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.”

Four Foundations: Mindful of Body

The Buddha’s teaching encourages us to recognize and practice letting go of the idea of the body, the abstract picture of appearance and boundaries. We are invited to feel into sensation and the body’s own language: mysterious, ungraspable, and always in motion.

6 days ago

Four Foundations: Mindful of Breath

Mindfulness is a radical act of focusing the attention onto the present moment without judgment. When we cultivate awareness, we bring the practice off the cushion into everyday life. In the Sutra on the Four Establishments of Mindfulness from the Pali canon, the Buddha instructs his disciples to begin all mindfulness practice with the breath. Let us “go to the forest, to the foot of the tree, or an empty room,” and breathe.

Mar 5