Gail Sher Dharma Talks

Gail Sher • Dharma Talks

Twelve Talks from Branching Streams Flow in the Darkness

Twelve Talks from Branching Streams Flow in the Darkness

In 1970, the summer before he died, Suzuki Roshi gave a series of talks at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center on the Sandokai—a poem by the eighth-century Zen master Sekito Kisen, a core Zen text on the question of how the oneness of things and the multiplicity of things coexist. I was there for these talks given in the hot and fly-ridden air. Roshi had a chalk-board and translated each word, one by one. I will give you what I can.

Read an English translation of the Sandokai.

First Talk: Things-As-It-Is

When we sit it’s like something happening in the great sky. Whatever kind of bird flies through it, the sky doesn’t care. That is the mind transmitted from Buddha to us

Date/Time: April 4, 2021 | 10:00 a.m. (Pacific Time)

Duration: 60 minutes

Second Talk: Warm Hand to Warm Hand

When you study hard, what you receive from your teacher is the SPIRIT OF STUDY. That spirit will be transmitted from WARM HAND TO WARM HAND. You should do it! That’s all. There is nothing to transmit to you.

Date/Time: April 11, 2021 | 10:00 a.m. (Pacific Time)

Duration: 60 minutes

Third Talk: Buddha Is Always Here

A bird flies like a bird; a fish swims like a fish. That is the boddhisattva’s way and that is how we observe our practice.

Date/Time: April 18, 2021 | 10:00 a.m. (Pacific Time)

Duration: 60 minutes

Fourth Talk: The Blue Jay Will Come Right Into Your Heart

Just to feel good we study and just to feel better we practice zazen . . . Eventually that kind of purposeless practice will help you.

Date/Time: April 25, 2021 | 10:00 a.m. (Pacific Time)

Duration: 60 minutes

Fifth Talk: Today We May Be Very Happy and the Next Day We Don’t Know What Will Happen to Us

My teacher always told me, ‘Even though it doesn’t help, before you lecture you should study.’

Date/Time: May 2, 2021 | 10:00 a.m. (Pacific Time)

Duration: 60 minutes

Sixth Talk: The Boat Is Always Moving

So we say, ‘It is easy to destroy an intellectual understanding.’ But to deal with emotional difficulty is as hard as splitting a lotus in two. Long strings will follow and you cannot get rid of them.

Date/Time: May 9, 2021 | 10:00 a.m. (Pacific Time)

Duration: 60 minutes

seventh Talk: Without Any Idea of Attainment, Just to Sit Is Our Way

Even though you squash the earwig, it is still alive. That momentary form may vanish but as long as the whole world, including us exists, we cannot kill an earwig.

Date/Time: May 16, 2021 | 10:00 a.m. (Pacific Time)

Duration: 60 minutes

Eighth Talk: Within Light There Is Utter Darkness

We kill earwigs because we have to but it is not all right. We must understand our activity from both sides.

Date/Time: May 23, 2021 | 10:00 a.m. (Pacific Time)

Duration: 60 minutes

Ninth Talk: The Willow Tree Cannot Be Broken by the Snow

Like front and back foot in walking. This is a very good way of explaining oneness or the actual function of a pair of opposites.

Date/Time: May 30, 2021 | 10:00 a.m. (Pacific Time)

Duration: 60 minutes

Tenth Talk: Suffering Is a Valuable Thing

When you suffer completely you should suffer from your lower abdomen. You feel good when you do that. It is much better than saying nothing or just lying down.

Date/Time: June 6, 2021 | 10:00 a.m. (Pacific Time)

Duration: 60 minutes

Eleventh Talk: We Should Not Stick to Words or Rules Too Much

We should be like a fish, always swimming around in the river.

Date/Time: June 13, 2021 | 10:00 a.m. (Pacific Time)

Duration: 60 minutes

Twelfth Talk: Do Not Pass Your Days and Nights in Vain

Most people are spending their time in vain. If they say, ‘No, I am always busy,’ it’s a sure sign that they are spending their time in vain.

Date/Time: June 20, 2021 | 10:00 a.m. (Pacific Time)

Duration: 60 minutes