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...

Aug 14

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 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

Koan Summer 4: Plate of Grass, Bowl of Rice

Seido follows breadcrumbs into the forest of koans. Under this tree, Nyogen Senzaki spins stories of banquets and boisterous parties....

Jul 3

Koan Summer 3: Say Yes To Your Life

Koans help us release our baggage about awakening. Seido discusses Case 41 from the Blue Cliff Record—how does a person who has...

Jun 26

Koan Summer 2: Show Me Your Ordinary Mind

“Ordinary Mind is the Way” (Case 19 of the Mumonkan) beckons to all of us who seek the Way somewhere “out there.” We are called to leap...

Jun 19

Welcome to Koan Summer

The mind of koan is not about solving a riddle or passing a test. Koan mind, intimate and grounded, is a way to meet a life that is often...

Jun 12

Koan Summer

A series of talks exploring how the spirit of koan practice meets life freshly and points to what is most essential in any one moment....

Sep 17, 2024

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

Koan Summer: Case 94 – Tozan is Ill

Seido talks about the context of this koan from the Book of Serenity that heralds the ending of the koan curriculum and the coming...

Aug 4, 2023

Koan Summer: A Person of Great Strength

Seido launches the summer group koan study with comments on Case 20 of the Mumonkan, “Sung-yuan’s Person of Great Strength.” Included in...

Jul 14, 2023

Blue Cliff Case 78: 16 Bodhisattvas Enter the Bath

Seido reflects on this koan and its relationship to what unfolded during a recent sesshin at Empty Field Zendo for 17 practitioners. In...

Aug 26, 2022

Blue Cliff Case 43: Dongshan’s Heat and Cold

Seido talks about our propensity to avoid discomfort and the invitation from this koan to become intimate with life that says “yes”...

Jul 29, 2022

Case 52: Zhaozhou’s Bridge

A disappointed monk traveling to great Master Joshu’s monastery challenges the teacher about what Zen is supposed to look like. Seido...

Jul 15, 2022

Case 91: Yanguan’s Rhinoceros Fan

Seido opens this summer’s koan study with suggestions on how to engage these classical exchanges not from the thinking mind but on a more...

Jul 8, 2022

Garden of Flowers & Weeds: Seppo’s Grain of Rice

Seido introduces koan practice for students of the Soto way that emphasizes the koan that arises in everyday life. This talk includes...

Jun 3, 2022

The Personal Koan

If we look closely, every life dilemma has at its core a guiding koan. Being fired from my job, who am I? From every powerful dream...

Jan 12, 2022