Zencare Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

“How can I arouse the spirit of reconciliation and harmony right now?”



In this recent dharma talk, Koshin Sensei invites us to reflect on what it means to truly grow up and live with wisdom.

Quoting Uchiyama Roshi, the author of this summer Commit to Sit's guiding text, he reminds us that while we may look like adults, our hearts and our behavior often remain immature.

Koshin also reflects on how, even in times of conflict and pain, we can choose harmony over division.

After speaking with sangha members in Israel and Iran, both asking how not to create enemies, he encourages us to pause and ask ourselves: “How can I arouse the spirit of reconciliation and harmony right now?”

May we have the courage to turn inward and live with greater peace.

When illness and loss touch our community, how can we transform uncertainty into deeper practice?

In this recent dharma talk, Koshin Sensei explores how life's fragility can awaken rather than paralyze us. Drawing from Shakyamuni Buddha's third awareness, he reveals how we trap ourselves in narrow self-concepts and offers practice as the antidote.

“Let the forms of the practice dismantle your self-image,” he guides, echoing Uchiyama Roshi's wisdom to “let go of the small self to realize the vastness of life itself.”

Discover how to break free from the stories that keep you limited and step into true spaciousness.

What does it really take to build a lasting, loving relationship? In this special episode from the 10% Happier Podcast, Koshin Sensei and Chodo Sensei join Dan Harris and his wife, Bianca, for a candid conversation about marriage, connection, and the deep work of being in relationship.

Together, they explore:

• How early childhood experiences shape the way we relate to our partners
• The importance of understanding each other’s “operating manuals” and co-creating a shared path forward
• The role of humor—when it helps and when it hurts
• Why doing your own inner work outside of the relationship is essential
• How learning to be uncomfortable—together—can strengthen intimacy

Rooted in wisdom, honesty, and humor, this conversation offers insight into the realities of partnership and how we can show up with more awareness, compassion, and presence.

MUSIC Heart Sutra by Kanho Yakushiji – Buddhist priest and musician of the Rinzai sect and Imaji temple in Imabari, Japan. In 2003, he formed “KISSAQUO”, a songwriting duo based in Kyoto.

• NYZC PUBLICATIONSUntangled here: https://bit.ly/untangled-book
• Wholehearted: Slow Down, Help Out, Wake Up here: https://amzn.to/2JTKF1t
• Awake At The Bedside here: https://amzn.to/3aijXdL

CONNECT WITH US—Instagram

—Facebook

—X (Twitter)

—Donate

The post Unearthing Beauty | Chodo Campbell appeared first on New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care.

“…when you practice and practice in this way and there is agreement between thoughts and words, it will truly be like intimate friends meeting, or self nodding to self. ” – Keizan Zenji

Even in the darkest of days, a faint light may be shimmering in the distance. Sometimes the dharma emerges as a mere sprinkle of goodness through the dense muck of our lives. No matter how heavy things are at the moment, can we allow something tiny and quiet and beautiful to break in?

In this recent dharma talk, Chodo Sensei reflects on Keizan Zenji’s teachings about Micchaka, the sixth ancestor in the Soto Zen lineage. The Venerable Micchaka learned from his teacher, Dhritaka, not to be preoccupied or enamored by a narrow view of things. Life is an expansive stream wide enough to allow everything to flow. How can we be more receptive to what is possible, more available to experiencing life as it is? By sharing his journey through the grips of substance abuse to a life of service to others, Chodo gives expression to the truth of Keizan’s insights. On the thirty seventh anniversary of his sobriety, Chodo honors the three treasures and expresses gratitude for his teacher.    

ZENTALK NOTES

Chodo Campbell Sensei is a Zen teacher, bereavement specialist, grief counselor and a recognized leader for those suffering with the complexities of death & dying, aging, and sobriety.  The educational non-profit he co-founded, the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care, touches thousands of lives every year through its numerous educational programs, contemplative retreats, and Soto Zen Buddhist practices. Chodo has been featured in the New York Times, PBS, CBS Sunday Morning and other media outlets. 

Heart Sutra by Kanho Yakushiji –  Buddhist priest and musician of the Rinzai sect and Imaji temple in Imabari, Japan. In 2003, he formed “KISSAQUO”, a songwriting duo based in Kyoto.

