Zen Community of Oregon Dharma Talks

Deepa 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 explores the importance of committing to a practice, meeting difficulties with patience, letting go of the stories we tell ourselves, and discovering that awakening is possible in any circumstance. Her journey ...

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, the cultivation of skillful actions, and ultimately the possibility of becoming free from karmic patterns by resting in awareness and responding from a deeper place of choice. 

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. Through meditation and everyday relationships, patience becomes less about waiting for things to change and more about learning to respond with wisdom, compassion, and steadiness.

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 of past actions. Drawing on the Buddha’s teachings, including the Salt Crystal Sutta, he invites us to meet difficult patterns with greater awareness, spaciousness, and curiosity.

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 generosity as releasing the need to be thanked or acknowledged. It distinguishes ordinary impatience (wanting the red light to change) from a deeper "Dharma patience" of truly being with others and with our own ...