

Dipa Ma’s life offers a powerful example of how meditation can transform suffering into concentration, loving-kindness, and peace. Drawing on her teachings, this talk exp

Karma and Freedom - Jogen Salzberg, Sensei

Jogen continues his exploration of karma, focusing on how habitual actions and desires can shape our lives and lead us away from ultimate peace. He explores atonement, th

Patience In Practice - Bansho Green, Sensei

Bansho explores patience as one of the six paramitas, a practice that helps us meet ourselves, others, and the changing circumstances of life with presence and curiosity.

The Shape of Karma - Jogen Salzberg, Sensei

Jogen explores karma as the ongoing relationship between our actions, habits, and experience, emphasizing that practice gives us freedom in how we respond to the results

Don't Expect Applause - Bansho Sensei

Threaded through this talk by Bansho Sensei is the tension between wanting recognition for helping others and the practice of "not expecting applause." It frames true gen

Give Life to Life - Hogen Roshi

Centered on the idea of "futuring" or craving, this talk by Hogen Roshi examines how the mind actively shapes an infinite, formless world into a narrow personal story thr

Slipping Beneath the Difficulty - Hogen Roshi

This talk by Hogen Roshi explores craving as the mind's habitual grasping — "I want, I want" — and how it quietly generates most of our dissatisfaction. It contrasts two

Avoiding Foolish Ways - Hogen Roshi

This talk by Hogen Roshi unpacks a traditional chant on "blessings" by redefining the word away from divine reward and toward human capacity. It centers on discernment —

A Whole Forest Within You - Kisei Sensei

Using poetry, koans, and personal story, this talk paints practice as a slow accumulation of intimacy with the world — with fear, with joy, with the earth itself. It clos

Remembering How to Come Home - Kisei Sensei

This talk Kisei explores practice as homecoming — returning to a natural ease we knew as children but lost through striving and adulthood. A folk tale and the Buddha's ow

Listen With Your Eyes - Kisei Sensei

This talk explores what it means to listen beyond the ears — to the earth, to silence, to a mind not bound by self and asks whether the boundary between "sentient" and "i

Creatively Companioning Distress- Jogen, Sensei

This talk explores the emotional and spiritual dimensions of caring for someone who is suffering, arguing that presence — flawed, tiring, and imperfect as it is — matters