The Doorway Into Liberation teaching Oct 13, 2022

So what am I? We think we know, but we really don't. That not-knowing is the doorway into our liberation. When we walk through that doorway of not-knowing, we let go of the concept, we let go of the belief, we let go of the idea. We ask, “What is it?” If we can let go of what we think...

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Buddhism and Lust teaching Oct 06, 2022

Student: What’s wrong with lust?

Zen Master Bon Soeng: It takes you away from your true nature.

Student: Isn’t it a natural feeling?

ZMBS: Is it? How do we know what’s natural? We think we have an idea of naturalness, but we don’t know naturalness. Maybe we’ve been...

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When The Dream Disappears teaching Sep 29, 2022

So we all have these dreams. We have the dreams of our likes, our dislikes, this story that we weave about ourselves. We carry this story of ourselves, but the story is not true. It’s factually not correct. We embellish, we make it up as we go along and then we protect it. "I am this." "I...

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Don’t Know Mind teaching Sep 22, 2022

This basic teaching we have is Don’t-Know Mind. We want to know, we think we know, we think we’re supposed to know. There’s all of this bias toward knowing. But we don’t really know. We have this radical teaching – how about admitting the truth that we don’t...

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Precepts Ceremony Sunday, September 18th news Sep 16, 2022

We would like to invite you to our precepts ceremony on Sunday, September 18th at 12:30pm PT. Everyone is welcome to attend online, even if you do not sit the retreat. Please come and join us!

Here is the Zoom link to attend the ceremony.

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Your Experience Is The True Way teaching Sep 15, 2022

Our job is to really discover what our experience is. Don’t worry too much about what Buddhism says. Use the practice to discover your own experience and use that experience to attain your true self and help all beings. That’s authentic. That’s real. The teachings will help...

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Don’t Be Fooled By What You Want teaching Sep 08, 2022

Don’t be fooled by what you want. Just keep practicing. If you are only after what you want, ultimately you are going to be disappointed. It's not that your practice or discipline leads to what you want; practice leads to some clarity which leaves you more open to what’s there for...

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Right Speech teaching Sep 01, 2022
Question: As far as keeping that open mind, that Don’t-Know mind, how does that relate to our preconception that it is good for me to have right speech?
 
Zen Master Bon Soeng: It would raise the question, “What is right speech?” It’s a nice idea to have right speech,...
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Mind Makes Everything teaching Aug 25, 2022

I think if you look at your own life, you can see that the way you hold your mind and the way you view and perceive these situations that occur in our lives, that it creates the way we respond to them. Our responses are what create the next event. So, our likes and dislikes are really what create...

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Trust Your Experience teaching Aug 18, 2022
Student: We like to say “Don’t Know”, as was mentioned in the meditation instruction today. Is there anything that we do know? Is there anything that we’re allowed to know? (laughter)

Zen Master Bon Soeng: Do you see this robe?
 
Student: Yes

ZMBS: What color is it?

...
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Accepting Your Life teaching Aug 11, 2022
You have to accept your life. Accept does not mean "like", accept does not mean it's a good idea or a good thing. Accept means that's the truth. One of the important things that the Buddha talked about was that what we perceive and what we think is not necessarily the truth. Because the truth...
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Everything is Changing teaching Aug 04, 2022
Everything is always changing. That’s the truth of our human world. The earth is spinning on its axis. That moves the wind, that moves time, that moves space and it creates change. We either like what we have and don’t want to lose it so we fight the change. Or we think our life...
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