Tenzen David Zimmerman Talks

08/16/2025, Tenzen David Zimmerman, dharma talk at City Center.
Central Abbot Tenzen David Zimmerman unpacks what it might mean to become yourself through the simple but...

05/10/2025, Tenzen David Zimmerman, dharma talk at City Center.
Central Abbot Tenzen David Zimmerman takes up Case 12 from the Book of Serenity, titled ‘Dizang Planting...

04/05/2025, Tenzen David Zimmerman, dharma talk at City Center.
Central Abbot Tenzen David Zimmerman marks Buddha’s birthday by recounting the story of Shakyamuni Buddha’...

10/12/2024, Tenzen David Zimmerman, dharma talk at City Center.
This dharma talk was given at Beginner’s Mind Temple by Central Abbot Tenzen David Zimmerman. In Case 36...

06/01/2024, Tenzen David Zimmerman, dharma talk at City Center.
In this talk, given at Beginner's Mind Temple’s monthly one-day sitting, (this time held at Haight Street...

02/25/2024, Tenzen David Zimmerman, dharma talk at Green Gulch Farm. The first of the four Great Bodhisattva Vows is to “save all beings”, but what exactly does this mean and...

The first of the four Great Bodhisattva Vows is to “save all beings,” but what exactly does this mean and how might I engage in such an impossible endeavor? In this talk, given...

In light of several major transitions unfolding for SFZC and the sangha at large, including the upcoming yearlong renovation of Beginner’s Mind Temple, Abbot David offers...

10/14/2023, Tenzen David Zimmerman, dharma talk at City Center. In this talk from Beginner's Mind Temple, on the occasion of SFZC’s Members and Volunteers Appreciation Day,...

02/04/2023, Tenzen David Zimmerman, dharma talk at City Center.
In commemorating Zen’s first Chinese Ancestor, Abbot David provides an overview of Bodhidharma’s seminal...

Talk by Tenzen David Zimmerman at City Center on 2022-12-08

Talk by Tenzen David Zimmerman at City Center on 2022-11-30

10/26/2022, Tenzen David Zimmerman, dharma talk at City Center.
As part of the exploration of koans from the Blue Cliff Record, Abbot David unpacks Case 3, “Master Ma is...

10/05/2022, Rinso Ed Sattizahn and Tenzen David Zimmerman, dharma talk at City Center.
In the first dharma talk of the Fall practice period, Abbots Ed and David provide an...

07/10/2022, Tenzen David Zimmerman, dharma talk at Green Gulch Farm.
Abbot David considers various questions, concerns, challenges, and visions related to the future of...

03/30/2022, Tenzen David Zimmerman, sesshin dharma talk at Tassajara.

03/24/2022, Tenzen David Zimmerman, sesshin dharma talk at Tassajara.

A talk on Shakyamuni's Buddha's karmic journey. 04/12/2021, Tenzen David Zimmerman, dharma talk at City Center.

Talk by Tenzen David Zimmerman on 2021-12-01

Talk by Tenzen David Zimmerman on 2021-11-30

Talk by Tenzen David Zimmerman at City Center on 2021-11-17

The Avatamsaka Sutra tells us that “Ordinary beings live according to their karma, being their karmic habitual tendencies, while a bodhisattva lives according to vow.” How...

Abbot David shares some approaches for how we might view karma in relation to the concepts of choice, free will, and determinism from a Buddhist orientation.
10/20/2021,...