Angel City Zen Center - Beginners Only Podcast

Dave Cuomo - Having Once Paused (History of Zen - Ikkyu)

In a special History of Zen, Dave turns to the life and poetry of Ikkyu to try to answer the question of how Zen has historically responded to times of crisis. In Ikkyu’s case the answer was great art, bad behavior, and a desperate need to get to the ultimate truth of a world that felt like it had left any such thing behind. Join us as Dave brings us his compelling life story along with some bawdy and beautiful poetry, including an extended reading from Stephen Berg's classic free verse translations "Crow With No Mouth."

Emily Eslami - Equanimity

“Why crave happiness, why push away the sadness. Why not just let everything be? We put so much energy into resisting the things we have no control over (which is actually everything), it’s a little silly.” - Emily Eslami

Erik Andersen - Emptiness and Compassion (We're All In This Together)

Our favorite in house psychiatrist, Erik, gives a perfect combination of ancient Zen and modern expert advice for managing a time of stress & anxiety.

Jason Dodge - What Am I Doing Here?

Jason Dodge tells us the story of what he’s doing and why he’s here, while just maybe we learn something about those things for ourselves. In an especially warm and fuzzy installment, the sangha doubles down and shares their own stories too!

Dave Cuomo - Blinding Darkness

Dave gives us an in depth look into the Buddhist creation myth. it's the question Buddha famously  refused to answer (except of course for when he changed his mind). It's a beginning in an ending and a story with no beginning and no ending. It's a story of nothing that confused itself for something, and was cursed to wander for endless kalpas trying to forget that one pesky thought. What the hell are we talking about?? We're talking about the story of everything! No one said it was going to be simple, but it's a good yarn and the sangha goes all in and laughs along with the ridiculousness of life, the universe, and everything, because in the end, what else can you do?

Love & Emptiness w/ Emily Eslami

Let’s talk about love! We all know Zen can be reluctant to talk about mushy things like love and kindness, but Emily bravely tackles loving kindness head on in the latest installment of her series on the Bramaviharas. From Buddha, to Dogen, to us, it’s a 2500 year long epic love story where the happy ending is always right here and now. How do we love the people we hate? (Boundlessly!) How do we let go of the ones we love? (By letting them go!) And what do we do about those pesky tree demons bothering us when we sit?? (Love them too!)

Dave Cuomo - Good Friends (History of Zen - The Platform Sutra)

In our latest installment of History of Zen, Dave gets very excited about sharing one of his favorite books with us that also happens to be the original defining text of Zen as we know it. In this 1300 year old sutra, Dave reads to us the warm words of our self professed good friend Huineng, who offers up a surprisingly modern take on secular spirituality. With humble wit and good humor, Huineng lays out a religion that asks us to only believe in what we already know - that we are perfect just the way we are. And in case we ever forget, there will always be a good friend here to help remind us.

Michele Roldan-Shaw - Street Buddhism (Jataka Tales)

Michele Roldan-Shaw spins classic Jataka Tales (folk tales of the Buddha's past lives) for us with all their ambiguities, tough love, and hard choices. We get to meet sea spirits, unruly crows, guilt ridden partridges, and yes a renunciant hermit disappointing his parents, all running around out there trying to figure out how to be decent beings in a world that rarely wants to make that easy for us. You can check our more of Michele's work at - https://www.micheleroldanshaw.com. And our own Brad Warner also posted a video about the stories and this talk up here! - https://youtu.be/SHOHnzQl9xg

Erik Andersen - Worry Time

Erik looks at anxiety in a wide ranging and well informed discussion of everything from the intricacies of classic Zen literature to contemporary psychology and all the vulnerable (and personal) twists and turns he takes to be able to share them with us. With readings from the great Huangpo, and tips and techniques from the latest in mental health science, Erik generously presents us with his own in the moment process of the anxiety of giving the talk itself to bring us a full meta exploration of how to manage and maintain through the method of no methods.

Dave Cuomo - Catastrophe! (History of Zen - Shenhui & The An Lushan Rebellion

In the year 757 in the middle of a catastrophic civil war surrounded by ruins and disaster, a monk named Shenhui stands on a hastily built grass platform and invents Zen as we know it with fiery speeches of enlightenment right here and now. The country, and the fledgling Buddhist school, are torn apart and put back together into something new and unique in world history. Continuing our series on Shitou’s classic poem, “The Harmony of Difference and equality,” we also get to see the historical context of why that piece was written in a story of meeting the moment and finding harmony in conflict and chaos.