Cosmopolitan Zen

You Are Not Your Body, Feelings, and Thoughts - Preparing to Untangle - Ekai Joel Keisberg Roshi - September 19th, 2026 - WSP26/FPP26

The teaching introduces the Eightfold Path through a modern interpretation of the Four Noble Truths as a Fourfold Task: recognizing reactivity, understanding our attachment to that reactivity, experiencing its cessation, and practicing the path that embodies this understanding. Reactivity naturally arises through body, speech, and mind as attraction, aversion, or neutrality, but we often become attached to these reactions, turning emotions into fixed “feeling beliefs” and strengthening our sense of self. Through meditation and awareness, we can notice and loosen this “grab,” allowing the mind to settle into the spacious awareness that is already present. The Eightfold Path then becomes the practical means of bringing this insight into everyday life and continuing the journey of awakening in service of 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/

The Listening - Music, Pure Awareness, and the Symphony of Being - Ming Po Larry Matthews - September 5th, 2026 - WSP26

The talk explores pure awareness through the metaphor of music. Our thoughts, emotions, and experiences are like notes and movements in a symphony, while awareness is the quiet listening that allows everything to arise and pass without resistance.

Rather than trying to control or eliminate difficult emotions, Zen invites us to listen to them with compassion. Awakening isn't about becoming a better “conductor” of life, but relaxing into the realization that life is already unfolding.

The central insight is impermanence: thoughts, feelings, relationships, and even moments arise and disappear, while awareness remains present. The deepest question becomes not “What am I hearing?” but “What is listening?”

In short:
The notes come and go. The silence remains. Life is the symphony; awareness is the listening.

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/

Metacognition, Finders and the Three Turnings - Ekai Joel Kreisberg - August 8th, 2026

Ekai Joel Kreisberg explains metacognition as “thinking about awareness” and connects it to Zen, Mondo Zen, and Buddhist practice. The practice develops through four stages: receptive, active, reciprocal, and interpenetrative - moving from recognizing awareness within oneself to embodying it in relationship with others and eventually seeing awareness as pervasive.

Mondo Zen and emotional koans help take awakening off the meditation cushion and into everyday life, especially when we are triggered or interacting with others. The Sangha becomes essential because relationships reveal our shadows and give us opportunities to practice compassion, insight, and awakening.

The central message is, awakening isn't just an experience we have during meditation; it's a way of showing up in every moment. Metacognitive awareness helps us notice when we forget, remember our practice, and consciously choose how we respond.

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/

You have to be Somebody before you become Nobody - Hosho Don Koehler - July 11th, 2026 - WSP26

Hosho Don Koehler explores the apparent tension between developing a healthy sense of self and the Buddhist teaching of non-self, arguing that they are complementary rather than contradictory. Drawing on psychology and Buddhism, he explains that the self is not a fixed entity but a dynamic process shaped through relationships, especially early attachment and being genuinely seen by others.

The talk emphasizes that a stable, healthy sense of self is often necessary before the liberating insight of non-self can be safely realized. Hence Jack Engler's phrase, "You have to be somebody before you can be nobody." Rather than denying the self, Buddhism reveals its interdependent, impermanent nature, freeing us from the burden of defending a separate identity.

Hosho concludes that healing relationships, loving-kindness practice, and a supportive sangha help repair insecure attachment and cultivate the inner stability needed for awakening. In this way, community and compassionate connection are not separate from the Dharma, they are the Dharma itself.

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/

Metacognitive Monitoring: Pointing Out Instructions Versus Zen Koans - Ekai Joel Kreisberg - July 25th, 2026

In this talk, Ekai Joel Kreisberg explores metacognitive awareness, the practice of becoming aware of awareness itself. Drawing from Zen, Mondo Koans and pointing out instructions, he explains how reflective awareness deepens meditation, supports emotional intelligence and transforms awakening from a fleeting experience into a lifelong practice. Learn how koans train the mind to recognize awakened awareness in every moment and how metacognition can help you navigate both meditation and daily life with greater clarity and presence.

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 interview traces Zenko’s journey from early interests in martial arts, poetry, and meditation to a deep commitment to Zen practice. Through experiences with the Mankind Project, Warrior Monk training, Hollow Bones Zen, and Mondo Zen, he developed a path centered on self-discovery, compassion, service, and holding space for others. As he prepares for ordination as a Zen priest, his vision is to build community, teach meditation, and help people face life with greater clarity and 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/

Walking the Silver River - Ming Po Larry Matthews - June 27, 2026 - WSP26

Ming Po Larry Matthews explains that the spiritual path is not separate from ordinary life, it is found in each moment, each breath, and every daily challenge. Drawing on the 37 Practices of a Bodhisattva, he encourages meeting life with mindful awareness rather than trying to escape or perfect it.

