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.”

A Walk into the Six Perfections

Seido gives an introduction here to the six perfections, generosity, ethical action, patience, effort, meditation and wisdom, our fall...

Sep 16, 2023

Zazen: The Koan Realized

As the sangha transitions into fall Ango from “koan summer,” Seido returns to zazen ,the “koan realized,” as Dogen Zenji calls it in...

Sep 15, 2023

Koan Summer: Sesshin – Oh No! Oh Yes!

Seido reflects on the recent sesshin facing the challenges of thunder storms, fires, poor air quality, hornets, injuries and then some...

Sep 1, 2023

Koan Summer: Skin, Flesh, Bones, Marrow

Seido investigates the story where Bodhidharma tests four of his students about their understanding of the dharma and eventually gives...

Aug 18, 2023

Koan Summer: Blue Cliff Case on Blindness and Clarity

Seido unfolds a case from the Blue Cliff record, the middle collection of koans, that questions the nature of being “clear eyed” or free...

Aug 11, 2023

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