Prairie Mountain Zen Center Dharma Talks

Send us Fan MailRev. Ensho Chikudo D Madrid gives a talk based on the book by Diane Eshin Rizzetto "Waking Up To What You Do", discussing how we practice with the precepts in everyday life.

Send us Fan MailIsabelle Andre presents a talk titled, “Broken Bodhisattva”. This powerful talk explores how we can embrace loss and heartbreak during tumultuous times on the Bodhisattva path.

Send us Fan MailRev. Chikyo Ewan Magie presents a talk titled, “When Your House of Practice Burns”. The talk ties together the burning of the Tassajara zendo and library on March 26 with the burning down of relationship trust to the Paramita Practices of Generosity, Energy, Patience and Wisdom-insight.

Send us Fan MailRev. Jodo Cliff Clusin gives a talk on The Sutra of Innumerable Meanings from the Lotus Sutra.

Send us Fan MailRev. Chikyo Ewan Magie gives a talk exploring practice. Like Homer’s Odyssey, each practitioner undertakes an epic journey with others and alone within themselves.

Send us Fan MailRev. Jodo Cliff Clusin speaks on Dogen's "King of Samadhis" from the Shobogenzo.

Send us Fan MailSangha member Nendo David Pavlacky gives a talk exploring Buddha’s ancient teaching of impermanency from the Lankavatara Sutra and Katagiri Roshi’s teaching of total dynamic functioning.

Send us Fan MailSangha member Shin-E Kieran Rhysling facilitates a discussion about the challenges of determining an appropriate response to the harms we are seeing in the world.

Send us Fan MailRev. Jodo Cliff Clusin speaks on the Birth and Death chapter of the Shobogenzo.

Send us Fan MailGuest speaker Dr. Bishal Karna gives a talk titled, “The Zen of Loving Your Neighbor”. This talk is a fascinating exploration of the different approaches of Christianity and Zen to loving your neighbor and how, ultimately, they seek to achieve the same end. Bishal Karna is a professor of comparative religion and the creator and host of The Spiritual Context Podcast. He lives in Rochester, NY, with his wife, dog, and two cats.

Send us Fan MailGuest speaker Rev. Jisho Sara Siebert gives a talk entitled, "What is true freedom? Traditional Zen practice and our lives."The talk addresses the question of how the forms and practices of Soto Zen can help us recognize that our limited self is not the center of the universe and instead can help us move beyond our habituated preferences. 

Send us Fan MailThis series of talks was recorded in 2025. After each talk, the sangha engaged in lively discussion, which was not recorded.The talks were an examination of the Statement of Recognition and Repentance from the Soto Zen Buddhist conference of 2018. https://www.szba.org/szba-statement-on-recognition-and-repentance

Send us Fan MailThis series of talks was recorded in 2025. After each talk, the sangha engaged in lively discussion, which was not recorded.The talks were an examination of the Statement of Recognition and Repentance from the Soto Zen Buddhist conference of 2018. https://www.szba.org/szba-statement-on-recognition-and-repentance

Send us Fan MailThis series of talks was recorded in 2025. After each talk, the sangha engaged in lively discussion, which was not recorded.The talks were an examination of the Statement of Recognition and Repentance from the Soto Zen Buddhist conference of 2018. https://www.szba.org/szba-statement-on-recognition-and-repentance

Send us Fan MailThis series of talks was recorded in 2025. After each talk, the sangha engaged in lively discussion, which was not recorded.The talks were an examination of the Statement of Recognition and Repentance from the Soto Zen Buddhist conference of 2018. https://www.szba.org/szba-statement-on-recognition-and-repentance

Send us Fan MailThis series of talks was recorded in 2025. After each talk, the sangha engaged in lively discussion, which was not recorded.The talks were an examination of the Statement of Recognition and Repentance from the Soto Zen Buddhist conference of 2018. https://www.szba.org/szba-statement-on-recognition-and-repentance

Send us Fan MailThis series of talks was recorded in 2025. After each talk, the sangha engaged in lively discussion, which was not recorded.The talks were an examination of the Statement of Recognition and Repentance from the Soto Zen Buddhist conference of 2018. https://www.szba.org/szba-statement-on-recognition-and-repentance

Send us Fan MailThis series of talks was recorded in 2025. After each talk, the sangha engaged in lively discussion, which was not recorded.The talks were an examination of the Statement of Recognition and Repentance from the Soto Zen Buddhist conference of 2018. https://www.szba.org/szba-statement-on-recognition-and-repentance

Send us Fan MailThis series of talks was recorded in 2025. After each talk, the sangha engaged in lively discussion, which was not recorded.The talks were an examination of the Statement of Recognition and Repentance from the Soto Zen Buddhist conference of 2018. https://www.szba.org/szba-statement-on-recognition-and-repentance

Send us Fan MailShin-E Kieran Rhysling begins a series of facilitated discussions that we're calling Dharma Jams from Dainin Katagiri Roshi’s book, You Have to Say Something.If the next Buddha is the Sangha, as Thich Nhat Hanh proposed, then maybe the next dharma talk should be something more collaborative and interactive, like a musicians jam session.In this episode, we start playing with the possibilities of this new format. 

