Her other root teacher was BZC Founder Mel Weitsman, a direct transmitted disciple of Shunryū Suzuki, who also founded two affiliated temples, Tassajara Zen Mountain Center and the San Francisco Zen Center). For the weekly Saturday Dharma talk, Abbot Linda as she is referred to, extolled the virtues of Theravada Insight Meditation, also known as vipassana, stating that while it is different than Zen's shikantaza, it is just the same. That is to say, they coordinate and aid one another to bring about the same realization(kenshō) or “clear seeing.” Vipassanaliterally means “special or clear seeing.”
Is satori “insight”? Not quite but not altogether different, both being a kind of iteration of wisdom (prajñā), clearly seeing into the true nature of experience -- directly perceiving what is ever-present but usually unseen: The Three Marks of Existence.
RETREAT: 28-day (Aug. 30-Sept. 26) Insight Retreat for Experienced Practitioners with Gil Fronsdal assisted by Ines Freedman: Silent mindfulness retreat for experienced yogis that includes alternating sitting and walking meditation, instruction, Dharma talks, work meditation, and practice discussion with teacher. insightretreatcenter.org
These weekly Dharma talks, and we've attended a few now, generally amount to nothing, doing nothing, accomplishing nothing, but seeming very deep for their Taoist-style nothingness or pointlessness. It may just be that they land later, filled with wisdom and no rush to make any obvious point. Last Saturday (8/22/26), an elderly Zen abbess from Santa Cruz, a long-time professor at UC Santa Cruz (UCSC.edu), gave a wonderful talk about social suicide, literally. She discussed her intimate familiarity with plagiarism and academic scandals in the social sciences as brought up by the tragic case of an accused person-of-color at Cambridge University in England. Accusations by a right-wing troll led to an investigation of Black Prof. Jason Arday (RIP), who was humiliated by the accusation and chose to end his life in ignominy. This is tragic, our Zen speaker explained, because far worse is done by seasoned senior white professors who weather the storm, which usually comes to nothing, no retraction, no dismissal, no punishment. It seems to be the way of hubris and academic progress. She would know because she sat on many a committee to deal with such issues as well as being part of the peer-review process, which even when it turns up plagiarism by professors usually comes to naught.
But this talk was different, better, more substantive, less fluffy white rice, more solid and gomashio-sprinkled tofu, as it were. Why?
The jokes keep coming, little nudges about this and that, never getting too heavy to "stink of Zen," but at the end of it was a reverie about the newest, latest to be recognized bodhisattva, The Dali Parton. Abbot Linda praised "Buddhist Rebecca Solnit." Who knew the feminist woman who can't pronounce "women"* was a Buddhist? News to us.
Everyone giggled and enthusiastically nodded along in recognition of the recently passed country music star, humanitarian, lover of humankind, and philanthropist. This is in accord with the local NPR affiliate in the Bay Area playing the first of a 9-part Radio Lab (by the great Jad Abumrad) series on Dolly: Creator of 'Dolly Parton's America' podcast discusses her life and legacy | KALW
*How to correctly pronounce "women": /wih-minn/
What's so great about Buddhist insight?
What's the point of Buddhism, Dick Gere, insight? - Why not just worship His Holiness, Lisa?
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When one knows-and-sees, the heart lets go.
Then a longtime member of the sangha asked, "What do they do in vipassana meditation?" Abbot Linda perked up and outlined the fourfold setting up of mindfulness the historical Buddha talks about in the two Satipatthana Suttas, the greater and shorter "Four Foundations of Mindfulness Discourses." One make the heart/mind serene by sitting and attending to the breath until it is concentrated [and absorbed or in a zen state called jhana if possible. Then one emerges and turns attention to other aspects of the body]. One then progresses, turning attention to feelings (the three categories of sensation, pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral). Thereafter, attention is placed on mind.
No, Bart, just sit! Don't you dare have a goal!
