Cosmopolitan Zen

FPP25 - The Dignity and Disaster of My Ego - Emyo Darlene Tataryn Fall Practice Period - October 25th, 2025 Emyo gives a Dharma talk entitled, The Dignity and Disaster of My Ego. Based on Keith Martin-Smith's book, When the Buddha Needs Therapy, for our Fall Practice Period. https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/fallpractice25 Our mission is to foster a diverse, inclusive community, dedicated to awakening through Buddhist teachings promoting personal and interpersonal healing with ethical compassionate action. https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/ 

Letting It Out: Extending the Love that We Receive - Nanda Nina Lynch - January 31st, 2026 - WPP26 This talk by Nanda Nina Lynch explores the Buddhist teaching that true happiness comes not from self-centered striving, but from love and compassion for others. Drawing on Shantideva, Makransky, and bodhisattva teachings, it explains that our true nature (Buddha nature) is inherently loving, open, and connected to all beings. When we act with kindness, we awaken well-being in ourselves and others; when we act from anger or self-interest, we perpetuate suffering (karma and samsara). Difficult interactions don’t “put” emotions into us but trigger what’s already inside, offering opportunities for awareness and growth. In dark times, even small acts of care matter. The session concludes with a guided meditation cultivating gratitude, self-inclusion, and boundless compassion, letting love radiate outward like sunlight to all beings. Our mission is to foster a diverse, inclusive community, dedicated to awakening through Buddhist teachings promoting personal and interpersonal healing with ethical compassionate action. https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/

Compassion as a Liberating Power: Bring Difficulties into Compassion - Jozen Jonathon Fielder - February 7th, 2026 - WPP26 This talk marks the final week of a winter practice series based on Awakening Through Love and focuses on compassion as a liberating power. After briefly recapping earlier weeks—love as our true nature, letting be, and extending love to others, Jozen explores Mahayana and Zen teachings that emphasize non-dual compassion, compassion that makes no distinction between good and bad, self and other. Drawing on Dzogchen teachings, Zen koans, and the Dalai Lama, the talk explains that **wisdom (emptiness) and compassion must arise together, as both reveal the shared causes of suffering and the shared potential for freedom. The session culminates in a guided loving-kindness (metta) meditation, progressively extending compassion from oneself to loved ones, neutral people, difficult people, and ultimately all beings, affirming the insight that self and reality are not separate. Our mission is to foster a diverse, inclusive community, dedicated to awakening through Buddhist teachings promoting personal and interpersonal healing with ethical compassionate action. https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/

In this talk, originally made for Hollow Bones Zen, Ekai explains that Mondo Zen is not just a facilitation process but an ongoing path that blends genuine insight with emotional maturity, rooted in zazen, koan practice, and community support. The first set of koans deepens direct realization of clear, compassionate awareness, while the emotional koans help practitioners work skillfully with triggers by feeling what lies beneath reactions and choosing compassionate responses. Practicing with teachers and sangha keeps this inquiry alive in daily life, allowing insight and emotional wisdom to grow together and be expressed in the world. Our mission is to foster a diverse, inclusive community, dedicated to awakening through Buddhist teachings promoting personal and interpersonal healing with ethical compassionate action. https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/

Ekai Roshi explains the Zen koan “Does this clear, deep heart-mind come and go?” and emphasizes that while awakened awareness (clear, deep heart-mind) is ever-present, our sense of self or ego “comes and goes” and often obscures it. Meditation practices like concentration (shamatha) can quiet the mind and reveal this awareness, but deeper insight practice (vipassana) is needed to understand how our habits and conditioning interfere with it. The speaker highlights the Five Hindrances, laziness/lethargy, doubt, aversion, agitation and desire, as common mental patterns that cloud awareness. By recognizing how these hindrances arise in our own experience, practitioners can develop insight, stabilize awakened awareness, and continue the ongoing training that follows initial awakening. Our mission is to foster a diverse, inclusive community, dedicated to awakening through Buddhist teachings promoting personal and interpersonal healing with ethical compassionate action. https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/

