Explore every episode of the podcast Young Urban Zen SF

Eli Brown-Stevenson: We will be discussing a few flavors of fear and the role of zazen (Zen meditation) in overcoming everyday anxieties.

Meeting Fear With Stillness Eli Brown-Stevenson

For our discussion, let's see if we can point to the heart of the matter regarding our practice of Zazen. 

Zazen: Ready, Willing, Don't-Know Kodo Conlin

The session will be inspired by Case 74 of the Book of Serenity, commonly known as “Fayan’s ‘Substance and Name,’” which, frankly, gives the best-ever accounting of the vicissitudes of the human condition. With this gift in hand we will puzzle together over the central question of what, in Buddha’s name, we should do about  it.

The Vicissitudes Zachary Smith

Mei Elliott: The theme for the evening was the Buddha's Five Daily Recollections, with an emphasis on the third reflection, which focuses on death and dying. Recollections on death are common in the Buddhist tradition and can be a powerful source of wisdom and compassion.

On Death and Dying Mei Elliott

Michael McCord: Compassion and Empathy, the difference between these two (compassion involves empathy but also brings in the element of action/no action as a decision) and how do concepts like “tough love” fit into and or work with these fundamental elements of practice? As a cornerstone of Buddhist practice (compassion cultivation) how do we set good/healthy boundaries while not veering into ruinous empathy or cold hearted disassociation from another’s struggle?

Compassion and Empathy Michael McCord

Michael McCord: what does Zen elucidate about who we are if there is "no self"? A machine is looked at as a soulless collection of fallible parts that are subject to decay and failure.  How is this different from the Zen concept of the self, an unfixed ever changing collection of matter with no permanent properties that eventually falls apart?   And why does it matter?

Being Human In the Age of A.I. Michael McCord

Kogetsu Mok: we’ll dive deep on ”Studying the Self” from Dogen Zenji’s Genjo Koan.

Studying The Self Kogetsu Mok

Michael McCord: Do Zen monks have difficult conversations that they wrestle with whether to have or not? What space does difficulty with others play in the Buddhist path?  Tonight we will explore the subject of difficult conversations, and when it may or may not be best to engage.  And if so, what we do before, during and after - so that we and others may suffer a little less and set tomorrow up for a bit more thriving.

Difficult Conversations Michael McCord

Zachary Smith: we’ll answer the age-old and often-asked question, “Why did Bodhidharma come from the West?”

Why did the Patriarch (i.e Bodhidharma) come from the West? Zachary Smith

Each moment, the mind takes on an attitude, perspective, or way of seeing. These perspectives will often color our vision such that reality is missed and we see everything through me-colored glasses. We'll talk about what Zazen has to do with taking off distorted lenses and seeing the world anew.

How we relate to experience Kodo Conlin

We will discuss what it can be to be "awake" in the midst of our busy lives. Practically speaking, what is it to be "awake" in places like work and bring practice to our daily struggles? How can the practice of awakening help with the daily stresses and anxieties that arise? We'll look at embodied rituals and zazen that can help alleviate suffering and help us get through our difficulties with grace and integrity. 

What is it to live an awakened life? Kōgetsu Jenny Mok

In Zen, words are tools to guide us, but they are not the destination. We will discuss how words can sometimes mislead us in practice, and how we can stay grounded in the direct, lived experience of our true nature rather than getting lost in concepts.

Words, Ducks, and Buddha: Don’t Get Lost in Translation! Eli Brown-Stevenson

Kōgetsu shares thoughts and reflections on a poem, The Song of the Jewel Mirror Samadhi, and how understanding the nature of duality can alleviate suffering.

The Song of the Jewel Mirror Samadhi Kogetsu Jenny Mok

The topic is (yet another) Zen story, suitable for the late season and the promise of a New Year, that brings up the question of what actually happens when the world ends. For those who have a copy of the Blue Cliff Record lying around, the case number is 29.

Blue Cliff Record Case 29 Zachary Smith

Our topic for this talk is A True Companion: Zazen & Mortality. We will begin with embodiment and stay close to our resources as we take an honest, Dharmic look into the transformative power of this journey from here to the end of our life.

A True Companion: Zazen & Mortality Kodo Conlin

The topic is focused on an old Zen story (Case 4 of the Blue Cliff Record for those who are familiar with the literature), which discusses the apparently paradoxical relationship between what we might call “spiritual ambition”—i.e. wishing to benefit in some way from a spiritual practice like Zen—and the way in which ambition of any sort (aka “grasping”) is a barrier to fruitful practice.

Case 4 of the Blue Cliff Record Zachary Smith

What is the intersection of Zen and Politics?  What principles in Zen practice are most pertinent to engaging/not engaging/digesting the political discourses of our times?

