Cosmopolitan Zen

Origins of our Practice - Roshi Ekai Joel Kreisberg

Ekai gives a talk about the Origins of Our Practice at Gently Sitting Like a Stone 2025.

 

Ekai Roshi Joel Kreisberg discusses the origins of our lineage and practice. Bridging ancient teachings with 21st-century understanding, translating traditional koans like “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” into accessible insight questions such as “Can you listen without an opinion?” Ekai explains how zazen, koan inquiry, and daily mindfulness form complementary “technologies” of awakening—ways of recognizing no-self, interconnection, and pure awareness in everyday life.

https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/

Can anyone make you angry? - Shunya Lynn Hyer - FPP25

Shunya Lynn Hyer shares teachings inspired by Junpo Roshi, exploring the transformative nature of emotions, especially anger and fear, as gateways to awareness rather than reactions to avoid. She explains that beneath anger lies deep caring, and when met with mindfulness, anger becomes a compass pointing toward unmet needs and truths. Using tools like an “emotions wheel,” she encourages expanding emotional intelligence and viewing emotions as valuable information rather than moral judgments. Through personal reflection on grief and loss, she illustrates how anger can mask deeper pain, while fear, too, serves as vital information for survival and growth. Both emotions, when held with compassion and awareness, become alchemical forces—turning pain into clarity, fear into courage, and ultimately revealing the innate Buddha-nature within all beings.

https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/fallpractice25

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/

Brahmavihara: Cultivating Virtue Through The Four Immeasurables - Upekkha - Emyo Darlene Tataryn

Brahmavihara: Cultivating Virtue Through The Four Immeasurables - Upekkha - April 6, 2025

Emyo leads us on a guided meditation of the fourth of the Brahmaviharas, Upekkha also known as Equanimity.

https://www.onewisdom.ca/

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/

You Can't Awaken What You Can't See - An interview with Kogen Keith Martin-Smith - FPP25

Kogen Keith Martin-Smith is the author of several books devoted to the life and dharma teaching of Jun Po Denis Kelly Roshi. Kogen was ordained by Jun Po Roshi in 2012.  He continues to teach and to write. He offers an innovative podcast at The Integral Edge. Roshi Ekai Joel Kreisberg caught up with Kogen recently in anticipation of his joining the Fall Practice Period at Shining Bright Lotus.  

 

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/ 

Ethical Living and Spiritual Practice - Ming Po Larry Matthews

Ming Po gives a Dharma talk on Ethical Living and Spiritual Practice.

The talk explores how the Three Pure Precepts—refraining from harm, doing good, and living for the benefit of all—interweave with the Zen Peacemaker Tenets of not knowing, bearing witness, and taking loving action. Ming Po emphasizes that these are not rigid rules but living vows inviting openness, compassion, and mindful responsiveness. By releasing fixed ideas, we create space for natural goodness and compassionate action to arise. Ethical living in Zen is not about moral perfection but about presence—returning again and again to awareness and integrity in each 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/

Celebrate Others - Ekai Joel Kreisberg

Ekai gives a Dharma talk on the 7th precept, Celebrate Others - I vow to refrain from praising self at the expense of others. I rejoice in the good fortune of others. I do not, through my thoughts, words or actions, separate myself from others through coveting, envy or jealousy.

 

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 Way Out Is Through - Jozen Jonathon Fielder - FPP25

In “The Way Out Is Through” Jozen Jonathon Fielder defines consciousness as the ever-changing lens shaped by upbringing, biology, culture and ego—those personas and hot buttons we wear—then distinguishes that from awareness: the unchanging, ever-present ground that simply knows. He emphasizes that consciousness is always in relationship (to memories, God, others, desires), that identities are constructed and fluid, and that true spiritual work is noticing this rather than clinging.

 

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 Does Zen Evolve Into What We Are Doing Today - Roshi Ekai Joel Kreisberg

How does Zen understand meditation?  In what ways is Rinzai practice different from Soto practice?  How do we understand Zazen versus meditation?  In this introductory talk,  Roshi Ekai Joel Kreisberg traces the history of Zen Buddhism and how it evolves into the modern day practice of Zen in 21st Century America.  This dharma talk introduces the Five Gates approach of Cosmopolitan Zen.  It was offered at Gently Sitting Like a Stone, October 6th, 2025

https://www.shiningbrightlotus.org/

Embody Compassion - Nanda Nina Lynch

WSP25 - Embody Compassion - Nanda Nina Lynch - September 6th, 2025

Nanda gives a Dharma Reflection on the precept, Embody Compassion - I vow to refrain from ill will.

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/

Brahmavihara: Cultivating Virtue Through The Four Immeasurables - Mudita - Emyo Darlene Tataryn

Brahmavihara: Cultivating Virtue Through The Four Immeasurables - Mudita - April 6, 2025

Emyo leads us on a guided meditation of the third of the Brahmaviharas, Mudita also known as Sympathetic Joy.

https://www.onewisdom.ca/

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/