Angel City Zen Center - Beginners Only Podcast

Emily Eslami - Triple Treasure, Triple Treat! (The Three Refuges)

“Everything reflects triple treasure. You reflect triple treasure, and questioning triple treasure reflects triple treasure. Not understanding what the heck I'm talking about is triple treasure. We're talking about coming home to ourselves, trusting ourselves, relying on ourselves.

And there's that tricky word. Self. What is self? Is it my memories? No. Is it my thoughts? Is it what I'm saying right now? No. Is it the clothes I'm wearing, this body that I’m in? No, not quite. Then what is it? What's left? That's not self, that's what we truly are. “ - Emily Eslami

Emily brings us a precept, a promise, and gift in her latest installment of her ever timely precept series with an in depth look at the three refuges. What are they (everything!), and what are they a refuge from (everything else??)? And what does it mean to take refuge in them? Find out here! 

Dave Cuomo - What Do You Want? (Love & Self Care)

“If there's a distinction in our minds between self care and doing good for other people, then we're missing the point of everything that we're doing on this planet. ” - Dave Cuomo

Dave brings us a Zen look at love and self care through encounters with the Bodhisattva of Compassion his(or)herself, Avalokiteshvara. Can this magical being really save us from danger and death? Is it compassionate to give people what they want? Does prayer actually work? And does smoking count as self care? Find out here!

Emily Eslami - The Cheat Sheet of (un)Reality (10th Precept - No Disparaging the Buddha, Dharma, & Sangha)

”To not kill the Buddha when you meet them on the road is abusing the triple treasures. How not to abuse the triple treasures is to accept everything as Buddha, Dharma, & Sangha, and accept yourself as Buddha Dharma and Sangha.” - Emily Eslami

Emily takes on the 10th major precept, no disparaging the Buddha, Dharma, & Sangha. Sounds simple right? But of course this is  Zen so nothing is ever so simple (or maybe way simpler than our brains are equipped for…) Why are we told by the old masters that the only way not to abuse the Buddha is by killing him? Why does this dharma talk tell us that dharma isn’t something that can be learned in teachings? And what does sangha even mean if it means everything and everyone? Find out here!

Dave Cuomo - The Great Mistake (Ignorance - part deux!)

“To remember that ignorance is enlightenment is to not separate myself from what's right in front of me, to not think that I can be better than the people in front of me, to not think that I'm going to be a better person by trying to be a better person. It’s to love and accept what's in front of me. 

To embrace ignorance is a loving act. And that's why I like Zen. It sounds weird and ironic, but I always think they mean love.” - Dave Cuomo

By popular demand Dave takes a deep dive into delusion and follows up his talk on the 12 Fold Chain with an in depth look at ignorance in Buddhism. What is this great mistake we can't help make that causes the whole world to come into being? And what does Zen mean when they tell us that ignorance is already enlightenment and does Dave have any tips for what to do with that personally?? (Stories yes, no promises on helpful tips...) And bonus round! One deep dark koan, two contemporary Zen masters duking it out in the commentaries. Who will win the great dunce crown of ignorance supreme?? Find out here!

Dave Cuomo - Ignorance is Bliss (pt 1 - The 12 Fold Chain)

"In classical Buddhism, the fundamental mistake is that getting what you think you want will make you happy. In Zen they seem to say the fundamental delusion is that you exist at all. 

This is why Zen is so weird. We're trying to look at what comes before awareness, and that's hard. It’s really hard to be aware of something that precedes awareness. But not impossible....” - Dave Cuomo

Dave takes us for a freewheeling ride on that big beautiful ferris wheel of life we call samsara, aka The 12 Fold Chain of Dependent Origination. It’s the great pie chart of all reality that Buddha warned us we can either wake up to, or be doomed to repeat over and over again. But do we really want it to end, or can we find a way to make the ride a little less bumpy? How does anything happen and do we actually have any control over it? Is reality just a mistake and would knowing that make any difference?? Does the ACZC sangha want to get down on some seriously nerdy Buddhist theory??? Find out (and let us know) here…

