Ocean Mind Sangha

Keep your spiritual practice alive and strong—to vow is a powerful daily practice, and it is essential for lay Zen practitioners.

On the first bodhisattva vow—sentient beings are numberless, I vow to save them or what it means to love, even when it is difficult to do so

On the fourth bodhisattva vow—the buddha way is unattainable, I vow to attain it, and its relationship to the three doors of karma

The third bodhisattva vow—the dharmas are boundless, I vow to master them —speaks of the importance of letting everything in our lives teach us.

Sloth and torpor is a subtle turning away of our vows, but we can always return and re-engage with what is most important to us.

Restlessness and worry roil the mind like the wind roils water, robbing it of its calm. The antidote? Mindfulness.

A live, spontaneous engagement of the dharma between teacher and students

When we’re at peace within ourselves, unshakeable determination flourishes.

Simplicity is a powerful tool, a way for us to wake up to reality as it is.

Using gratitude and mindfulness of breathing to work with conflict.

Seeing perfection as an entry point into the ethical teachings of the Buddha.

When we see clearly, we reveal the sacredness of the world we inhabit, and we see what is needed. A practical, sustainable, and awe-inspired Buddhist approach to climate change.

How does emptiness become love embodied? Taking a close look at the Heart Sutra.

Listen to the Ango Opening Ceremony at Ocean Mind Sangha. An open heart welcomes the painful and often unexpected, with curiosity and love. Luckily, there are many practices available to guide us on this path.

Receiving the precepts (jukai) is a significant aspect of Zen training where a student, surrounded and supported by their teacher and sangha, commits to a life guided by the ethical teachings of Buddhism. The ceremony of jukai itself includes the taking of refuge in the Three Treasures, the Three Pure Precepts, and the Ten Grave Precepts. Listen to and join in as Zuisei guides, and the Ocean Mind Sangha supports, Alexandra Brown, Norm F. Christian, and Adam Green in receiving the precepts.

In our practice the refuge of home is limitless and all encompassing. We are never outside of it. So when it feels as if we are shut out, why is this, and what can we do to return?

When your spiritual practice feels dull or remote and it’s difficult to remember its living, breathing power, here are eight ways to re-engage—find the one that speaks to you now. This dharma talk begins with the Student Entering Ceremony of Eric Geist.

In this last study session on Pema Chödrön’s No Time to Lose: A Timely Guide to the Way of the Bodhisattva, Zuisei takes up the practices of offering (dedicating the merits of our practice) and letting go (acknowledge, surrender, and grieve). This talk draws on the teachings of Shantideva and Pema Chödrön, the experience of ultramarathon runner Jenn Hughes, and more.

Explore the practice of prayer—learn how we as Buddhists can engage this powerful tool in the service of ending distraction and reclaiming love and liberation.

Explore the practice of faith and the ways it sparks, sustains, and guides us on our path.