Send us Fan MailGuest speaker Kyosho Valorie Beer shares a Dharma talk, entitled "Stop", that offers us a different way to approach the New Year. 

Send us Fan MailRev. Jodo Cliff Clusin gives a talk on the Shobogenzo Chapter: "King Wants the Saindhava".

Send us Fan MailRev. Chikyo Ewan Magie gives a dharma talk entitled, "Unlocking the Door".

Send us Fan MailSangha member Daitoku Rick Vosper gives a talk entitled, "An Appropriate Response".

Send us Fan MailRev. Jodo Cliff Clusin gives a talk on chapter 77  from Dogen's Shobogenzo, entitled Space.

Send us Fan MailRev. Jodo Cliff Clusin gives a talk on Dogen's chapter on all-inclusive study from the Shobogenzo.

Send us Fan MailSangha member Isabelle Andre gives a talk on Buddhist perspectives on death and dying, drawing from numerous sources including Thich Nhat Hanh and the Tibetan traditions.

Send us Fan MailSangha member Rev. Tetsudo Judy Putnam speaks on the Buddha's answer to Subhuti from the Diamond Sutra. Subhuti asks the Buddha how one should walk the path of the Bodhisattva and receives an interesting answer.

Send us Fan MailSangha member Shin-E Kieran Rhysling gives a brief overview of The Five Remembrances from the Upajjhatthana Sutta. The sutta recommends  that The Five Remembrances of old age, sickness, death, change, and karma be reflected upon often by all. The talk was a short introduction to a longer discussion by the sangha that was not recorded. 

Send us Fan MailRev. Chikyo Ewan Magie gives a talk entitled, "Zen and the Metta Sutta: Waking Up with Loving-Kindness".

Send us Fan MailRev. Jodo Cliff Clusin gives a talk on Dogen's commentary on The Eight Awakenings of Great Beings from the Shobogenzo. 

Send us Fan MailSangha member Shin-E Kieran Rhysling gives the final talk in the series based on Diane Eshin Rizzetto's book, Deep Hope: Zen Guidance for Staying Steadfast When the World Seems Hopeless. The subject is prajna, the paramita of wisdom or seeing clearly. 

Send us Fan MailSangha member Steve Lindly gives a talk titled “Does Enlightenment Lead to Helping Others?”.

Send us Fan MailRev. Jodo Cliff Clusin will give a talk based on the Ten Directions Chapter of Dogen's Shobogenzo. 

Send us Fan MailSangha member Daitoku Rick Vosper will give a talk entitled "Why We Sit: The Brother-In-Law Question". 

Send us Fan MailSangha member Nendo David Pavlacky gives a talk entitled "Diving Into the Sea of Suchness".

Send us Fan MailSangha member Paula Scarborough will give a talk entitled "Aging and Illness as Practice". Paula has been doing holistic elder care for fifteen years and her talk will draw on this wealth of experience.

Send us Fan MailPMZC's Guiding Teacher Rev. Jodo Cliff Clusin gives a talk on the Four Immeasurables of the Theravadan tradition: lovingkindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity.

Send us Fan MailSangha member Shin-E Kieran Rhysling gives a talk on using Roshi Joan Halifax's GRACE process as a framework for having conversations with people we disagree with.

Send us Fan MailSangha member and sewing teacher Tetsudo Judy Putnam gives a talk on Komyozo Zanmai, a fascicle attributed to Dogen's dharma heir Koun Ejo zenji.

Send us Fan MailIn recognition of Pride Month, sangha member Shin-E Kieran Rhysling gives a talk on gender identity and Buddhism, with special focus on transgender issues.

Send us Fan MailSangha member Rev. Judy Tetsudo Putnam gives a talk on Jijuyu Zanmai. 

Send us Fan MailGuest speaker Rev. Myo-O Habermas-Scher gives a talk entitled, "Where Are The Old Women in The Tea Shop?"

Send us Fan MailSangha member Isabelle Andre gives a talk entitled, "Torei Zenji and Our Predicament".

Send us Fan MailSangha member Daitoku Rick Vosper gives a talk entitled, "A Few Words About Doors".

Send us Fan MailSangha member Shin-E Kieran Rhysling gives the fifth talk in a series based on the book, "Deep Hope" by Diane Eshin Rizzetto. This talk covers the fifth paramita, dhyana, or meditation.

Send us Fan MailSangha member Judy Tetsudo Putnam gives a talk on the revival of Dogen’s teachings in Japan in the Tokugawa Period.

Send us Fan MailSangha member Shin-E Kieran Rhysling gives the fourth talk in a series based on the book, "Deep Hope" by Diane Eshin Rizzetto. This talk covers the fourth paramita, Engaging Effort.

Send us Fan MailGuest speaker Rev. Kigen Anna Breckenridge gives a dharma talk.

Send us Fan MailRev. Chikyo Ewan Magie presents the PMZC Winter 2025 class based upon the book "Standing at the Edge" by Roshi Joan Halifax (Class 6 of 6).