Cosmopolitan Zen

Metacognitive Monitoring: Pointing Out Instructions Versus Zen Koans - Ekai Joel Kreisberg - July 25th, 2026

In this talk, Ekai Joel Kreisberg explores metacognitive awareness, the practice of becoming aware of awareness itself. Drawing from Zen, Mondo Koans and pointing out instructions, he explains how reflective awareness deepens meditation, supports emotional intelligence and transforms awakening from a fleeting experience into a lifelong practice. Learn how koans train the mind to recognize awakened awareness in every moment and how metacognition can help you navigate both meditation and daily life with greater clarity and presence.   

Our mission is to foster a diverse, inclusive community, dedicated to awakening through Buddhist teachings promoting personal and interpersonal healing with ethical compassionate action.

https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/

The interview traces Zenko’s journey from early interests in martial arts, poetry, and meditation to a deep commitment to Zen practice. Through experiences with the Mankind Project, Warrior Monk training, Hollow Bones Zen, and Mondo Zen, he developed a path centered on self-discovery, compassion, service, and holding space for others. As he prepares for ordination as a Zen priest, his vision is to build community, teach meditation, and help people face life with greater clarity and awareness.

Our mission is to foster a diverse, inclusive community, dedicated to awakening through Buddhist teachings promoting personal and interpersonal healing with ethical compassionate action.

https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/

Walking the Silver River - Ming Po Larry Matthews - June 27, 2026 - WSP26

Ming Po Larry Matthews explains that the spiritual path is not separate from ordinary life, it is found in each moment, each breath, and every daily challenge. Drawing on the 37 Practices of a Bodhisattva, he encourages meeting life with mindful awareness rather than trying to escape or perfect it. 

The talk emphasizes noticing the small space before reacting, allowing mindfulness to replace automatic habits with wise and compassionate choices. True compassion begins with kindness toward ourselves, naturally extending to others. Letting go of the need to be right creates openness, understanding and freedom. When we forget, we simply begin again, remembering that the path is always here, in this present moment. 

Our mission is to foster a diverse, inclusive community, dedicated to awakening through Buddhist teachings promoting personal and interpersonal healing with ethical compassionate action.

https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/

How to Work with Emotional Koans - Part 2 - Ekai Joel Kreisberg - WSP26 - May 30th, 2026

Ekai Joel Kreisberg explains that Junpo Roshi’s emotional koans (11–13) were designed to bring Zen practice into everyday life by helping practitioners work skillfully with emotional reactivity. Rather than suppressing or bypassing feelings, he encourages slowing down and fully experiencing emotions through a process of recognition, acceptance, self-compassion, and ownership. By understanding that emotions are neither positive nor negative but valuable sources of information, practitioners can uncover what truly matters to them, take responsibility for their reactions, and respond from awakened awareness rather than habit. The practice transforms emotional triggers into opportunities for insight, compassion, and growth in relationships and daily life.

Our mission is to foster a diverse, inclusive community, dedicated to awakening through Buddhist teachings promoting personal and interpersonal healing with ethical compassionate action.

https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/

Shuso Ceremony - Dharma Reflection - Why Climb a Mountain - Zen Ko Ryan Harriott - June 13th, 2026

Zen Ko Ryan Harriott compares Zen practice to climbing a mountain, teaching that progress requires the three pillars of Zen: great faith, great doubt, and great determination. Through stories of rock climbing, he explains that obstacles are part of the path, and by trusting, questioning, and persevering, we develop clarity, compassion, and a deeper connection with all life.

Our mission is to foster a diverse, inclusive community, dedicated to awakening through Buddhist teachings promoting personal and interpersonal healing with ethical compassionate action.

https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/   

The Background Hum: Why More Insight Doesn't Produce More Freedom - Kenshin Cian Whalley - May 2nd, 2006

Kenshin talks about the “background hum” that is the constant mental effort of maintaining the self, such as planning, judging and creating stories to avoid uncertainty. Most self-work adds more layers to this narrator instead of freeing us. Zen points toward subtraction, not feeding the story, but resting in “I don’t know,” allowing uncertainty without needing control. The practice is not abandoning effort in life but starving the effort that keeps reinforcing the self.

Our mission is to foster a diverse, inclusive community, dedicated to awakening through Buddhist teachings promoting personal and interpersonal healing with ethical compassionate action.

https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/

Zen Master Bankei and the Unborn - Nanda Nina Lynch - April 18th, 2026

Nanda Nina Lynch gives a talk on Bankei Yōtaku and his realization of the “Unborn” shows that awareness is already complete and effortless. Suffering comes from clinging to thoughts and emotions, practice is simply to trust and abide in this natural, ever-present mind in all moments.

Our mission is to foster a diverse, inclusive community, dedicated to awakening through Buddhist teachings promoting personal and interpersonal healing with ethical compassionate action.

https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/

Suffer Well: Insights from Buddha's Teachings - Ming Po Larry Matthews - April 4th, 2026

Ming Po gives a talk inspired by Thich Nhat Hanh teachings that true peace comes from accepting yourself, staying present through mindful breathing, and meeting suffering with awareness and kindness, allowing it to transform rather than control you.

Our mission is to foster a diverse, inclusive community, dedicated to awakening through Buddhist teachings promoting personal and interpersonal healing with ethical compassionate action.

https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/

Seven Bodhisattva Archetypes - Manjushri - Jozen Jonathon Fielder - April 12th, 2025 - SPP25

Faces of Compassion - Week 2 - Our next exploration is of Manjushri as a Bodhisattva archetype.  Manjushri is a bodhisattva embodying supreme wisdom and clear seeing. He is often depicted with a sword (symbolizing the cutting away of ignorance) and a scripture (representing the transmission of wisdom) - Seven Bodhisattvas with a dharma talk by Jozen Jonathon Fielder.

Jozen Jonathon Fielder offers his teachings and his wisdom tireless through several sanghas. Having been ordained as a Hollow Bones Zen priest, he continues to lead a regular practice as part of the Virtual Zendo. As a martial arts teacher and dharma teacher, he is an associate clergy member of Shining Bright Lotus. Recently he has begun to develop his own dharma center Iron Mountain Zendo in the UK. 

https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/iron-mountain-zendo

Our mission is to foster a diverse, inclusive community, dedicated to awakening through Buddhist teachings promoting personal and interpersonal healing with ethical compassionate action.

https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/

This talk introduces Rohatsu—the traditional period honoring the Buddha’s awakening—and places it in the context of winter’s darkness and the symbolic “birth of the light.” Roshi Ekai reflects on the masculine framing often found in Zen history and highlights overlooked feminine perspectives through stories such as the family koan of Layman Pang, his wife, and their daughter Ling Zhao. Their responses illustrate effort, ease, and the middle way, pointing toward a more natural, inclusive wisdom rooted in everyday life and nature. He emphasizes relaxing into practice, recognizing the ever-present Dharma, and acknowledging the cyclical nature of birth and death, weaving in personal reflections on loss during this season.

 

https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/