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This week’s theme is Right Effort — Not Getting Anything, Not Causing Harm. We’ll touch on the simple but challenging guidelines of do no harm, do all good, and how our actions through body, speech, and mind shape our experience and those around us.

Tonight Eli continues in the series on the 8 Fold Path. Tonight we will practice and talk about Right Mindfulness. 

Tim Wicks leads this weekly YUZ talk with an overview of The Four Noble Truths and a further focus on 2 folds of The Eight Fold Path: Right Speech & Right Action. Unfortunately, a fire occurred in late March which burned down the Zendo at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center. No one was injured, but the damage is extensive. See below link for more details about donating and also another link about the latest info on the matter:Tassajara Fire DonationTassajara Fire blog Content Link Block Select a page and create a visual link to it. Learn more Blog

As many of you may have heard, we did have a fire at our Tassajara monastery, and the meditation hall burned down. I'll talk a little bit about what's going on there at the beginning of the meeting tonight. Thankfully, no one was hurt, and the fire was contained and did not spread beyond the meditation hall. Tonight's topic will be the second half of the Brahma Viharas: empathetic joy and equanimity. Tassajara Zendo Fire Late at night on March 26, a fire broke out in the Tassajara zendo. While no one was hurt, the entire building burned to the ground. To help keep the community informed, a blog post was created as a central source for information on the fire and where we are going from here. It will be updated with new information as it becomes available, including the impact on the Summer Guest Season and Summer Student Program. Deep bows of appreciation to all who have sent in their heartfelt condolences, memories, and donations. Visit the Tassajara Zendo Fire Blog Updates. Fire Donation

Michael McCord leads tonight’s talk about The Four Brahmavihārās. This is part 1 of a 2 part series which focuses on the Brahmavihārās “Loving Kindness” & “Compassion.” In a world that can be  aggressive, combative, competitive, how do these traits work not only with those we love and trust but towards the world in general?  And how do they manifest in us, through a decision? Cultivation? Simple awareness?

In Zen and traditional Buddhism there are a number of tools that can be cultivated to help us in these relationships and some of you may have wisdom to share in the practice of relationships and work.

Eli opens a conversation on how to be in relationship with “people we don’t like”. He discusses how sitting zazen might help us practice with unpleasant feelings that come up in conflict—anger, frustration, judgement, resentment, and so on. What if we looked at relationships with “people we don’t like” not as imperfections in practice but as the practice itself?

Kōgetsu talks about Intimacy with the Self. We live in a world that constantly tells us we need to improve—to become better, more optimized versions of ourselves. Checklists, standards, performance reviews: we might even find ourselves trying to optimize our meditation practice. What would it mean to be truly intimate with ourselves—especially with our fear, shame, envy, anger, and the parts we’d rather not highlight—without letting the parts define us or control how we act? Buddhist teaching offers a different view. What we call the self is not a fixed thing, but a changing process built moment-by-moment from sensation, story, and habit. Much of our suffering comes not from having thoughts and feelings, but from becoming fused with them. We discuss how a meditation practice helps us stay close to our experience without being overtaken by it. How we can meet life’s ups and downs with greater steadiness, vulnerability, and presence, without believing every story the mind tells?

Hiro Ikushima gives a talk about Relationships. This is part 1 of a series. This talk focused on family. Ram Dass once said, “If you think you are enlightened, go spend a week with your family.” Many of us recognize the truth in that. Family can be both our deepest source of love and our greatest challenge.Hiro guides us on how explore remaining steady and compassionate in the midst of family dynamics, and how we might begin to see our family members as part of our spiritual path.

In our final paramita talk, Kristen Diggs leads a talk regarding the Paramita of Wisdom. What is complete and perfect wisdom? How can we look to find it?

Tim Wicks leads a talk regarding the Paramitas (aka crossing over) focusing on Concentration. Why do we meditate, and what is it that we are trying to do facing the wall? Working with the mind and our thoughts is central to Zen practice and, for many of us, the most difficult part. “We are trying to cross over away from the distractions and delusions that prevent us from full awareness.”

How do we keep showing up in our work, relationships, and the world without exhausting ourselves or betraying what matters most to us? Eli discusses joyful effort (virya): an approach to effort that isn’t about grinding harder, chasing outcomes, or measuring worth through productivity. Drawing on Zen practice and lived experience, we unpack questions many of us carry quietly: Am I doing enough? What does sustainable commitment look like? How do I stay engaged when trust is low and fatigue is high?

In this talk, Kōgetsu discusses generosity also known as Dana. Buddhist practice invites us to look more deeply at how we can meet the roots of suffering. We will explore how generosity includes how we relate to ourselves and others, how we listen, how we repair, how we set limits, and how wisdom guides what actually helps rather than what simply feels good in the moment. Zazen trains us to meet generosity with clarity rather than compulsion.

In this talk, Mei discusses the paramita of ethical conduct. Sīla (ethical conduct) is one of the six paramitas (perfections) that develops a practitioner on the path of freedom, while simultaneously manifesting awakened activity. Though most Westerners don't initially delight in the topic of ethical behavior, Mei explains that virtue is one of the most beautiful expressions of the awakened mind. 

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...).