Claim OwnershipAngel City Zen Center - Beginners Only Podcast
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Weekly public talks recorded live at the Angel City Zen Center
382 Episodes
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Matthew brings us an encouraging and insightful talk on working with our default states, self worth, how to pay attention, karmic momentum, and sleepwalking our way toward our own best intentions. What is the right frame of mind for Zen practice or art, and do we have to be in it for it to count? What are the consequences of restlessness? Should we be judging ourselves more?? Find out here!
1Samm spins us an ancient Zen love tragedy (that might even have a happy ending?), and helps us heal the one breakup we urgently need to mend, the splits in our selves and souls. What parts of our realities are we unable or unwilling to see? Have we ever been truly awake, or been safe enough to get an honest night’s sleep? When is or is it not time to go off to the mountains and never come back, jump off a moonlit cliff? Find out here!
Dave gives us a brass tacks intro to Zen and ACZC for beginners of all experience levels while making the case that Zen is the funniest world religion. Are we the only sincerely sarcastic spirituality? What’s the ACZC prescription for a full life of lay practice, and why should we follow it? Is this the way to grow into our best life and weirdest selves?? Find out here!
Patrick takes on the world and people that rile us up, and how to sit down and face the wall with them without actually turning our backs. Does paying attention mean being outraged? Can we practice peace without facilitating harm? Is the history of Zen an inspiring example of finding balance in conflict or a warning about misused mindfulness?? Find out here!
Sara delivers us a timely pep talk on how to find sustainable energy in an exhausting world. What’s the difference between grinding energy and joyful effort? How do we cultivate energy in zazen when all we’re doing is noticing? What exactly is a good use of our efforts and will we know it when we find it?? Find out here!
Dave tries to figure out what Zen meant when they said inanimate objects talk to us, and how to stay sustainably weird in a society that (for some reason) expects us to be reasonable productive members of it. What level of function do we owe our friends and families, and what does it cost us to play along? What kind of wonder do we lose in an age of reason, and is it possible to live in a world of rational magic? We talk to plants, but can you empathize with a tree, argue with a vacuum, talk to a computer?? Find out here!
Sara takes a hard hitting honest look at commitment, its phobia, and the choices we seem to be making for better or worse. What are we committing to whether we avoid it or not? Is regret the truest path to wisdom? Is there still time to take the path not taken?? Find out here!
Chris takes a Buddhist look at burn out and bad habits and how and why we choose to make things worse when we know so much better. Zen can shed light on our choices, but does it care to actually improve them? What should a responsible person look like? Are stale christmas cookies for breakfast the problem, or is judging stale christmas cookies for breakfast the problem?? Find out here!
Dave tells the story of the time Buddha preserved democracy for 2000 years and started a radical social revolution that not only didn’t get anyone hurt or killed, but had the kings and power brokers of the day falling over themselves to support what he was doing. How did he pull that off without making enemies of the powers he was challenging? Can we learn to wield selfless goallessness effectively? What are we really trying to win and who are we really trying to convince?? Find out here!
A well seasoned line cook takes a gig in the Zen kitchen and dishes us up a moving report on the dirt and dharma inherent to the work. How does the pure land of work practice stack up to the grizzled world of restaurant work? Is the spirit of service to give up our needs or serve ourselves first? Is there time for Buddhism in a Zen kitchen? Find out here!
Dave rings in the new year with a spirited rendition of Dogen’s Time Being and a wholehearted dissection of the idea and experience of time. Is time just an unreal concept, or the be all and end all of everything? (Yes) Do we need to learn to lighten up or learn to take ourselves far more seriously? (Yes!) Can we fulfill all our wildest aspirations without falling prey to our own agendas?? (Let’s find out…) Find out here!
Great sangha friend Beth Kaiserman brings us the story of what she’s doing and why she’s here; a story about spirituality for the irreligious and making a practice out of expressing yourself from the cushion to the page to the stage, even when deep down we might get the sneaking suspicion there’s nothing to explain. Who did we learn our resistance to authority from? Is it ever possible to truly do nothing? Can we, or should we even try to, make ourselves legible?? Find out here!
In a rousing exhortation for retreat, Sara takes on the impossible question of what exactly happened to Buddha the night he sat too long under a tree and apparently fixed everything. Is Buddha’s enlightenment for everybody, or is that just an ego’s fantasy? Why is a sense of belonging often such a foreign concept? What are we bursting to say after days of learning to silently communicate?? Find out here!
“ The revolution is in the individual spirit, or it is nowhere. It is for all or it is nothing. If it is seen as having an end, it will never truly begin.” Ursula Le Guin
Dave passes the caretaker torch and talks about dharma transmission, continuous practice, and never ending revolutions. Can we honor the past without being doomed to repeat it? Were the great masters of the past ever supposed to be role models? Are our charismatic teachers what’s holding us back? Find out here!
ACZC’s favorite poet in residence Matthew gives us a talk on Zen, creativity, and art and the many frictions and harmonies between them. Can we train spontaneity? Does Zen’s famous skepticism of the written word discourage or liberate our writing? If we’re so focused on letting our thoughts go, will we still be able to grab the good ones and get them on the page?? Find out here!
“You can go home again, so long as you understand that home is a place where you have never been.” - Ursula Le Guin
Sara kicks off the holiday season with a Zen look at nostalgia, going home, and living the past right here in the present moment. How do we honor where we’ve been without missing where we are? Does trying to live in the present mean we’re avoiding the past? Is the past a place never to be met again, or does it always exist everywhere?? Find out here!!
“She said, ‘This isn’t the koan you wanted.’ And I thought about that. What do you do with a koan you don't want? Usually, if it's a koan, you didn't want it.” - Resa Alboher
Long time sangha stalwart and dear friend Resa Alboher brings us the epic adventure of what brought her to ACZC across continents, decades of earth shaking world events, and moments of life altering personal ones as well. What do we with the koan we didn’t want? How do we sit still when lying down is all we can actually manage? And just what was the Buddhist scene in Moscow like at the fall of the USSR?? Find out here!
“What are you doing if you're not trying, or trying not to be doing something? Everything you're doing.” - Dave Cuomo
Dave gives us an exhortation to hopeless faith for the hopelessly secular who might still be in the market for meaning and purpose. Can we really base a strong and sincere faith on literally nothing? Can skepticism and doubt be both the prison and the way out? Is it possible to believe in something you don’t already believe in? Is any of this up to us if the truth is it was never actually about us?? Find out here!!
Sara explores the trend of abundance mentalities and the uncertain economics of trying to do what you want with your life. Do we already always have what we need? Is manifesting actually a Zen thing? How much work does it take to have pulled your weight, and what’s a fair price for staring at a wall these days?? Find out here!
Heather makes some big life changes and takes the opportunity to explore the intimacy of not knowing. Do we need to find clarity before making a leap? Is the easiest way to steer to now know where you going? Can awkward silence be the sweetest of intimacies?? Find out here!
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