Finally, one gives one-pointed attention to dhammas or mental phenomena usually categorized in Buddhist lists like the Five Hindrances and Four Ennobling Truths. [This is generally the way vipassana is understood, cultivating liberating insight by clearly seeing these four categories of "things." For in seeing them clearly, it is very difficult to identify and remain attached to the wrong views of self, satisfaction, and permanence. One instead sees things as they truly are -- hurtling towards destruction, unable to ever satisfy or fulfil, and utterly impersonal. In seeing this, the heart/mind lets go, stops clinging and grasping at ephemeral phenomena, and arrives at release, sometimes glimpsing the awe-inspiring freedom of nirvana. That's satori, that's kensho, thatthe first stage of enlightenment the Buddha called stream-entry.]
This September 2026 vipassana retreat offers an experienced Zen and Insight (Vipassana) meditators a period of intensive residential practice guided by Gil Fronsdal. The teaching and practice orientation will be “Shikantaza Through the Support of Insight,” Shikantaza or “just sitting” being the core Soto Zen practice. The schedule will include mindfulness in complete noble silence with morning, afternoon, and evening formal sitting (zazen); formal ōryōkimindfulness meals (taking the least amount of food); work periods; and daily meditation instructions and nightly Dharma talks. There will also be formal and informal meetings with teachers. Participants commit to stay on for the duration (except by arrangement or emergencies). The retreat includes a 30-day sesshin (接心, lit. means “gathering heart/mind” but is usually translated as “Silent Zen Retreat Intensive”).
UPDATE: We returned to the daily noon zazen (sitting session) and found it silent, powerful, and very uplifting. Ten assembled quietly on a Tuesday, seven on Wednesday, and the orientation really paid off. Many attend on their lunch breaks.
A group of seven meditators gathered Saturday morning at 8:40 am on Russell St. between MLK Jr. and Adeline at BZC. Zen Joe welcomed us into the Zendo for instruction, which is also online (Zoom). We were oriented on how to hold our hands, where to walk, where not to talk then got instruction on how to sit and hold ourselves erect. We got a short sit, walked out, came right back in for a full session of zazen.
After that, following last week's lay entrustment ceremony, Sue (Ju'en Soetsu), 83, gave a Dharma talk, with precious little Dharma and lots of pablum, ordinary chitchat, very down homey and a whole lot of air.
One was reminded of seeing Thich Nhat Hanh in one of his last visits to the Pasadena Auditorium, possibly his very last, articulating next to no words, just giving darshan, uncomfortably, with 5,000 or so onlookers hanging on his every exhale, singing songs, feeling so very in the moment, smiling, settling...until Thay finally made the point that "a flower is composed out of all non-cloud elements," an instruction meant to show [the impersonal nature of] emptiness (shunyata, anatta) that all we take to be so special about flowers is actually water from clouds, nourishment from mud and atmospheric gases, solar radiation, and so on. All that disparate stuff gives us flowers, just as the Five Aggregates give us living beings, who rarely if ever realize they are ultimately only that. One had to think, unless one had been inducted in the Zen cloud of not expecting anything, "Is that all there is, Cristina?"
Instead here, when Sue made some uber-generic observation, one of the helpers signed at the magnificence of the simplicity of her utterance. When we set up no expectations, it's hard to be disappointed. When we do, watch out. Some men in the audience of 40 tried to ask some deeper questions, Sue brushed them off as if she had been studying how to be a difficult Zen interviewee. "Yes," she answered to a multiple-choice question about the meaning of life. "Will you ever answer my question," the audience member persisted, "Yes."
"Will you do it now?" - "Don't worry about it," was her retort to the gleeful squeals of others in the know. Linda Roshi, the committee-selected BZC abbess of the last two years, gently nodded as if in approval. "What are we here but body, breath, and brain [mind]?" she asked rhetorically then quoted Woody Allen of all people, "Showing up is 80%."
More heads nodded, and all we could think was, "This is a 'Dharma' talk?" Someone was viewing it on Zoom, so maybe it's recorded for anyone to review. We asked Zen Joe afterward, "Was that a normal Dharma talk?" He shrugged his shoulders and answered, "Yeah, pretty typical."
"Some say that to speak of the meaning of the coming from the West is already wrong."
"People these days all make unconcern an understanding. Some say, 'There is no delusion or enlightenment: it's not necessary to go on seeking. Even before the Buddha appeared in the world, before Bodhidharma ever came to this country, it could not have been otherwise. What's the use of the Buddha appearing in the world? What did the Patriarch still come from the West for?"