Spirituality and Spiritual Identity - Roshi Ekai Joel Kreisberg - FPP25 - October 18th, 2025 The talk introduces a six-week Shining Bright Lotus series on Junpo Roshi and Keith Martin-Smith’s When the Buddha Needs Therapy, exploring how Buddhism can meet modern psychological and emotional realities. It focuses on spiritual identity, the blending of meditation and therapy, and the difference between concrete practices, subtle emotional and conceptual life, and awakened awareness itself. Emphasizing Junpo’s innovation of emotional koans, the talk frames emotional triggers as opportunities for compassion, maturity, and integration. Buddhism is presented not just as meditation, but as a holistic path of meditation, ethics, and study, all oriented toward relieving suffering and embodying the bodhisattva vow in everyday life. https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/fallpractice25   Our mission is to foster a diverse, inclusive community, dedicated to awakening through Buddhist teachings promoting personal and interpersonal healing with ethical compassionate action.  https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/

How to Work with Emotional Koans - Ekai Joel Kreisberg Roshi - February 21st, 2026 Ekai Joel Kreisberg Roshi explains that traditional Rinzai koan training, systematized by Hakuin Ekaku, treats awakening (kensho) as the starting point of practice. Junpo Denis Kelly Roshi recognized that insight alone does not ensure emotional maturity, so he extended koan inquiry into the realm of feelings through “emotional koans.” These examine emotions such as anger, shame, and disconnection as learned, constructed responses that arise because we care, and for which we are responsible. Practitioners slow down, welcome emotions as information, return to awakened awareness, and respond with compassion. The work continues through daily reflection or journaling, teacher dialogue, applying inquiry during meditation, and sharing the practice with others, uniting awakening with emotional growth. Our mission is to foster a diverse, inclusive community, dedicated to awakening through Buddhist teachings promoting personal and interpersonal healing with ethical compassionate action. https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/

Ekai Joel Kreisberg Roshi and Emyo Darlene Tataryn introduce their four-month Foundations in Mondo Zen Facilitation program, describing it as a structured, relational, and embodied path rooted in koan practice and emotional inquiry. They emphasize that effective learning begins with sincere curiosity, clear intention, vulnerability, and compassion, supported by dialogue, small-group work, and a steady 108-day practice container, creating a focused environment for deepening insight and skillful facilitation. Our mission is to foster a diverse, inclusive community, dedicated to awakening through Buddhist teachings promoting personal and interpersonal healing with ethical compassionate action. https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/

In this interview, Simha Frederick Marx recounts his Buddhist journey from beginning practice in 1988 with Nichiren Shoshu, moving to vipassana, and meeting Junpo in 2000, which led him to decades of practice with Hollow Bones Rinzai Zen. He describes attending 15–16 retreats over 26 years, his openness to all Dharma traditions despite a strong Rinzai focus, and his use of solo retreats to self-diagnose and settle recurring neuroses and anger loops. He shares his disinterest in social media, touches on themes from his recent book Confessions of a Sacred Fool, and notes that, after moving out of the city, he’s now launching a new sangha and stepping more fully into Zen teaching, something he feels is long overdue.   Our mission is to foster a diverse, inclusive community, dedicated to awakening through Buddhist teachings promoting personal and interpersonal healing with ethical compassionate action. https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/

Letting Be: Relaxing into Natural Wisdom - Hosho Don Koehler - January 24th, 2026 - WPP26 A Dharma talk exploring “Awakening Through Love” based on Chapter 2 of John Makransky’s work. Hosho Don Koehler reflects on innate wisdom beyond self-grasping, drawing from Dzogchen and contemporary psychology to show how relaxation, receiving love, and letting be reveal our natural compassion and clarity. The talk bridges non-dual awareness with heart practices, offering a gentle path of recognition rather than striving, and prepares listeners for a guided meditation on releasing the grasping self and resting in pure awareness. Our mission is to foster a diverse, inclusive community, dedicated to awakening through Buddhist teachings promoting personal and interpersonal healing with ethical compassionate action. https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/ 

This talk explains the structure and purpose of Mondo Zen facilitation as a living dialogue rather than a technique. Ekai describes how a facilitator uses precise, compassionate questioning to bring unconscious beliefs, emotional patterns, and fixed identities into direct awareness. The process relies on deep listening, embodied presence, and timing rather than interpretation or advice. Mondo Zen is framed as a way of helping students see through their own stories in real time, allowing insight to arise naturally through inquiry, silence, and resonance between teacher and student. Our mission is to foster a diverse, inclusive community, dedicated to awakening through Buddhist teachings promoting personal and interpersonal healing with ethical compassionate action. https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/

