North Carolina Zen Center: Recent Episodes
North Carolina Zen Center
Collection of Dharma Talks given by Teshin Sweger at the North Carolina Zen Center
info@nczencenter.org
Nothing Holds Still Impermanence and the Foreigner With No Beard by North Carolina Zen Center
Mumonkan case 16-The Sound of the Bell and the Seven Piece Robe by North Carolina Zen Center
In this talk from our October 2023 Sesshin, Teshin Roshi explores the second of 4 postures outlined by the Buddha and the famous koan: The Oak Tree In the Garden.
Through a classic koan, Teshin Roshi explores ways to cultivate gratitude and connect with the original intention of Thanksgiving.
Teshin Roshi reflects on James Ford Roshi's visit and explores what a matured practice looks like using Case 14 of the Book of Equanimity.
Teshin Roshi shares about his recent sabbatical and explores the wisdom of stepping back in order to step into our lives.
During our annual Bodhidharma Day ceremony we explore the famous interchange between the Emperor of China and Bodhidharma, the founder of Zen in China.
Guest Speaker: Roshi Meido Moore, Three Important Foundations of Zen by North Carolina Zen Center
During a recent talk in our Summer Guest Speaker Series, Roshi Dosho Port and Sensei Tetsugan Zummach told a moving story about one practitioner’s experience with the koan Mu.
This Dharma talk explores the short dialogue between Zen master Hogen and a student named Echo. He came to Hogen and said: My name is Echo, I ask you, What is Buddha? Hogen replied: You are Echo.
This Dharma talk explores the following story: The wind was flapping the temple flag and two monks started an argument. One said the flag moved, the other said the wind moved. They argued back and forth but could not reach a conclusion. The Sixth Ancestor said, "It is not the wind that moves, it is not the flag that moves, it is your honorable minds that move." The monks were struck with awe.
When It Is Cold, the Cold Kills You. When It Is Hot, the Heat Kills You by North Carolina Zen Center
In this talk, guest speaker and friend to the Center James Myoun Ford, Roshi offers his thoughts on Case 29 in the Blue Cliff Record.
In this talk, Sangha member Sheldon Clark reflects on the book, How to Cook Your Life and the Zen chant Affirming Faith in Mind.
Using direct quotations from both texts, Sheldon looks at difficult personal and cultural interactions, pulling our ideas which offer guidance from a Zen perspective.
This track serves as an introduction to the following two talks, each touching on the four Bodhisattva Vows.
This talk serves as an introduction to the two talks which follow, The Four Vows part 1, and The Four Vows part 2.
How do we work on relationships? Our meditation practice holds the key. How do we work on our meditation practice? Our relationships hold the key.
A monk asked Jinguing, “I am breaking out; I ask the teacher to break in.”Jinquing said, “Can you live or not?” The monk said, “If I weren’t alive, I’d be laughed at by people.” Jinquing said, “You too are a man in the weeds.
Using the classic Buddhist framework of the Six Realms, Teshin Sensei explores how to work with various mind states. This talks was given in 2018.
Using a classic Zen koan, Teshin Sensei explores themes of letting go and the tenets of the Zen Peacemakers Order: Bearing Witness, Not-knowing, and Loving Action. This talk was given shortly after the death of Bernie Glassman, the founder of the Zen Peacemakers.
Using a classic koan from the Zen tradition, Teshin Sensei explores the idea of individual and collective karma--the law of cause and effect.
A Dharma Talk given in 2018. This talk uses a classic koan to explore how to live less unconsciously but rather with more awareness and presence. To see what is always present.
Using a classic case from the Book Of Serenity, we look at the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and the thin veneer of society.
In this Dharma talk we explore a traditional koan from the Blue Cliff Record. Teshin begins by talking about the two great practices of our tradition, just sitting and koan practice.
Intellectual Appropriation Of Practice and Luzu Faces The Wall by North Carolina Zen Center
The Case
Master Gettan said to a monk, “Keichu [the first wheelmaker in ancient China] made a cart whose wheels had a hundred spokes. If you took off the wheels and removed the axle, then what would it be?”
The Commentary
If you can immediately see through this, your eye will be like a shooting star, your spiritual activity like a flash of lightning.
*The Verse
When a wheel spins rapidly even a master cannot follow it. It moves in all directions above and below, north, south, east, and west.
Is the enlightened person subject to cause and effect? Be careful...if you answer incorrectly you'll be reborn as a fox for 500 lives!
This is from Day 1 of the Winter 2018 Sesshin.
This talk encourages us to continually see that we can reinvent ourselves just as Buddhism has as it has time and time again as it moves from culture to culture.
In this Dharma talk we take a look at the basis for morality in Zen and more specifically at the Buddhist Precepts.
In this talk and dharma discussion, we take up how to stay grounded during the holiday season.
In this talk from our Fall sesshin, we explore Case 35 of the Mumonkan: Chien and Her Soul Are Separated.
A Zen retreat, traditionally called a sesshin, is not a retreat at all. It is a search. In this talk we explore the nature of searching and how to practice during sesshin.
Exploring Case 40 from the Blue cliff Record with an emphasis on how technology is shaping our thoughts and practice.
This Dharma talk and discussion explores ways to work with anger. The talk is 32 min. with a 15 min discussion at the end.