Appamada

This Sunday, Nate gives an Open Talk. Rather than preparing remarks in advance, he comes with a single starting point, and the rest formed with those in the room.

2026-09-08 I Inquiry I Guard the Sense Doors I Peg Syverson by Appamada

This week Nate looks at willingness as a practice. It's the turn toward your life as it actually is, made before you feel ready.

2026-09-01 I Inquiry I A Gratitude Meditation I Joel Barna by Appamada

In a Way-Seeking Mind talk, a sangha member shares their personal narrative, key turning points, and how the Dharma has moved in their life. Manuel reflects on the experiences that brought him to Zen practice and how it continues to shape his path.

2026-08-23 | Guo Gu Guided Meditation | Joel Barna by Appamada

2026-08-25 I Inquiry I When your room becomes the whole world I Trudy Johnston by Appamada

2026-08-23 | Body Scan is Full Presence | Joel Barna by Appamada

2026-08-18 I Inquiry I Longing I Flint Sparks by Appamada

There's a word at the center of our practice that reads as mundane but might better understood as sacred: attention. At first attention is not very promising, is it? To the classroom teacher and parent in Nate, it sounds ludicrously ordinary. Paying attention seems so basic, so pedestrian. But Nate has come to think it may be the heart of practice, hiding in plain sight. For the final talk of our Zen and the Moment series, we treat this small, forgettable word seriously— with Dōgen, a poem by Ellen Bass, and practice together. Cover art: Sengai Gibon (1750–1837), ○△▢ (Circle, Triangle, Square), or Marusankakushikaku or The Universe; ink on paper. Idemitsu Museum of Arts, Tokyo. By Sengai - catalogue, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26868326

2026-08-11 I Inquiry I Just be ordinary and nothing special I Trudy Johnston by Appamada

2026-08-09 | Dharma Talk | Nate Smalley by Appamada

2026-08-10 | Depth In Practice | The Sutra of Hui-neng Grand Master of Zen by Appamada

2026-08-04 I Inquiry Accepting Yourself Completely I Josh Gifford by Appamada

2026-08-03 | Depth In Practice | The Sutra of Hui-neng Grand Master of Zen by Appamada

This week, we’ continue to explore Zen’s understanding of time and the moment. Conventionally, we think of the past as a place things go to stay put — old mistakes, former selves, the people we've lost, with all of it shrinking into the distance. Dōgen, characteristically, disagrees. This Sunday, we sit with his strange claim that time does not pile up in a row, which has implications for what we carry and what we release. Illustration: Hasegawa Tōhaku, Pine Trees (c. 1595) Tokyo National Museum

2026-07-28 I Slippery words I Inquiry Joel Barna by Appamada

2026-07-27 | Depth In Practice | The Sutra of Hui-neng Grand Master of Zen by Appamada

2026-07-26 | Dharma Talk | What is a Moment? | Nate Smalley by Appamada

Nate Smalley offers the first of several talks on "Zen and the Moment". He spent a morning dismantling the common understanding of a time, perhaps discovering that what's left is stranger, and kinder.

“The precept today is giving, the joy of giving. Everything is something which was given; every existence in nature, every existence in human world, every cultural work we do is something which was given to us or which is being given to us, relatively speaking. But actually everything is originally one. So it may be better to say we are giving out everything. It is the same thing. Relatively speaking everything is something given to us but actually we are giving everything -- giving out or expressing out moment after moment we are creating something, moment after moment. This is the joy of our life.” ~ Shunryu Suzuki

2026-07-22 | Depth In Practice | The Sutra of Hui-neng Grand Master of Zen by Appamada

It’s been a surreal week. We must recognize that we are in a fundamentally altered reality. It’s quite disorienting, so perhaps we can come together and begin to explore how to navigate it. Peg offers this Dharma talk: “What are we seeking?” It’s an important inquiry, so we hope you will join us! Photo by Ben Syverson Chicago, July 16, 2026

Case 37, A monk asked Jōshū, “What is the meaning of Bodhidharma’s coming to China?” Jōshū replied, “The oak tree in the garden.” Case 5, titled “Kyōgen’s Man Up a Tree.” Kyōgen said: “It’s like a man up a tree, hanging from a branch by his mouth. His hands can’t grasp a bough, his feet can’t touch the trunk. Another man comes and asks from below, ‘What is the meaning of Bodhidharma’s coming from the West?’ If he doesn’t answer, he evades his duty. If he answers, he falls and dies. What must he do?”

2026-07-13 | Depth In Practice | The Sutra of Hui-neng Grand Master of Zen by Appamada

The Buddhist Precepts are not a checklist. They are a practice — a genuine looking at the ways we speak, take, react, and cause harm without quite meaning to. For the past year, a group of students has been sitting with these teachings and letting them ask hard questions. Come be part of the ceremony that honors their practice.

