Thousand Harbours Zen

On how we understand and inhabit a temple--wherever we are. (Koun Franz; February 4, 2025)

You can support Thousand Harbours Zen and learn more about our practice by visiting thousandharbourszen.com; talks are also available on the Thousand Harbours Zen YouTube Channel.

Post-production by Tod Nyokai.

This practice supports us, and we support it—not because we’re separate, but because we aren’t. (Koun Franz; January 21, 2025)

You can support Thousand Harbours Zen and learn more about our practice by visiting thousandharbourszen.com; talks are also available on the Thousand Harbours Zen YouTube Channel.

Post-production by Tod Nyokai.

As we enter a new year, a look back at the experience of loss—and forward, to its inevitability. (Koun Franz; January 7, 2025)

You can support Thousand Harbours Zen and learn more about our practice by visiting thousandharbourszen.com; talks are also available on the Thousand Harbours Zen YouTube Channel.

Post-production by Tod Nyokai

Case 147 of Dōgen's Mana Shōbōgenzō (Koun Franz; December 17, 2024):

Linji said to the assembly, “There is a true person of no rank. This person goes in and out of your senses. Those who are beginners and have not had realization, look, look!”
—from The True Dharma Eye: Zen Master Dōgen’s Three Hundred Koans, by John Daido Loori and Kazuaki Tanahashi

You can support Thousand Harbours Zen and learn more about our practice by visiting thousandharbourszen.com; talks are also available on the Thousand Harbours Zen YouTube Channel.

Post-production by Tod Nyokai.

At our rohatsu retreat, a talk on why we might choose to do hard things. (Koun Franz; December 7, 2024)

You can support Thousand Harbours Zen and learn more about our practice by visiting thousandharbourszen.com; talks are also available on the Thousand Harbours Zen YouTube Channel.

Post-production by Tod Nyokai

Reflections on the meaning of rohatsu and what was happening for Siddhartha in the week leading up to his awakening. (Koun Franz; December 3, 2024)

You can support Thousand Harbours Zen and learn more about our practice by visiting thousandharbourszen.com; talks are also available on the Thousand Harbours Zen YouTube Channel.

Post-production by Tod Nyokai

Dōgen's Mana Shōbenzō, Case #141 (November 19, 2024; Koun Franz):

One day the World-Honored One ascended the teaching seat and the assembly came together.
Mahākāśyapa struck the mallet and announced: “The World-Honored One has just expounded the dharma.”
The World-Honored One descended from the teaching seat.
—from The True Dharma Eye: Zen Master Dōgen’s Three Hundred Koans, by John Daido Loori and Kazuaki Tanahashi

You can support Thousand Harbours Zen and learn more about our practice by visiting thousandharbourszen.com; talks are also available on the Thousand Harbours Zen YouTube Channel.

Post-production by Tod Nyokai.

A talk on ceremony, and form, and how we make something real. (October 15, 2024; Koun Franz)

You can support Thousand Harbours Zen and learn more about our practice by visiting thousandharbourszen.com; talks are also available on the Thousand Harbours Zen YouTube Channel.

Post production by Tod Nyokai

A talk on Case 101 of Dōgen's Mana Shōbōgenzō (October 1, 2024; Koun Franz):

The Sixth Ancestor said, “What is it that has come like this?”
Nanyue could not answer...
—from The True Dharma Eye: Zen Master Dōgen’s Three Hundred Koans, by John Daido Loori and Kazuaki Tanahashi

You can support Thousand Harbours Zen and learn more about our practice by visiting thousandharbourszen.com; talks are also available on the Thousand Harbours Zen YouTube Channel.

Post-production by Tod Nyokai

This talk concludes our look at Dōgen's Butsudō (Dōshin), with his fifth practice: "always don the kasaya and engage in seated meditation." (September 17, 2024; Koun Franz)

You can support Thousand Harbours Zen and learn more about our practice by visiting thousandharbourszen.com; talks are also available on the Thousand Harbours Zen YouTube Channel.

Post-production by Tod Nyokai

In "The Way of the Buddhas" (Shōbōgenzō Butsudō), Dōgen recommends five practices. The fourth is "produce a Lotus Sutra." (Koun Franz; September 3, 2024)

You can support Thousand Harbours Zen and learn more about our practice by visiting thousandharbourszen.com; talks are also available on the Thousand Harbours Zen YouTube Channel.