• Untangled here: https://bit.ly/untangled-book
• Wholehearted: Slow Down, Help Out, Wake Up here: https://amzn.to/2JTKF1t
• Awake At The Bedside here: https://amzn.to/3aijXdL

—Instagram

—Facebook

—X (Twitter)

—Donate

The post Unearthing Beauty | Chodo Campbell appeared first on New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care.

“Completing the ordinary things we do every day, one by one, with all of our heart—this is enlightenment itself.”

At the end of January, 120 members of the NYZC sangha gathered for a five-day retreat, together cultivating an ever-deepening sense of community practice, responsiveness, and connection.

This remarkable sesshin concluded with a joyous ceremony (with dharma combat!) honoring the completion of Shishin Falk’s training period as shuso, or senior student.

This week’s featured dharma talk is thus Koshin Sensei’s opening talk from the retreat as well as the opening talk for our winter Commit to Sit. The guiding inspiration for both are the teachings and practices of our dharma ancestors from Shakyamuni Buddha to Dogen Zenji and Keizan Jokin Zenji to those we learn from today.

Upon seeing the morning star, these words attributed to Shakymuni ignite the way of awakening: “I and the great earth, and all beings, simultaneously achieve the way.”  An astonishingly ordinary moment, Koshin reminds us. To actual be where you are and see what there is to see there. A star. That tree. This body. Your face. “From the time you got of bed this morning, have you allowed yourself to be amazed by what is right in front of you?” Fully receiving reality just as it comes, however it comes in each moment, means waking up to amazement.

Koshin encourages us to get away from our “cranky rumination” about the way we want things to be and embrace the work and ease of staying in relationship to what is within and around you. Practicing together draws us out from our little, lonely heads and places us into new realms of surprise and joy; heartbreak and intimacy.

Photo: Nic Neves

ZENTALK NOTES

Koshin Paley Ellison Sensei is a Zen teacher, Jungian psychotherapist, leader in contemplative care, and co-founder of an educational non-profit called the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care. His books, grounded in Buddhist wisdom and practice, have gained national attention. Through its numerous educational programs, contemplative retreats, and Soto Zen Buddhist practices, the New York Zen Center touches thousands of lives every year.

Heart Sutra by Kanho Yakushiji –  Buddhist priest and musician of the Rinzai sect and Imaji temple in Imabari, Japan. In 2003, he formed “KISSAQUO”, a songwriting duo based in Kyoto.

• Untangled here: https://bit.ly/untangled-book
• Wholehearted: Slow Down, Help Out, Wake Up here: https://amzn.to/2JTKF1t
• Awake At The Bedside here: https://amzn.to/3aijXdL

—Instagram

—Facebook

—X (Twitter)

—Donate

The post Entering the City of Reality | Koshin Paley Ellison appeared first on New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care.

“How do we trust what is actually fresh and coming from a soft, unknowing place? This is the whole reason to practice.” – Koshin Sensei 

Each moment is an opportunity to notice from where our thoughts, feelings, and actions come. Do we live out of our discursive mind and entrenched reactions, or are we able to touch into what is fresh and responsive? Can we remain attuned to our soft belly breathing, from the hara, as we encounter the realities of beauty and pain in our day to day lives? Being grounded, open, upright, and soft is a place of practice. 

In this recent dharma talk, Koshin Sensei allows the confluence of Martin Luther King, Jr Day and Inauguration Day to remind us that everyday, and truly every moment, is full to the brim with celebration and disappointment; possibility and despair. This is reality. We practice – again and again – in the same way that generations of ancestors have to live in accordance with reality. At the advent of our ninety day ango period, Commit to Sit, Koshin encourages us to show up to our lives and invite everything in. Instead of exclusion and division, can we begin to see everything as an essential part of the whole? MLK Jr’s vision of the beloved community is an inspiration to understand what it means to be a sangha. Like the opening chapter of the Lotus Sutra, can we invite all beings – those we like and those we don’t; those we name and those whose names we do not yet know – to our assembly? There is enough pushing away. Can we practice compassion for all beings, including ourselves, in a fresh way for the sake of a hurting and fractured world?    

ZENTALK NOTES

Koshin Paley Ellison Sensei is a Zen teacher, Jungian psychotherapist, leader in contemplative care, and co-founder of an educational non-profit called the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care. His books, grounded in Buddhist wisdom and practice, have gained national attention. Through its numerous educational programs, contemplative retreats, and Soto Zen Buddhist practices, the New York Zen Center touches thousands of lives every year.