Yunyan was sweeping the ground. Daowu said, “Too busy.” Yunyan replied, “You should know there is one who is not busy.” Daowu answered, “If so, then there is a second moon.” Yunyan lifted what he was holding and asked, “Which moon is this?”

2026-07-06 | Depth In Practice | The Sutra of Hui-neng Grand Master of Zen by Appamada

Joel shares reflections on Pema Chodran’s book “How We Live is How We Die” and Tibetan Buddhists’ work to live life to prepare for the transition from life to death. Joel also reads from Stephen Levine’s book “A Year to Live.” We hear a reading from the chapter titled “Fear of Fear." Joel leads us in Levine’s “soft belly meditation.”

2026-06-30 I Inquiry I No bridge needed? I Joel Barna by Appamada

2026-06-29 | Depth In Practice | The Sutra of Hui-neng Grand Master of Zen by Appamada

What might it look like to live a life energized by something other than preference? Recently, while getting feedback on a decision the teachers were considering, Nate was challenged by a council member to consider if a life outside of preference is even possible. Nate thinks it is, though it’s not easy to come by. In this talk, we explore possibilities together. The text of the Hsin Hsin Ming can be found in the Appamada chant book at https://appamada.org/study.

SFZC Great robe of liberation Field far beyond form and emptiness Wearing the Tathagata’s teaching Saving all beings Upaya Vast is the robe of liberation, A formless field of benefaction. I wear the Tathagata’s teachings, To awaken countless beings. Appamada (Ordinary Mind) Vast is the robe of liberation A formless field of benefaction Wearing the universal teaching I realize the one true nature Thus harmonizing all being.

2026-06-22 | Depth In Practice | The Sutra of Hui-neng Grand Master of Zen by Appamada

Kim gives a dharma talk on "Coleus in the Garden" and other koans.

Most of us have a favorite way of getting stuck. A particular dance we do — the old pattern in new clothes, the familiar mistake in a new context, the same persistent bad habit, again. Today, we look at stuckness not as a problem to be solved but as something we might actually need. The Buddha had something to say about this, as did Suzuki Roshi. And you’ll get to find out which kind of horse you are.

2026-06-16 I Inquiry I Great Determination? I Trudy Johnston by Appamada

2026-06-16 I Inquiry I Great Determination? I Trudy Johnston by Appamada

2026-06-15 | Depth In Practice | The Sutra of Hui-neng Grand Master of Zen by Appamada

2026-06-08 | Depth In Practice | The Sutra of Hui-neng Grand Master of Zen by Appamada

2026-06-09 I Inquiry I Plight thee my troth I Flint Sparks by Appamada

For the last two Sundays, we investigated the ditches of comfort and striving. This week, we turn to what’s between them, what some describe as effortless effort. Joko Beck describes this as pure activity: Pure activity is very rare. There's nearly always a shadow, a film over it. We may not be aware of that; we may just be aware of some tension. There's no tension in pure activity, beyond the physical contraction required to do the activity itself. This activity is something altogether different from our comfort-seeking and striving. It arises and unfolds. This Sunday, we explore it together.

2026-06-01 Depth In Practice | The Sutra of Hui-neng Grand Master of Zen by Appamada

2026-06-02 I Inquiry I Wandering and Wondering I Josh Gifford by Appamada

Last week we sat with the cost of comfort. Today, we turn to comfort's restless cousin: striving. Most of us have a complicated relationship with achievement — driven by it, exhausted by it, quietly convinced that enough effort will finally get us somewhere. Dogen had thoughts. He opens the fascicle Bendowa with a puzzle: "This Dharma is abundantly present in each human being, but if we do not practice it, it does not manifest itself, and if we do not experience it, it cannot be realized." Not a permission slip for striving, nor a dismissal of it either, Dogen points to something stranger: the Dharma is already fully here — and yet it requires us. What kind of effort is that? And what does it mean for those of us who arrive on the cushion with an internal scoreboard already running? We explore together today.

2026-05-26 I Inquiry I If you examine myriad things I Joel Barna by Appamada

2026-05-25 | Depth In Practice | The Sutra of Hui-neng Grand Master of Zen by Appamada

How comfortable have you gotten? Is the room the perfect temperature? Does Alexa/Siri/Gemini answer all of your questions instantly? Is that difficult conversation still scheduled for someday later? Dogen’s teacher, Tendō Nyojō, carried his cushion in his sleeve. He sat until he ached. At sixty-five he still didn't claim to understand zazen, yet still hadn't missed a day in decades. Nate offers a dharma talk on what comfort costs us. Dōgen called the alternative gyoji. We explore it together.

2026-05-19 I Inquiry I A Blessing - A Birthday I Flint Sparks by Appamada

2026-05-18 | Depth In Practice | The Sutra of Hui-neng Grand Master of Zen by Appamada