Receiving Love: The Key to the Spiritual Path - Ming Po Larry Matthews - January 17th, 2026 - WPP26 Ming Po Larry Matthews teaches that spiritual awakening does not begin with effort, self-improvement, or performance, but with allowing ourselves to be loved as we are. Drawing on Makransky, Alan Watts, Rumi, Mary Oliver, and Zen teachers, he explores how giving love keeps us in control, while receiving love requires vulnerability, trust, and letting go of the belief that we are unworthy. Our mission is to foster a diverse, inclusive community, dedicated to awakening through Buddhist teachings promoting personal and interpersonal healing with ethical compassionate action. https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/

Ekai Joel Kreisberg Roshi offers an introduction to the Mondo Zen Facilitation, through an intensive look at the Thirteen koans of Jun Po Roshi. After a discussion of the context and history of Mondo Zen Facilitation, Ekai Roshi leads a pointing out meditation for the First Koan of Mondo Zen - Is it possible to purely listen without an opinion? Our mission is to foster a diverse, inclusive community, dedicated to awakening through Buddhist teachings promoting personal and interpersonal healing with ethical compassionate action. https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/

Atta Dipa and Prayer - Heisoku Maik Bain - WSP25 - December 20th, 2025 Heisoku gives a reflection on the Buddha’s teaching to be your own refuge: recognize the inner light of selfless awareness, let go of ego, beliefs, and emotions as they arise and pass, and live with meditative awareness, clear intention, wisdom, compassion, and skillful action. Our mission is to foster a diverse, inclusive community, dedicated to awakening through Buddhist teachings promoting personal and interpersonal healing with ethical compassionate action. https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/

The Heart of Zen FPP24 - October 27, 2024  Emyo Darlene offers her unique teachings on Jun Po Roshi's Mondo koans. She takes students all the way through the first seven koans in this teaching. Our mission is to foster a diverse, inclusive community, dedicated to awakening through Buddhist teachings promoting personal and interpersonal healing with ethical compassionate action. https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/

 Zen and the Middle of Everything - Mingpo Larry Matthews - January 3rd, 2026 - WSP26 Through humor, poetry, and lived examples, Ming Po reflects on non-duality, mindfulness, and the ordinary moments of daily life, inviting listeners to discover awakening not by escaping life, but by meeting it fully in the messy, vibrant middle of being human. Our mission is to foster a diverse, inclusive community, dedicated to awakening through Buddhist teachings promoting personal and interpersonal healing with ethical compassionate action. https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/

Why there are no victims - Kenshin Cian Whalley - November 15th, 2025 - FPP25 Kenshin Cian reflects on a lifetime of examining the difference between real victimization and the identity of victimhood, sharing how early childhood trauma shaped his unconscious patterns in relationships. Through Mondo Zen practice, shadow work, and metacognitive awareness, he realized that while harm is real, the ongoing story of being a victim is a choice shaped by conditioned parts of the self. He describes catching himself strategically allowing suffering to influence outcomes, seeing clearly that a deeper awareness was always present and choosing. Recognizing this “choice point” allowed him to step out of the victim–rescuer–persecutor cycle, reclaim his disowned power, and respond from presence rather than trauma-driven parts. https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/fallpractice25 Our mission is to foster a diverse, inclusive community, dedicated to awakening through Buddhist teachings promoting personal and interpersonal healing with ethical compassionate action. https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/ 

A brief profile of Zen priest and martial arts teacher Jozen Jonathon Fielder, tracing his path from yoga and diverse Buddhist traditions to Rinzai Zen, Hollow Bones ordination, and the integration of Zen practice with martial arts through his teaching and the emerging Iron Mountain Zendo. Jozen Jonathon Fielder offers his teachings and his wisdom tireless through several sanghas. Having been ordained as a Hollow Bones Zen priest, he continues to lead a regular practice as part of the Virtual Zendo. As a martial arts teacher and dharma teacher, he is an associate clergy member of Shining Bright Lotus. Recently he has begun to develop his own dharma center Iron Mountain Zendo in the UK.  https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/iron-mountain-zendo

