Slipping Beneath the Difficulty - Hogen Roshi

Threaded through this talk by Bansho Sensei is the tension between wanting recognition for helping others and the practice of "not expecting applause." It frames true generosity as releasing the need to be thanked or acknowledged. It distinguishes ordinary impatience (wanting the red light to change) from a deeper "Dharma patience" of truly being with others and with our own discomfort. ★ Support this podcast ★

Centered on the idea of "futuring" or craving, this talk by Hogen Roshi examines how the mind actively shapes an infinite, formless world into a narrow personal story through wanting. It suggests liberation comes from noticing this shaping process rather than being unconsciously driven by it. ★ Support this podcast ★

This talk by Hogen Roshi explores craving as the mind's habitual grasping — "I want, I want" — and how it quietly generates most of our dissatisfaction. It contrasts two retreat experiences, agony and freedom, to show that both can lead to the same insight once we stop resisting and sink beneath the thought. ★ Support this podcast ★

This talk by Hogen Roshi unpacks a traditional chant on "blessings" by redefining the word away from divine reward and toward human capacity. It centers on discernment — recognizing foolish paths to happiness versus wise ones — and treats association with wisdom as something actively built, not passively found. ★ Support this podcast ★

Using poetry, koans, and personal story, this talk paints practice as a slow accumulation of intimacy with the world — with fear, with joy, with the earth itself. It closes on the idea that these encounters don't disappear when we leave formal practice; they continue quietly shaping how we sit, dream, and live. ★ Support this podcast ★

This talk Kisei explores practice as homecoming — returning to a natural ease we knew as children but lost through striving and adulthood. A folk tale and the Buddha's own reflections before awakening sre explored forgetting and remembering as central to the spiritual path.  ★ Support this podcast ★

This talk explores what it means to listen beyond the ears — to the earth, to silence, to a mind not bound by self and asks whether the boundary between "sentient" and "insentient" is one we've simply mistaken for the truth. ★ Support this podcast ★

This talk explores the emotional and spiritual dimensions of caring for someone who is suffering, arguing that presence — flawed, tiring, and imperfect as it is — matters more than solutions. It also explores how our own inner work with fear, mortality, and discomfort directly shapes what we're able to offer someone else in their hardest moments. ★ Support this podcast ★

Reflecting on today's overwhelming availability of spiritual teachings from every tradition, this talk asks whether sampling freely across lineages creates confusion and explores how practice is a rhythm of deconstructing our misperceptions of self and world, and reconstructing ourselves toward compassion, embodiment, and ease.   ★ Support this podcast ★

This talk explores vocation not as a career choice but as a calling that arises from deep within the heart. The speaker weaves in poetry from William Stafford, David Whyte and others to illustrate how a life of meaning flows from staying connected to an inner current rather than external trappings. ★ Support this podcast ★