Heart Sutra by Kanho Yakushiji –  Buddhist priest and musician of the Rinzai sect and Imaji temple in Imabari, Japan. In 2003, he formed “KISSAQUO”, a songwriting duo based in Kyoto.

• Untangled here: https://bit.ly/untangled-book
• Wholehearted: Slow Down, Help Out, Wake Up here: https://amzn.to/2JTKF1t
• Awake At The Bedside here: https://amzn.to/3aijXdL

—Instagram

—Facebook

—X (Twitter)

—Donate

The post Auspicious Day | Koshin Paley Ellison appeared first on New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care.

“This sangha, here and on Zoom, represents 88 generations of practitioners—how incredible to be part of this living lineage.”

Our upcoming Commit to Sit is starting this week and so we share one final dharma talk from last summer’s Commit to Sit with you.

In this moving talk, Chodo Sensei weaves personal stories with timeless Zen teachings, reflecting on the profound simplicity of zazen and its capacity to transform even the most challenging moments.

From the resilience of daffodils breaking through asphalt to the unexpected beauty of aging, Chodo inspires us to embrace the present moment and commit to the path, breath by breath.

Whether you’re a seasoned practitioner or new to Zen, this talk will encourage you to remember the strength found in sincerity and community.

Chodo Campbell Sensei is a Zen teacher, bereavement specialist, grief counselor and a recognized leader for those suffering with the complexities of death & dying, aging, and sobriety.  The educational non-profit he co-founded, the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care, touches thousands of lives every year through its numerous educational programs, contemplative retreats, and Soto Zen Buddhist practices. Chodo has been featured in the New York Times, PBS, CBS Sunday Morning and other media outlets. 

Heart Sutra by Kanho Yakushiji –  Buddhist priest and musician of the Rinzai sect and Imaji temple in Imabari, Japan. In 2003, he formed “KISSAQUO”, a songwriting duo based in Kyoto.

• Untangled here: https://bit.ly/untangled-book
• Wholehearted: Slow Down, Help Out, Wake Up here: https://amzn.to/2JTKF1t
• Awake At The Bedside here: https://amzn.to/3aijXdL

—Instagram

—Facebook

—X (Twitter)

—Donate

The post The Resilience of a Daffodil | Chodo Robert Campbell appeared first on New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care.

“The world will always need compassion and wisdom. In our lifetime and after our lifetime.” – Koshin

The interconnectedness of everything is not an idea or a belief. No separation is a truth to experience. How can we allow the thorough, inherent relatedness of all things to inform how we think, feel, and act today? Openness and receptivity is a place a practice.  

In this recent dharma talk, Koshin Sensei encourages us to widen our perspective and move beyond the usual preoccupations with our ‘small’ concerns. How can we courageously allow a view of the whole to come alive through us in everyday moments? This is the meaningful shift from relative to absolute bodhichitta that the awakening way calls us to practice together.  As Koshin teaches, the exceedingly spacious view – which is all of reality – “…is the container within which our practice can actually be free.” Continuing with his series of reflections on Keizan Jokin Zenji’s “Zazen-Yojinki,” Koshin takes time in this talk to focus on the next few lines of this text. Listen to how Keizan Zenji speaks to the expansive view of the whole. “Without peak of depths, its brilliance is unthinkable, its shows itself silently. Between sky and earth, only this whole body is seen.”  How can we open ourselves up to see this whole body? How can this enliven our practice and ground our service in the world? For Koshin, the qualities of equanimity, compassion, and wisdom are key. In our lifetime, how can we embody these qualities in our relationships? Can all of our heart-minds manifest equanimity, compassion, and wisdom as medicine for a world perpetually struggling with fires, floods, and violence? May our clear and loving actions, in this moment, reverberate outward for the sake of all beings who will be here long after we are gone.   

ZENTALK NOTES

Koshin Paley Ellison Sensei is a Zen teacher, Jungian psychotherapist, leader in contemplative care, and co-founder of an educational non-profit called the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care. His books, grounded in Buddhist wisdom and practice, have gained national attention. Through its numerous educational programs, contemplative retreats, and Soto Zen Buddhist practices, the New York Zen Center touches thousands of lives every year.

Heart Sutra by Kanho Yakushiji –  Buddhist priest and musician of the Rinzai sect and Imaji temple in Imabari, Japan. In 2003, he formed “KISSAQUO”, a songwriting duo based in Kyoto.