Seven Bodhisattvas - Shakyamuni - Emyo Darlene Tataryn - April 5, 2025 - SPP25 Faces of Compassion - Week 1 - We begin with an exploration of Shakyamuni as a Bodhisattva archetype. The journey from Prince Siddhartha to the Awakened One offers insights for all the bodhisattva archetypes. Join us for the opening session of the Spring Practice Period - Seven Bodhisattvas with a dharma talk by Emyo Darlene Tataryn. Our mission is to foster a diverse, inclusive community, dedicated to awakening through Buddhist teachings promoting personal and interpersonal healing with ethical compassionate action. https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/

Can you choose enlightenment? - Kogen Keith Martin-Smith - FPP25 Keith Martin-Smith reflects on writing When the Buddha Needs Therapy as a way of distilling what he learned from his teacher Junpo, who passed soon after the book was finished, leaving Keith to continue his path without a direct guide. Over the past four and a half years, he found his way back into training through new teachers and by studying Hakuin, the Rinzai master who revitalized Zen by emphasizing embodied practice, rigorous discipline, and the integration of awakening into everyday life. Keith describes Hakuin’s teachings on the four ways of knowing, the need for great faith, great doubt, and great determination, and the danger of mistaking partial insight for complete awakening. He shares Hakuin’s metaphors—like the fire lotus, blooming stronger in the flames of ordinary life—and the bamboo tube with the trapped rat, illustrating that true awakening cannot be chosen conceptually but emerges when one realizes there is no way forward, no way back, and no place to remain.   Fall Practice Period 2025 — Shining Bright Lotus Meditation Society  

Dharma Reflection - Weekend Sangha Practice - January 25, 2025 Ekai delves into the difference between dharana, shamata or concentration practice and non-meditation, silent illumination or shikantaza, or just sitting, being with what arises. The distinction helps one recognize the value of both types of meditation. Our mission is to foster a diverse, inclusive community, dedicated to awakening through Buddhist teachings promoting personal and interpersonal healing with ethical compassionate action. https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/

Three Refuges - Nanda Nina Lynch - Dharma Reflection - June 14th, 2025 Nanda gives a Dharma Reflection and brief meditation on the Three Refuges. In Buddhism, the three refuges, also known as the Three Jewels or Triple Gem, are the Buddha, the Dharma (teachings), and the Sangha (community). They represent the foundational elements of Buddhist faith and practice, guiding practitioners towards enlightenment.  Our mission is to foster a diverse, inclusive community, dedicated to awakening through Buddhist teachings promoting personal and interpersonal healing with ethical compassionate action. https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/

Fall Practice Period 2025 Daiden Dan Pecaut’s talk centers on awakening as the process of seeing through the ego and returning to embodied wholeness. He describes the ego not as a fixed entity but as a shifting collection of stories, memories, and defenses. Zen, he says, doesn’t destroy this process but places it in proper perspective, allowing the deeper self — Buddha-nature — to lead. Daiden stresses that awakening isn’t about gaining anything new but realizing what’s already present. Yet, he acknowledges that modern practice must include healing the psyche and body, since traditional Zen often bypassed trauma. Integrating Zen, shadow work, and embodiment, Daiden teaches that awakening matures through the body — where breath, awareness, and being are one.   https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/fallpractice25 Our mission is to foster a diverse, inclusive community, dedicated to awakening through Buddhist teachings promoting personal and interpersonal healing with ethical compassionate action. https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/ 

Ekai gives a talk about the Origins of Our Practice at Gently Sitting Like a Stone 2025.   Ekai Roshi Joel Kreisberg discusses the origins of our lineage and practice. Bridging ancient teachings with 21st-century understanding, translating traditional koans like “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” into accessible insight questions such as “Can you listen without an opinion?” Ekai explains how zazen, koan inquiry, and daily mindfulness form complementary “technologies” of awakening—ways of recognizing no-self, interconnection, and pure awareness in everyday life. https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/

Shunya Lynn Hyer shares teachings inspired by Junpo Roshi, exploring the transformative nature of emotions, especially anger and fear, as gateways to awareness rather than reactions to avoid. She explains that beneath anger lies deep caring, and when met with mindfulness, anger becomes a compass pointing toward unmet needs and truths. Using tools like an “emotions wheel,” she encourages expanding emotional intelligence and viewing emotions as valuable information rather than moral judgments. Through personal reflection on grief and loss, she illustrates how anger can mask deeper pain, while fear, too, serves as vital information for survival and growth. Both emotions, when held with compassion and awareness, become alchemical forces—turning pain into clarity, fear into courage, and ultimately revealing the innate Buddha-nature within all beings. https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/fallpractice25 Our mission is to foster a diverse, inclusive community, dedicated to awakening through Buddhist teachings promoting personal and interpersonal healing with ethical compassionate action. https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/

