City Center Talks

Odo Ellen Simpson explores the depth and complexity of Soto Zen ancestor practice in the context of monastic and lay life with consideration of cultural and family trauma perspectives.

Horin Nancy Petrin reflects on the ‘settled self’ inspired by Suzuki Roshi’s lecture ‘Be Kind with Yourself” from the collection “Not Always So.”

Jisho Lisa Beth Hoffman, in this Queer Pride weekend talk, asks “How do we practice so the poignant truth of impermanence deepens our experience of ‘just this’ – the life and...

Sozan Michael McCord teaches that when we look at the cause of suffering, we see that it is grasping and clinging or aversion and not accepting what is. We have known since the Industrial...

Ryotan Cynthia Kear shares Darlene Cohen’s core teachings on the importance of cultivating concentration, personal koans, transformation of suffering and vow.

Gendo Lucy Xiao 玄道 explores the dynamic interplay between our awakened nature and the ongoing cultivation of practice within the conditions of our lives, by drawing on the story and teachings of Zen...

Tenmyo Dojima 堂島典明 reflects on interfaith dialogue in Italy and lessons learned through injury and recovery, and invites us to slow down, breathe, and rediscover the ordinary miracles of daily life...

Gengyoku Tim Wicks explores Dogen Zenji's famous teaching, "To study the Buddha way is to study the self," through the lens of recovery, trauma, and meditation practice.

Kim Kōgen Daihō Hart, who was raised in apartheid South Africa, explores themes of accepting what is unacceptable and what our practice asks of us.

Gendo Lucy Xiao 玄道 explores the theme of the Spring Practice Period and explores the relationship between “nothing lacking” and “continuous practice”.

Shosan Victoria Austin, in this Earth Day lecture, invites us to contemplate how practicing ethics protects both us and the world.

Hondo Dave Rutschman explores how we enter a ritual space with our effort and intention, without attempting to control the outcome.

Marc Lesser weaves together personal stories, Shunryu Suzuki, Dogen, and the Enneagram, in an exploration of how we interpret our identities and the world.

Kiku Christina Lehnherr teachers that our bodies are essential: They do not need words, they have no problem encompassing our whole unfathomable being and housing all aspects of it. They know in the...

Kiku Christina Lehnherr explores how we cultivate refraining from judgements, from getting carried away by the stories that may arise with those experiences, self-criticism, harshness or trying to...

Kiku Christina Lehnherr explores how a day—or several days—of meditation is giving ourselves the gift of simply being.

Doshin Patti Mitchell shares how meditation and community helped her face suffering, expectations, and self-judgment. Speaking about the importance of honesty, gratitude, and spiritual friendship,...

Hokyo Lorenzo Garbo explores the challenge of truly listening to the body, distinguishing between simply directing attention to bodily sensations with the thinking mind and allowing the body’s...

Shosan Victoria Austin explores love as an internal posture, rather than a feeling. A stable base for our posture of love is awareness and patience with the negative emotions that often come up...

Hokyo Lorenzo Garbo reflects on full presence as direct, embodied, moment-to-moment awareness beyond judgment or self-narrative, illustrated by a wordless encounter with a newborn and cultivated...

Hokyo Lorenzo Garbo explores how lifelong, internalized expectations—shaped by personal history and conditioning—distort perception and create suffering by separating us from present-...

Gendo Lucy Xiao 玄道 invites us to welcome the Lunar New Year by settling into inner stability and ease—remembering that peace is not something we chase outside ourselves, but something we can...

Onryu Mary Stares explores how external stimuli can act as a gate to practice if we use intention and curiosity.

Hokyo Lorenzo Garbo unpacks the shuso’s way-seking mind by framing practice as an everyday exercise of holding internal conflict without fixing it, allowing harmony to arise naturally, and...