Young Urban Zen SF

Eli opens a conversation on how to be in relationship with “people we don’t like”. He discusses how sitting zazen might help us practice with unpleasant feelings that come up in conflict—anger, frustration, judgement, resentment, and so on. What if we looked at relationships with “people we don’t like” not as imperfections in practice but as the practice itself?

Kōgetsu talks about Intimacy with the Self. We live in a world that constantly tells us we need to improve—to become better, more optimized versions of ourselves. Checklists, standards, performance reviews: we might even find ourselves trying to optimize our meditation practice.

What would it mean to be truly intimate with ourselves—especially with our fear, shame, envy, anger, and the parts we’d rather not highlight—without letting the parts define us or control how we act? Buddhist teaching offers a different view. What we call the self is not a fixed thing, but a changing process built moment-by-moment from sensation, story, and habit. Much of our suffering comes not from having thoughts and feelings, but from becoming fused with them.

We discuss how a meditation practice helps us stay close to our experience without being overtaken by it. How we can meet life’s ups and downs with greater steadiness, vulnerability, and presence, without believing every story the mind tells?

Hiro Ikushima gives a talk about Relationships. This is part 1 of a series. This talk focused on family. Ram Dass once said, “If you think you are enlightened, go spend a week with your family.” Many of us recognize the truth in that. Family can be both our deepest source of love and our greatest challenge.

Hiro guides us on how explore remaining steady and compassionate in the midst of family dynamics, and how we might begin to see our family members as part of our spiritual path.

In our final paramita talk, Kristen Diggs leads a talk regarding the Paramita of Wisdom. What is complete and perfect wisdom? How can we look to find it?

Tim Wicks leads a talk regarding the Paramitas (aka crossing over) focusing on Concentration. Why do we meditate, and what is it that we are trying to do facing the wall? Working with the mind and our thoughts is central to Zen practice and, for many of us, the most difficult part. “We are trying to cross over away from the distractions and delusions that prevent us from full awareness.”