PODCAST

Young Urban Zen SF

Young Urban Zen is a group under the auspices of the San Francisco Zen Center, with a particular focus on those between 20 and 40. It meets on Tuesday evenings for meditation and discussion about Zen practice. People of all experience levels are welcome.

religion & spirituality buddhism

All Episodes

Ethical Choices

Young Urban Zen SF ·

2024/02/28

Eli Brown-Stevenson: Ethical Choices

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Practicing with Integrity: standing on your own two feet

Young Urban Zen SF ·

2024/02/21

Kōgetsu Mok talks about "Practicing with Integrity: standing on your own two feet"

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Transforming Obstacles into the Way

Young Urban Zen SF ·

2024/02/07

Mei Elliot: The topic for the evening is "Transforming Obstacles into the Way."

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How Easy Should This Life Be?

Young Urban Zen SF ·

2024/01/16

Michael McCord: If a person follows a spiritual path, should they expect things to get easier each year? Should I have any expectations at all? If life doesn't get that much easier, why follow a spiritual path?We'll explore this in relation to the modern work life, home life and personal goal setting.Most folks identify with the thought: "life doesn't come with a manual on how to make this all work, when will I figure out how to live?"

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Letting Go

Young Urban Zen SF ·

2024/01/09

Mei Elliott: When difficulty arises, it's common to lean on the time-honored advice to practicelettinggo.Yet the capacity to letgooften seems to be out of our control and proves to be more challenging than we'd like. How can we learn to release our difficulties gracefully and in what ways can the Dharma support us with this? In this session, we'll be exploring the relationship between letting go and liberation, as well as practices for learning the art of release.

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Four Noble Truths

Young Urban Zen SF ·

2024/01/02

Kodo Conlin: Let's start the new year with a return to the root of Buddhist teaching. We'll reflect together on the Four Noble Truths, the first teaching the Buddha gave after his Awakening. Perhaps all of the Dharma can be understood by way of its frame, and its applications to our day-to-day are too many to count.

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I Vow to Refrain from Intoxicants

Young Urban Zen SF ·

2023/12/19

Michael McCord: This Buddhist precept can lead to infinitediscussion on what we get intoxicated by (substances, behaviors, etc) and can be easy to misunderstand as a black and white list of do's and don'ts. In this talk and discussion, we'll explore the nuances of practicing with this precept in the modern world and what it means to be intoxicated, what the impacts can be and what are some solutions found in the Buddhist practice to keep from getting ensnared by things that might overwhelm us.

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Gift of Nothing

Young Urban Zen SF ·

2023/12/13

Eli Brown-Stevenson: After we sit and do nothing. I will be sharing a childhood tale about one of the greatest giftsyou can give. "The Gift of Nothing".

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Self-Receiving & Employing Samadhi

Young Urban Zen SF ·

2023/12/01

Anshi Zachary Smith: Exploring Dogen's "Self-Receiving and Employing Samadhi", which is an excerpt from a longer and much more pointed manifesto, his "Bendowa", and which captures a number of key points about the nature and function of the Self and how it relates to practice.

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Direct Experience of Buddha Nature

Young Urban Zen SF ·

2023/11/15

Eli Brown-Stevenson — Reflections inspired by our founder Suzuki Roshi’s teaching: the purpose of practice is to have a direct experience of your Buddha nature.

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Sustainable Compassion

Young Urban Zen SF ·

2023/11/13

How do we practice compassion without being sunk? How do we love sustainably? Starting with one key distinction we consider three aspects of sustainable compassion.

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Our Ghostly Companions

Young Urban Zen SF ·

2023/11/01

Zachary Smith: We’ll explore the boundaries and nether regions of everyday experience and how the creatures we meet there can be our allies and teachers.

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Zen Ritual

Young Urban Zen SF ·

2023/10/31

How the practices of the Zen temple support and address the needs of everyday life.

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Preparing the Mind to Realize Emptiness

Young Urban Zen SF ·

2023/10/18

Following on Mei's talk on Form & Emptiness, the topic will be Preparing the Mind to Realize Emptiness. As an ancient Zen adept put it, "The clear circle of brightness is what exists from the very beginning". Put another way, there is an aspect of our experience here and now that is unhindered and luminous. But how do we come to see this? And how do we live it? We will talk about some of the ways the Zen ancestors encourage us to prepare the mind to realize emptiness.

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Form & Emptiness

Young Urban Zen SF ·

2023/10/16

Form-&-Emptiness is a foundational teaching in Soto Zen, and yet many find the subject perplexing and mysterious. My hope is to present the topic in a way that is both accessible and useful in your own practice. During the talk I'll include teachings on not-self, Nagarjuna's "two-truths," and the relationship between emptiness and freedom from suffering.

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Rumination

Young Urban Zen SF ·

2023/10/12

Michael McCord: Do you have thoughts that plague you? Do you get emotionally sidetracked by situations in the past or the future that seem to give you no peace?Tonight, we will explore the principal causes of these disturbing thoughts and body sensations and how the context of Zen practice addresses these directly. We'll look at practical steps as well as an overall context of how to hold our bother, where to put our mind, and what acceptance has to do with this.

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Not Knowing is the Most Intimate

Young Urban Zen SF ·

2023/10/03

Zachary Smith: We’ll discuss our impulse to know or understand and how that desire may not always serve us.

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Mindfulness: Is this the same as Zen?

Young Urban Zen SF ·

2023/09/26

Michael McCord: We’ll contrast the pop culture phenomenon of mindfulness with the tradition of Zen.

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The Shadow Side

Young Urban Zen SF ·

2023/09/15

Michael McCord: What is our relationship with the scary, ugly, mean, petty, undeveloped, seemingly unworthy parts or ourselves? And what about these parts of others?

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Unveiling the Gifts of Failure

Young Urban Zen SF ·

2023/09/12

Hiro Ikushima: We will reflect on the idea that spiritual breakthroughs often arise from our mistakes and failures. How can Zen practitioners cultivate a mindset that welcomes mistakes as valuable opportunities for growth and awakening?

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Young Urban Zen SF

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