Emily Eslami - Love Potion ((#)9th Precept - No Giving Way to Anger)

"When you get mad at yourself, that means you’re mad at another self. Maybe you turn your face and see yourself. Or you see yourself as other. This is very hard...
If you become angry, you don’t stop being Buddha. Anger appears, that’s all." - Kobun Chino

In the latest installment of her ever timely precept series, Emily takes on that molten hot lava of an emotion, anger. What do we experience when we feel it? How can we feel it and not be consumed by it? How can we use it skillfully when we need to? In this inspiring talk she shows how what exists at the bottom of anger is pain. And how sitting with it is to experience the path of the Boddhisatva – and of Zen meditation itself. 

Dave Cuomo - Fringe Benefit

"If you want to make peace with yourself and not hate zazen, it's going to help to like yourself, or at least just accept yourself the way you are. I promise, you're great and you're worth it. And it'll help.

And fringe benefit, you might find yourself a little happier and nicer, your whole life might improve in every way you ever wanted it to. But that's not why we're here, that's not the point of zazen.” - Dave Cuomo

In a wide ranging talk full of surprises and conundrums, Dave delves into Dogen’s Fukanzazengi (Instructions for Zazen) and the older Chinese text that preceded it to answer the question of whether Zen is something that can be taught, or whether it’s something we can only experience. And bonus! In the latter half Dave treats us to his own "What Am I Doing Here" talk as he shares his experience of how he came to Zen and why he's so stuck on it, along with a sincere inquiry into whether it's a practice we can learn or something that has to come and find us when it's ready.

Emily Eslami - My Missing Piece (8th Precept - No Coveting)

"When you go to the mountain, and see a flower blooming, pick it, break it, and make it yours - this is attachment. If you let it be there for everything and everyone - this is 'no attachment.'

Even your self does not belong to you. You are everything." - Kobun Chino

In the latest installment of Emily’s ever timely precept series, she takes on the eighth precept, "no coveting," ie craving – what it looks like, why we do it, whether we can stop ourselves, and how it turns out that coveting and stinginess are two sides of the same coin after all. What exactly are clinging to when we grasp after those desires, states, and people? And (maybe more concerning) if there is no self, what is there even to cling in the first place?  

Dave Cuomo - A Functional Fantasy Land

"To love the mountains is not to know about mountains, but to climb mountains and to live and die continuously with them.

The best way to realize the true beauty of Mount Fuji is to actually go climb it. If you do that, the beauty of Mount Fuji as you have known it will disappear. But this does not mean that the true beauty of Mount Fuji has disappeared. The beauty of Mount Fuji is eternal and unchanging. 

When we live with Mount Fuji and breathe with Mount Fuji, we can experience the deep taste of being at one with Mount Fuji. We are already beyond the realm of 'trying to understand.'” - Dainin Katagiri

Dave celebrates the return of in person discussions with reading and commentary on a beautiful piece from Dainin Katagiri on Dogen's "Instructions to the Cook," where Katagiri gives us his unvarnished impressions on his adopted American homeland and why our nation of problems and possibility is such fertile ground for practice. 

Dave Cuomo - Karma Happens

"Sometimes I walk by a pile of poo and think "What jerk did that? I hate that guy. This is why we can't have nice things." And then I go around telling everyone about this jerk, and we all get upset and probably sound like a bunch of jerks.

And sometimes I walk by and think, "Huh, look at that poo." Maybe I have to scrape some poo off my shoe, and then I walk on, smelling it for a minute, and then smelling flowers on the next block. I'm guessing things go better for everyone when that happens, but I wouldn't really know because I'm not dwelling on it." - Dave Cuomo

 In a podcast exclusive, Dave takes a deep dive into the steaming pile of confusion that is karma. Is the universe a fair place? Is there such a thing as cosmic justice?? And if not should we even bother trying to be good people??? And if someone does poop in the road and no one is there to smell it, what will those flies even greet on their return??? Find out here!