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.”

Dogen’s Genjo Koan: To Study the Self

Like a bird learns to fly, studying the self leads to freedom. In the search for permanence, continuity, and safety, we often fashion a two-dimensional, static map of the boundaries between ourselves and the world. Bit by bit, we can let go of the map, beholding the world, and letting the world behold us. See what arises in that dynamic, flowing, ungraspable space.

Sep 30

Koan Summer: Faith in the Wild

A koan gets us off the bleachers of our life. It pushes us out of our comfort zone and into the game, saying "discover something." We have to rely on something deep and intrinsic the thinking mind can't grasp, and trust in our own awakening. If we come out of the other side of a koan, we might be roughed up a bit, but we are lighter, more free, and more alive.

Jun 3