Brahmavihara: Cultivating Virtue Through The Four Immeasurables - Upekkha - April 6, 2025 Emyo leads us on a guided meditation of the fourth of the Brahmaviharas, Upekkha also known as Equanimity. https://www.onewisdom.ca/ Our mission is to foster a diverse, inclusive community, dedicated to awakening through Buddhist teachings promoting personal and interpersonal healing with ethical compassionate action. https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/

Kogen Keith Martin-Smith is the author of several books devoted to the life and dharma teaching of Jun Po Denis Kelly Roshi. Kogen was ordained by Jun Po Roshi in 2012.  He continues to teach and to write. He offers an innovative podcast at The Integral Edge. Roshi Ekai Joel Kreisberg caught up with Kogen recently in anticipation of his joining the Fall Practice Period at Shining Bright Lotus.     Our mission is to foster a diverse, inclusive community, dedicated to awakening through Buddhist teachings promoting personal and interpersonal healing with ethical compassionate action. https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/ 

Ming Po gives a Dharma talk on Ethical Living and Spiritual Practice. The talk explores how the Three Pure Precepts—refraining from harm, doing good, and living for the benefit of all—interweave with the Zen Peacemaker Tenets of not knowing, bearing witness, and taking loving action. Ming Po emphasizes that these are not rigid rules but living vows inviting openness, compassion, and mindful responsiveness. By releasing fixed ideas, we create space for natural goodness and compassionate action to arise. Ethical living in Zen is not about moral perfection but about presence—returning again and again to awareness and integrity in each moment. Our mission is to foster a diverse, inclusive community, dedicated to awakening through Buddhist teachings promoting personal and interpersonal healing with ethical compassionate action. https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/

Ekai gives a Dharma talk on the 7th precept, Celebrate Others - I vow to refrain from praising self at the expense of others. I rejoice in the good fortune of others. I do not, through my thoughts, words or actions, separate myself from others through coveting, envy or jealousy.   Our mission is to foster a diverse, inclusive community, dedicated to awakening through Buddhist teachings promoting personal and interpersonal healing with ethical compassionate action. https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/

In “The Way Out Is Through” Jozen Jonathon Fielder defines consciousness as the ever-changing lens shaped by upbringing, biology, culture and ego—those personas and hot buttons we wear—then distinguishes that from awareness: the unchanging, ever-present ground that simply knows. He emphasizes that consciousness is always in relationship (to memories, God, others, desires), that identities are constructed and fluid, and that true spiritual work is noticing this rather than clinging.   Our mission is to foster a diverse, inclusive community, dedicated to awakening through Buddhist teachings promoting personal and interpersonal healing with ethical compassionate action. https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/

How does Zen understand meditation?  In what ways is Rinzai practice different from Soto practice?  How do we understand Zazen versus meditation?  In this introductory talk,  Roshi Ekai Joel Kreisberg traces the history of Zen Buddhism and how it evolves into the modern day practice of Zen in 21st Century America.  This dharma talk introduces the Five Gates approach of Cosmopolitan Zen.  It was offered at Gently Sitting Like a Stone, October 6th, 2025 https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/

WSP25 - Embody Compassion - Nanda Nina Lynch - September 6th, 2025 Nanda gives a Dharma Reflection on the precept, Embody Compassion - I vow to refrain from ill will. Our mission is to foster a diverse, inclusive community, dedicated to awakening through Buddhist teachings promoting personal and interpersonal healing with ethical compassionate action. https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/

Brahmavihara: Cultivating Virtue Through The Four Immeasurables - Mudita - April 6, 2025 Emyo leads us on a guided meditation of the third of the Brahmaviharas, Mudita also known as Sympathetic Joy. https://www.onewisdom.ca/ Our mission is to foster a diverse, inclusive community, dedicated to awakening through Buddhist teachings promoting personal and interpersonal healing with ethical compassionate action. https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/