Zen and Politics Michael McCord

When we're struggling or feeling lost, what do we have faith in? In other words, what do we believe will bring greater happiness? In this sense, we're all placing our faith in something-- whether that's the Dharma, a job promotion, romance, Netflix or cookies; we all seek happiness somewhere. Though faith isn't often associated with Buddhism, it's a fundamental part of the practice. During this session, we'll talk about the role of faith in our awakening, and how placing our faith in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, can provide a reliable refuge. For those that get the willies at the mere mention of faith, fear not-- we'll be exploring definitions of this term that go beyond the typical associations.

Faith and Refuge Mei Elliott

The topic is the koan of "Jumping Off the Hundred Foot Pole" (Case 79 Blue Cliff Record) and how we can find trust and faith in ourselves and our practice. How can we cultivate loving kindness and compassion within our zazen practice and how we spread that to the world around us?

Jumping Off the Hundred Foot Pole Kogetsu Jenny Mok

Zachary Smith, inspired by a Koan—Case 30 of the Blue Cliff Record—talks about what we’re actually “supposed" to be practicing with.

Case 30 of the Blue Cliff Record Zachary Smith

We have so many different types of work and yet, they are all governed by the same Zen principles:  what does this moment ask for? What is my body sensation and mental formation around what is happening?  How can I appropriately show up for "production" when Zen is about the "path" not necessarily the end result?

Work Practice Michael McCord

Michael McCord talks about the Triple Treasure and taking refuge in Soto Zen Buddhism.

Taking Refuge Young Urban Zen

Zachary Smith shares two koans from the Blue Cliff Record.

Two Koans from the Blue Cliff Record Young Urban Zen

Kodo Conlin says farewell and talks about practice and leadership transition at YUZ.

Leadership Transition Young Urban Zen

Kōgetsu Mok talks about how our Zen practice can help us better approach love and intimacy. How can zazen and our practice of the Bodhisattva Precepts help us be upright with our relationships to others and ourselves? 

Applying Zen Precepts to Relationships Young Urban Zen

Kōgetsu Mok talks about how our Zen practice can help us better approach love and intimacy. How can the Bodhisattva Precepts, Eightfold Path, and other tools help us be upright with our relationships to others and ourselves?

Love and Dating (continued) Young Urban Zen

Michael McCord discusses taking refuge in sangha, from the standpoint of Buddhist training for being with not only the sangha and the world, but clues to our own mystery of suffering. How good is our hearing for those with whom we do not agree?  How do we cultivate being present with people whom we find oppressive or askew with our views, especially if we are trying to find our voice?  

Hearing Others Young Urban Zen

Zachary Smith unpacks the English word “Love”—perhaps the most overloaded word in the language—and talks about its experiential footprint in practice, as well as how practice can foster love in our everyday relationships.

Valentines Dharma: Love and Zen Young Urban Zen

As children, many of us were raised by parents who told us to “be patient—and yet, few of us learned exactly what patience is or how to cultivate it. Mei Elliott explores what patience looks like, and how we can manifest it in our life and practice. If we're experiencing any form of suffering—large or small—patience can provide a doorway to freedom amidst difficulty.

2025 03 18 Mei Patience Young Urban Zen

Zachary Smith reflects on a talk given by Zentatsu Richard Baker, SFZC’s second Abbot, in 2012 about the idea of “mental posture”. Zach discusses how this idea can help us both with sitting and with bringing practice to our daily activity outside the Zendo.

Mental Posture Young Urban Zen

Kōgetsu Mok talks about the 5 Remembrances, a very powerful Buddhist teaching on impermanence and on owning our karma and actions.

Five Remembrances Young Urban Zen

Resentment often lingers quietly, heavy, unspoken, and rooted in pain. But it can be your teacher, showing you where you are still holding on. In this talk, Hiro Ikushima explores how Zen practice invites us to meet resentment with tenderness and curiosity. By turning toward it, we may uncover the hurt beneath and open the way to healing, compassion, and freedom. Even our hardest emotions can become gateways on the path of practice.

Resentment Young Urban Zen

Eli Brown-Stevenson talks about the transformative power of ‘affinity’—that natural resonance of being seen and welcomed—and how zazen practice can help us meet ourselves and others with openness, trust, and compassion.

Affinity Young Urban Zen

On an anniversary of when he first came to practice, Eli Brown-Stevenson shares some of the choices he made—and a few things he wishes he had paid closer attention to—in a reflection for his younger self and, maybe, for anyone else finding their way into practice too.

Note to Self Young Urban Zen

Kōgetsu Mok talks about the koan of our lives as we meet impossible situations, difficult conversations, the mountains of uncertainty, and challenging times. 

How can Zen practice help train us to meet these moments with better self-awareness, skillful action, grace, and integrity? 

Can we be kind to ourselves in the process, forgive the mistakes of others and ourselves, and see that the mess is beautiful and wholly included in practice? 

Mistakes Young Urban Zen

Michael McCord references a quote by Japanese writer Haruki Murakami: Pain is inevitable; suffering is optional.

This is very much in alignment with the basic noble truths of Zen and yet can be so elusive in the moments we inhabit.

How do we live into a future where we hold the discomforts, annoyances, turmoil and pain of our existence in altogether different way?  What can I do today or tomorrow?

