Young Urban Zen SF

These days, between work, crazy housing, dating and loneliness, AI changing the world faster than we can keep up with, the endless stream of news, and feeling like we're a self-improvement project, there really is plenty to feel anxious about. But what happens when the mind responds by working overtime?

Kogetsu Mok discusses Suzuki Roshi’s teaching on “mind waves” and explores how meditation can bring us back and help us relate differently to anxious thoughts. We don’t need to fight our minds, figure it all out, force ourselves to be calm, or make uncertainty disappear. We can begin to recognize that every thought is not a fact or an emergency. They need not take the wheel.
























Mind Waves

Young Urban Zen

Michael McCord leads the YUZ Sangha through a talk about one of the ten grave precepts: “I vow to refrain from false speech.”

This precept asks us to look closely at the space between what is true and what we say — not only outright falsehoods, but exaggeration, spin, flattery, and the small ways we shade our words to manage how others see us or how we feel about ourselves. Practicing with it means learning to notice the impulse to speak before we've checked whether what we're about to say is accurate, kind, and necessary. It's less a rule about lying and more an invitation to bring honesty — with others and with ourselves — into every corner of how we communicate. And primarily, what was the motivation to misrepresent reality?
























Refraining From False Speech

Young Urban Zen

This is a reupload of Michael’s talk a couple weeks ago, both with improved quality and to let you know about his workshop happening this month on AI and what it means to be human. Please see below for the original description:

Tomorrow evening I'll be leading the Young Urban Zen gathering, and it will be a preview of this online workshop that I'm teaching in August: Being Human in the Age of AI. Please feel free to sign up or ask me any questions about this online offering.

This is a course that I've been teaching for about three years, and it is constantly being updated, as you can imagine. I look forward to turning the subject over with all of you.
























Being Human in the Age of AI (reupload)

Young Urban Zen

Eli explores Attention in an Age of Distraction. Before asking what distracts us, we’ll look at what captures our attention in the first place particularly the subtle ways our preferences, what we like and don’t like, shape where our attention goes and how we experience the world.
























Attention in an Age of Distraction

Young Urban Zen

This week's theme is "The heart of Zen teachings - Grandmotherly Mind". Zen practice isn't about becoming a better version of yourself—it's about learning a radically different way of relating to the person you already are. This talk explores the Zen teaching of Grandmotherly Mind: a compassionate, clear, and courageous way of meeting ourselves and others that transforms how we navigate work, relationships, and everyday life. Drawing on the teachings of the great Zen master Eihei Dōgen, we'll explore how this ancient practice speaks directly to the challenges of modern life.
























Grandmotherly Mind

Young Urban Zen