Brahmavihara: Cultivating Virtue Through The Four Immeasurables - Karuna - April 6, 2025 Emyo leads us on a guided meditation of the second of the Brahmaviharas, Karuna also known as Compassion. https://www.onewisdom.ca/ Our mission is to foster a diverse, inclusive community, dedicated to awakening through Buddhist teachings promoting personal and interpersonal healing with ethical compassionate action. https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/

WSP - Respect Clarity - Nanda Nina Lynch - August 9th, 2025   Nanda gives a Dharma Reflection on the fifth precept, Respect Clarity - I vow to refrain from intoxicants. I act at all times with mindfulness and clarity. I do not abuse my body or cloud my mind with the misuse of intoxicants.   Our mission is to foster a diverse, inclusive community, dedicated to awakening through Buddhist teachings promoting personal and interpersonal healing with ethical compassionate action. https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/

Emyo leads us on a guided meditation of the first of the Brahmaviharas, Metta also known as Loving Kindness. https://www.onewisdom.ca/ Our mission is to foster a diverse, inclusive community, dedicated to awakening through Buddhist teachings promoting personal and interpersonal healing with ethical compassionate action. https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/

Weekend Sangha Practice - Between Love and Lust - Ming Po Larry Matthews - July 26th, 2025   Ming Po gives a Dharma Reflection on the 3rd precept, Be Loving – I vow to refrain from misusing sexuality.  I am conscious and loving in all of my relationships. In sexuality, I discern the difference between love and lust and do not take advantage of other human beings. I transform the arising of lust into true loving.       Our mission is to foster a diverse, inclusive community, dedicated to awakening through Buddhist teachings promoting personal and interpersonal healing with ethical compassionate action. https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/

Seven Bodhisattva Archetypes - Samantabadhra - Ekai Joel Kreisberg - April 21st, 2025 - SPP25 Faces of Compassion - Week 3 - Our next exploration is of Samantabadhra as a Bodhisattva archetype.  Samantabhadra is a prominent Bodhisattva in Mahayana Buddhism, often associated with wisdom, compassion, and practice. He is also known as "Universal Worthy" or "All Good". Samantabhadra is frequently depicted seated on an elephant, sometimes with multiple heads, and is part of the Shakyamuni Triad alongside Shakyamuni Buddha and Manjushri.    Our mission is to foster a diverse, inclusive community, dedicated to awakening through Buddhist teachings promoting personal and interpersonal healing with ethical compassionate action. https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/

Weekend Sangha Practice - Small Mind, Big Mind, One Mind - Ming Po Larry Matthews - May 31st, 2025 The phrase "Small Mind, Big Mind, One Mind" is a concept often explored in Zen Buddhism and mindfulness practices. It refers to different perspectives or modes of awareness within the mind and how they relate to each other. Ming Po reflects on this concept, gives personal examples, and a brief practice.   Our mission is to foster a diverse, inclusive community, dedicated to awakening through Buddhist teachings promoting personal and interpersonal healing with ethical compassionate action. https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/

 "It's like opening up the shell, peering out the shell, and then casting off the shell and allowing a new outer appearance."  Heisoku Maik Bain is preparing for his ordination as a Dragon Heart Dharma priest. He continues to offer Mondo Zen Facilitation actively and participates in several sanghas including One Wisdom Zen, Dragon Heart Dharma, Hollow Bones Zen and Shining Bright Lotus Meditation Society.  Our mission is to foster a diverse, inclusive community, dedicated to awakening through Buddhist teachings promoting personal and interpersonal healing with ethical compassionate action. https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/

SPP25 - Seven Bodhisattva - Avalokiteshvara - Nanda Nina Lynch - April 26th, 2025 Faces of Compassion - Week 4 - Our next exploration is of Avalokiteshvara as a Bodhisattva archetype.  Avalokiteshvara is a revered Bodhisattva in Mahayana Buddhism, known as the Bodhisattva of Compassion. They are also known by various names in different cultures, such as Guanyin in China. Avalokiteshvara's primary role is to assist sentient beings in their journey towards enlightenment by embodying compassion and offering protection.  Our mission is to foster a diverse, inclusive community, dedicated to awakening through Buddhist teachings promoting personal and interpersonal healing with ethical compassionate action. https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/