Post-production by Tod Nyokai.

On how pain can bring us into the present. (Koun Franz; August 20, 2024)

You can support Thousand Harbours Zen and learn more about our practice by visiting thousandharbourszen.com; talks are also available on the Thousand Harbours Zen YouTube Channel.

Post-production by Tod Nyokai.

In "The Way of the Buddhas" (Shōbōgenzō Butsudō), Dōgen recommends five practices. The third is "to work to produce a buddha during this life." (Koun Franz; August 6, 2024)

You can support Thousand Harbours Zen and learn more about our practice by visiting thousandharbourszen.com; talks are also available on the Thousand Harbours Zen YouTube channel.

Post-production by Tod Nyokai.

In "The Way of the Buddhas" (Shōbōgenzō Butsudō), Dōgen recommends five practices. In this talk, a look at the first: cultivating the mind of awakening. (Koun Franz; July 22, 2024)

You can support Thousand Harbours Zen and learn more about our practice by visiting thousandharbourszen.com; talks are also available on the Thousand Harbours Zen YouTube Channel.

Post-production by Tod Nyokai.

In "The Way of the Buddhas" (Shōbōgenzō Butsudō), Dōgen recommends five practices. The second: "Next, we should deeply revere the three treasures of buddha, dharma, and sangha." (Koun Franz; July 9, 2024)

You can support Thousand Harbours Zen and learn more about our practice by visiting thousandharbourszen.com; talks are also available on the Thousand Harbours Zen YouTube Channel.

Post-production by Tod Nyokai.

On retreat, a talk about how we hold someone we see as an enemy versus how we hold a baby. (Koun Franz; June 22, 2024)

You can support Thousand Harbours Zen and learn more about our practice by visiting thousandharbourszen.com; talks are also available on the Thousand Harbours Zen YouTube Channel.

Post-production by Tod Nyokai.

Case #105 of Dōgen’s Mana Shobogenzo (Koun Franz; June 18, 2024):
Yunyan asked Daowu, “How does the Bodhisattva of Great Compassion [Avalokiteśvara] use so many hands and eyes?”
Daowu said, “It’s just like a person in the middle of the night reaching back in search of a pillow.”
—from The True Dharma Eye: Zen Master Dogen’s Three Hundred Koans, by John Daido Loori and Kazuaki Tanahashi

You can support Thousand Harbours Zen and learn more about our practice by visiting thousandharbourszen.com; talks are also available on the Thousand Harbours Zen YouTube channel.

Post-production by Tod Nyokai.

Our temple, Sensouji, has received official recognition as a temple by the Soto Zen School in Japan. Here, a talk about what it means for us to belong to something else: a sect, a school, a tradition, a lineage. (Koun Franz; June 4, 2024)

You can support Thousand Harbours Zen and learn more about our practice by visiting thousandharbourszen.com; talks are also available on the Thousand Harbours Zen YouTube channel.

Post-production by Tod Nyokai.

When we sit in zazen, we’re waiting for the bell; when we notice that feeling, we notice we’re always waiting for something. What if we weren’t? (Koun Franz; May 21, 2024)

You can support Thousand Harbours Zen and learn more about our practice by visiting thousandharbourszen.com; talks are also available on the Thousand Harbours Zen podcast.

Post-production by Tod Nyokai.

Case 93 of Dogen's Mana Shobogenzo (Koun Franz; May 7, 2024):

Shenshan was sewing when Dongshan said, “What are you doing?”
Shenshan said, “I am sewing.”
Dongshan said, “What is sewing?”
Shenshan said, “Each stitch follows the other.”
Dongshan said, “If my companion of twenty years says so, I guess there is a point.”
Shenshan said, “What would you say, Elder?”
Dongshan said, “Each stitch is like the earth exploding."

—from The True Dharma Eye: Zen Master Dogen’s Three Hundred Koans, by John Daido Loori and Kazuaki Tanahashi

You can support Thousand Harbours Zen and learn more about our practice by visiting thousandharbourszen.com; talks are also available on the Thousand Harbours Zen YouTube channel.

Post-production by Tod Nyokai.