Dharma Talks

Debra Seido Martin is Zen West's Guiding Teacher. She was transmitted in 2009 by Kyogen Carlson, late Abbott of Dharma Rain Zen Center. Seido is an organic farmer and psychotherapist devoted to the wild and giving space of practice and grace of the land. She carries forward her teacher’s directive to “ordain into your life.”

Koan Summer 9: Where Does the Path Begin?

Seido walks with us into the last case in the Mumonkan, Qianfang’s One Way . What does it mean to trust Mumon’s words, “before you have...

6d

Koan Summer 8: When the Four Elements Scatter

A small child squats to look at an insect, her hair a nimbus backlit by the morning sun. Old friends reminisce, “Do you remember when. ....

Aug 7

Koan Summer 7: Counting Stars

Lie on your back. Gaze into the inky blackness and count the stars, all septillion of them. Or count weeds on the side of the highway,...

Jul 31

Koan Summer 6: Partaking of the Awakened Life

Seido celebrates the life of Buddhist teacher Joanna Macy, who died last week. Macy, founder of The Work That Reconnects, emphasized...

Jul 24

Koan Summer 5: Fields

Meander with Seido through Xuefeng's Rice Field (Dogen’s Koan Collection, case 149). Verdant farms remind us that the boundaries, borders...

Jul 10

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