Our current Shuso, Daijo Scott Duffer offers a Dharma Reflection entitled Daishizen and Stewarding the Earth. This teaching was given at the Shuso Ceremony June 28th, 2025 Our mission is to foster a diverse, inclusive community, dedicated to awakening through Buddhist teachings promoting personal and interpersonal healing with ethical compassionate action. https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/

Seven Bodhisattvas - Ksitigarbha - Kenshin Cian Whalley - May 3rd, 2025 - SPP25 Faces of Compassion - Week 5 - Our next exploration is of Ksitigarbha as a Bodhisattva archetype.  Ksitigarbha, also known as Jizō in Japanese and Dizang in Chinese, is a prominent figure in Mahayana Buddhism, particularly in East Asia. He is revered as a rescuer of beings in hell and a guardian of souls, especially for children. Ksitigarbha is known for his great vow to remain in the six realms of rebirth until all beings are saved and the hells are empty, making him a symbol of compassion and dedication. Our mission is to foster a diverse, inclusive community, dedicated to awakening through Buddhist teachings promoting personal and interpersonal healing with ethical compassionate action. https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/

Seven Bodhisattvas - Maitreya - Ming Po Larry Matthews - May 10th, 2025 - SPP25 Faces of Compassion - Week 6 - Our next exploration is of Maitreya as a Bodhisattva archetype. Maitreya is a revered figure in Buddhism, specifically a bodhisattva, which means he is a being on the path to enlightenment. He is believed to be the future Buddha of the current world, the one who will emerge to teach the Dharma when the teachings of Gautama Buddha (Shakyamuni) are forgotten. Maitreya is also known as "Maitreya the Buddha of the Future".  Our mission is to foster a diverse, inclusive community, dedicated to awakening through Buddhist teachings promoting personal and interpersonal healing with ethical compassionate action. https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/

Daijo Scott Duffer is full on in training with Shining Bright Lotus Meditation Society. He serves as our Shuso - head student. He will be ordained as a priest with Dragon Heart Dharma. He’s working through Mondo Zen Facilitation. He serves as a guide in the Condor Clan, leading Condor Vision Quests and he has been a long time member of the Man Kind Project. Ekai Joel Kreisberg caught up with Daijo before his workday at Cal State University - Channel Islands, where he teaches in the science department. https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/

Seven Bodhisattvas - Vimalakirti - Ekai Joel Kreisberg - May 17th, 2025 - SPP25 Faces of Compassion - Week 7 - Our next exploration is of Vimalakirti as a Bodhisattva archetype. Vimalakirti is a revered bodhisattva in Mahayana Buddhism, particularly known for his central role in the Vimalakirti Sutra. He represents the ideal lay practitioner, demonstrating wisdom, skill in liberative techniques, and the importance of compassion and non-duality. He is a historical figure, a wealthy householder and patron of Shakyamuni Buddha, not a cosmic or mythic bodhisattva.  Our mission is to foster a diverse, inclusive community, dedicated to awakening through Buddhist teachings promoting personal and interpersonal healing with ethical compassionate action. https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/

"And that's my prayer, may I truly be of benefit. May these words be aligned in such a way that I can really transmit."   https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/

Dharma Reflection of Weekend Sangha Practice - March 22, 2025 Jozen teaches about the Three Refuges, what they mean and invites us to look at where we take refuge. Jozen Jonathon Fielder offers his teachings and his wisdom tireless through several sanghas. Having been ordained as a Hollow Bones Zen priest, he continues to lead a regular practice as part of the Virtual Zendo. As a martial arts teacher and dharma teacher, he is an associate clergy member of Shining Bright Lotus. Recently he has begun to develop his own dharma center Iron Mountain Zendo in the UK.  https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/iron-mountain-zendo

Dharma Reflection of Weekend Sangha Practice - February 22, 2025 Emyo distinguished wishes from intentions and offers a clear discussion as to how clear intentions serve to deepen ones practice and clear the mind off unconscious tendencies.  Our mission is to foster a diverse, inclusive community, dedicated to awakening through Buddhist teachings promoting personal and interpersonal healing with ethical compassionate action. https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/

Dharma Reflection of Weekend Sangha Practice - March 8, 2025 Nanda offers wisdom and practice based on Song of Zazen by Hakuin. Engo Michael Jackson opens with Song of Zazen, the traditional change for a dharma talk or teisho.   https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/