The talk emphasizes noticing the small space before reacting, allowing mindfulness to replace automatic habits with wise and compassionate choices. True compassion begins with kindness toward ourselves, naturally extending to others. Letting go of the need to be right creates openness, understanding and freedom. When we forget, we simply begin again, remembering that the path is always here, in this present 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/

How to Work with Emotional Koans - Part 2 - Ekai Joel Kreisberg - WSP26 - May 30th, 2026

Ekai Joel Kreisberg explains that Junpo Roshi’s emotional koans (11–13) were designed to bring Zen practice into everyday life by helping practitioners work skillfully with emotional reactivity. Rather than suppressing or bypassing feelings, he encourages slowing down and fully experiencing emotions through a process of recognition, acceptance, self-compassion, and ownership. By understanding that emotions are neither positive nor negative but valuable sources of information, practitioners can uncover what truly matters to them, take responsibility for their reactions, and respond from awakened awareness rather than habit. The practice transforms emotional triggers into opportunities for insight, compassion, and growth in relationships and daily life.

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/

Shuso Ceremony - Dharma Reflection - Why Climb a Mountain - Zen Ko Ryan Harriott - June 13th, 2026

Zen Ko Ryan Harriott compares Zen practice to climbing a mountain, teaching that progress requires the three pillars of Zen: great faith, great doubt, and great determination. Through stories of rock climbing, he explains that obstacles are part of the path, and by trusting, questioning, and persevering, we develop clarity, compassion, and a deeper connection with all life.

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 Background Hum: Why More Insight Doesn't Produce More Freedom - Kenshin Cian Whalley - May 2nd, 2006

Kenshin talks about the “background hum” that is the constant mental effort of maintaining the self, such as planning, judging and creating stories to avoid uncertainty. Most self-work adds more layers to this narrator instead of freeing us. Zen points toward subtraction, not feeding the story, but resting in “I don’t know,” allowing uncertainty without needing control. The practice is not abandoning effort in life but starving the effort that keeps reinforcing the self.

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 Master Bankei and the Unborn - Nanda Nina Lynch - April 18th, 2026

Nanda Nina Lynch gives a talk on Bankei Yōtaku and his realization of the “Unborn” shows that awareness is already complete and effortless. Suffering comes from clinging to thoughts and emotions, practice is simply to trust and abide in this natural, ever-present mind in all moments.

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/

Suffer Well: Insights from Buddha's Teachings - Ming Po Larry Matthews - April 4th, 2026

Ming Po gives a talk inspired by Thich Nhat Hanh teachings that true peace comes from accepting yourself, staying present through mindful breathing, and meeting suffering with awareness and kindness, allowing it to transform rather than control you.

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 - Manjushri - Jozen Jonathon Fielder - April 12th, 2025 - SPP25

Faces of Compassion - Week 2 - Our next exploration is of Manjushri as a Bodhisattva archetype. Manjushri is a bodhisattva embodying supreme wisdom and clear seeing. He is often depicted with a sword (symbolizing the cutting away of ignorance) and a scripture (representing the transmission of wisdom) - Seven Bodhisattvas with a dharma talk by Jozen Jonathon Fielder.

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

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 introduces Rohatsu—the traditional period honoring the Buddha’s awakening—and places it in the context of winter’s darkness and the symbolic “birth of the light.” Roshi Ekai reflects on the masculine framing often found in Zen history and highlights overlooked feminine perspectives through stories such as the family koan of Layman Pang, his wife, and their daughter Ling Zhao. Their responses illustrate effort, ease, and the middle way, pointing toward a more natural, inclusive wisdom rooted in everyday life and nature. He emphasizes relaxing into practice, recognizing the ever-present Dharma, and acknowledging the cyclical nature of birth and death, weaving in personal reflections on loss during this season.

https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/

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.

Emyo talks about how the ego is a conditioned process, not a permanent self. It organizes experience and helps us function, but suffering arises when we mistake its stories for reality. Zen does not destroy the ego—it trains it. Through awareness, we learn to let the ego serve practical life while resting in the open, boundless nature of awakening.

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 Joel Kreisberg 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 - Ekai Joel Kreisberg - 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/