Pain is Inevitable -- Suffering is Optional Young Urban Zen

Tim Wicks, the City Center Head of Practice, gives a brief way seeking mind talk telling the story of how he came to practice Zen. He also speaks about three basic tenets of Buddhism and how they are practiced in community.

Way Seeking Mind Young Urban Zen

Kōgetsu Mok discusses Suzuki Roshi's "Not Always So"—Be Kind with Yourself.

Our practice has an emphasis on warm heart and warm zazen. This kind of practice shows us how to take care of ourselves, our lives and others. When we're kind with our breathing, true practice can emerge as we learn to manage our impulses and busy lives.

Kindness Young Urban Zen

Hiro Ikushima speaks on the theme of pausing.

In a world that moves swiftly and often without mercy, the simple act of pausing can feel revolutionary. A single breath, a quiet moment of stopping, can open a doorway back to our own hearts. We explore how pausing allows us to meet life with greater tenderness, clarity, and courage — how it invites us to respond rather than react and move through the world with more spaciousness and care.

Pausing Young Urban Zen

Zachary Smith addresses Earth Day in the form of Case 5 of the Blue Cliff Record, in which Xuěfēng seems to be claiming that the Great Earth is no bigger than a millet seed.

Case 5 of the Blue Cliff Record Young Urban Zen

Eli Brown-Stevenson offers a talk titled The Art of Just This. 

Inspired by art and this quote from Suzuki Roshi, Eli talks about the importance of being with the process and not just focused on outcomes and results. 

“A wonderful painting is the result of the feeling in your fingers. If you have the feeling of the thickness of the ink in your in your brush, the painting is already there before you paint.”

Painting Young Urban Zen

Michael McCord discusses how one might stop the momentum of burn out.

The Buddha lived a life of extreme luxury and then dove head-long into asceticism for many years, only to come to the realization that a balanced life was where harmony could be found. His story is a road map for modern life full of pursuit, accomplishment and acquisition.  Even when a person buys-in to the concept of equanimous living, it doesn't mean that the momentum of a life will change that much.  Since we live in our bodies and minds (actually these are joined but appear different much of the time), second by second, and that IS our life, how does the way I have put my life together actually work for me?

Stopping Burnout Young Urban Zen

This talk is the beginning of a series on the paramitas which are the fruits of living the precepts of Buddhism.

Michael will be discussing the paramita of patience in this talk. Paramitas are viewed as perfections to be addressed directly as a way of working with one's practice.  Please come and turn over not only this paramita but how it relates to our everyday life, no matter where we spend our day (in the monastery, out in the world, in the home...).

Six Paramitas: Patience Young Urban Zen

Tim Wicks closes out the year (2025) with a talk about Renunciation, letting go.

He speaks about the grasping at the root of our suffering, our conditioning as "graspers," and how we help each other in learning to let go. 

Renunciation Young Urban Zen

Ryushin Paul Haller, long-time resident senior teacher and former Abbot, discusses the deepening of awareness and noticing how it affects how we respond to self and others; as we learn to see how we respond to our experiences, we see how we cause suffering for ourselves and others.

This talk was streamed live for this fall’s second EPP (Establishing the Path of Practice) course. Learn more about EPP here.

Establishing the Path of Practice Young Urban Zen

There’s an obvious and vital reason why we humans are so attached to our convictions, and the evidence for this attachment is written all over our history, from the earliest written records to this morning's edition of whatever news media we happen to be consuming now.

It is also is the subject of the very first chapter of the very first published koan collection. Referring to the exchange between Emperor Wu of Liang and the great master Bodhidharma in the aforementioned chapter, Anshi Zachary Smith develops a perspective, informed by zen teachings, on knowing and not-knowing.

Knowing and Not-Knowing Young Urban Zen

We wouldn't enter into a romantic or business relationship without shared agreements, some established boundaries, and emphasis on acceptable communication; however, it is quite common for us to have entrenched relationships with technology that have never been examined as to their overall net effect on us. In this talk, Michael examines technology using some of the principles we use in Zen practice to navigate relationships.

Relationships with Technology Young Urban Zen

Rev. Kristin Diggs speaks about meeting zen's "True Person"—an engagement that requires looking directly at what it is you are actually seeking.

True Person Young Urban Zen

Impermanence is one of the Three Marks of Existence, yet often the most difficult to accept in our daily lives. Whether it’s the changing of the seasons, a shift in career, or the realities of aging, sickness, and death, change is constant. In this talk we’ll practice how to meet impermanence not as an abstract concept, but as a lived experience, through the simple, fleeting beauty of bubbles.

Bubbles and Impermanence Young Urban Zen

Tonight’s talk was about a chapter from the recently published book of Suzuki Roshi’s teachings, "Becoming Yourself". The chapter is titled “Do Not Be Angry.”

Kōgetsu takes a look at how this fits with our practice of the Bodhisattva precepts and how we can live with more groundedness, connection, and clarity, even when we're angry.

Do Not Be Angry Young Urban Zen