• Untangled here: https://bit.ly/untangled-book
• Wholehearted: Slow Down, Help Out, Wake Up here: https://amzn.to/2JTKF1t
• Awake At The Bedside here: https://amzn.to/3aijXdL

—Instagram

—Facebook

—X (Twitter)

—Donate

The post Seeing This Whole Body | Koshin Paley Ellison appeared first on New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care.

“Taking refuge in sangha is taking refuge in diversity—diversity inside and diversity in the world.”

We share this profound and tender opening dharma talk from our recent Summer Commit to Sit in honor of our upcoming Commit to Sit starting January 22nd.

In it, Koshin Sensei opens the 90-day practice period by weaving timeless teachings from Buddha’s era into the challenges and opportunities of modern life. From the joy of shared meditation to reflections on suffering, impermanence, and interconnectedness, this talk is both deeply moving and lighthearted—featuring everything from Carl Sagan’s “Pale Blue Dot” to a humorous nod to Schitt’s Creek.

He also explores how to “take refuge” in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, inviting us to embrace both our fears and joys, our personal stories, and the vastness of the universe.

With reflections on love, death, and the enduring power of community, we are invited to live fully, practice deeply, and fold everything—suffering, diversity, and awe—into the richness of life.

Koshin Paley Ellison Sensei is a Zen teacher, Jungian psychotherapist, leader in contemplative care, and co-founder of an educational non-profit called the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care. His books, grounded in Buddhist wisdom and practice, have gained national attention. Through its numerous educational programs, contemplative retreats, and Soto Zen Buddhist practices, the New York Zen Center touches thousands of lives every year.

Heart Sutra by Kanho Yakushiji –  Buddhist priest and musician of the Rinzai sect and Imaji temple in Imabari, Japan. In 2003, he formed “KISSAQUO”, a songwriting duo based in Kyoto.

• Untangled here: https://bit.ly/untangled-book
• Wholehearted: Slow Down, Help Out, Wake Up here: https://amzn.to/2JTKF1t
• Awake At The Bedside here: https://amzn.to/3aijXdL

—Instagram

—Facebook

—X (Twitter)

—Donate

The post The Great Challenge of Sangha | Koshin Paley Ellison appeared first on New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care.

“There is not a moment when you can’t practice.” – Koshin

The busyness of life often pulls us away from presence.

In this powerful dharma talk, Koshin Sensei invites us to pause, to soften, and to return to the stillpoint at the heart of movement.

Opening with a moving ritual of gratitude for his teacher, Koshin continues his reflections on Keizan Jokin Zenji’s Zazen-Yojinki. He reads: “Do nothing at all. The six senses produce nothing.” Through this lens, we explore how zazen can help us stop habitually following the sights, sounds, and sensations that shape our self-made world.

What opens when we stop grasping for identity or perfection?

Keizan Zenji writes: “Trying to think of it, the thought vanishes. Trying to speak of it, words die.” In this talk, we are reminded that true aspiration is not about achieving something, but about allowing boundlessness to arise.

Drawing on the mythic figure of Baba Yaga, Koshin invites us to show up fully and foolishly—to live in truth rather than fear, and to meet life as it is, not as we wish it to be.

This is the heart of our practice: setting down the demand for perfection, and opening to the spaciousness available in every moment.

‍

ZENTALK NOTES

Koshin Paley Ellison Sensei is a Zen teacher, Jungian psychotherapist, leader in contemplative care, and co-founder of an educational non-profit called the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care. His books, grounded in Buddhist wisdom and practice, have gained national attention. Through its numerous educational programs, contemplative retreats, and Soto Zen Buddhist practices, the New York Zen Center touches thousands of lives every year.

MUSIC

Heart Sutra by Kanho Yakushiji – Buddhist priest and musician of the Rinzai sect and Imaji temple in Imabari, Japan. In 2003, he formed “KISSAQUO”, a songwriting duo based in Kyoto.

NYZC PUBLICATIONS

• Untangled: https://bit.ly/untangled-book
• Wholehearted: Slow Down, Help Out, Wake Up: https://amzn.to/2JTKF1t
• Awake At The Bedside: https://amzn.to/3aijXdL

CONNECT WITH US—Instagram

—Facebook

—X (Twitter)

—Donate

The post Boundlessness Not Perfection | Koshin Paley Ellison appeared first on New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care.