All such views -- what relevance do they have? You must have greatly penetrated and greatly awakened: then as before, mountains are mountains, rivers are rivers, in fact all the myriad things are perfectly manifest. Then for the first time you can be an unconcerned person." - Roshi Reddit
We think that if we were to ask Sue what she meant, she would rightly say to us, "Don't worry about it."
BZC now offers Zen meditation instruction and orientation every Saturday morning, at 8:40 am. Visit BZC at 1933 Russell St., Berkeley by the Thai Theravada temple, next to the library.
BZC shares how we meditate and also some details about how to move around in the zendo (meditation hall) and join services (bowing and chanting).
After orientation, participants are welcome to join the next period of zazen in the zendo (9:40 am) and a lecture at 10:15 am. The Saturday program ends at 11:30 am.
There is no need to sign up. ALL are welcome!
Online instruction is no longer offered live. Please check out the link to Sojun Roshi’s instruction. Or explore the Teachers Page to make an appointment for a one-on-one zazen instruction.
ABOUT: Hakuryu Sojun Roshi (Mel Weitsman) began to practice at San Francisco Zen Center on Bush St. in 1964. In 1969 he was ordained by Suzuki Roshi as resident priest at the Berkeley Zendo. He received Dharma Transmission from Suzuki Roshi’s son and successor, Gyugaku Hoitsu, at Rinsoin Temple in Japan in 1984 and was officially installed as abbot of the Berkeley Zen Center in 1985. Along with his responsibilities in Berkeley, Sojun Roshi helped train students and teachers at several affiliated temples. From 1988 to 1997 he served as co-abbot of the San Francisco Zen Center. He gave Dharma Transmission to numerous students... More
What is "salvation"?Moksha (Sanskrit मोक्ष, mokṣa) is also called vimutti* or vimukti and also mukti and vimoksha [3].
It is a concept in the Dharmic religions -- Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, and Sikhism -- that means liberation, non-bondage, freedom, emancipation, deliverance, escape, salvation, release, nirvana [4].
Los Angeles damnation
(PBS SoCal) The Chinatown punk rock wars of Los Angeles
I want your "Salvation"
In its soteriological and eschatological senses, it refers to freedom from saṃsāra, the incessant Cycle of Rebirths and Deaths [5]. In its epistemological and psychological senses, moksha is freedom from ignorance: self-realization, self-actualization, self-knowledge [6]....
NOTE: If moksha were just what the Vedas, Brahmins, or Hinduism says it is, there would be no need for a supremely enlightened one, the Buddha, to arise and make known a Teaching and Training that culminates in Buddhist nirvana, which is the real end of all suffering and rebirth, not mere rebirth in a long lasting heavenly plane or in the company of Brahma or other such stand ins.
Moksha (vimutti) is nirvana
Release from rebirth is release from all suffering
*In Buddhism the term moksha is uncommon, but there is an equivalent Pali term vimutti, "freedom," "release," "escape."
In the sutras two forms of freedom or release are mentioned, namely ceto-vimutti, "deliverance of mind," and panna-vimutti, "deliverance through wisdom" (insight or vipassana).
Ceto-vimutti is related to the practice of jhana or dhyana (shamatha), while panna-vimutti is related to the cultivation of insight.
Dharmas agree on moksha, they just define it differently, with Buddhism defining it as ultimate
. According to Gombrich, the distinction may be a later development, which resulted in a change of doctrine, regarding the practice of jhana to be insufficient for final liberation [108]. It is the first step, setting up the foundation of calm on top of which is built insight through mindfulness (sati,satipatthana, Dependent Origination).
With release comes nirvana (Pali nibbana), "quenching," "slaking," "cooling," "blowing out," or "extinguishing" the fires of the defiled passions and the wrong view of self [109, 110].
It is a "timeless state" (akaliko) in which there is no further becoming [111]. Nirvana ends the otherwise endless cycle of rebirth and suffering (dukkha) in the 31 Planes of Existence, which for simplification Mahayana reduces to six realms of saṃsāra [112, Note 2].
It is the third of the Four Ennobling (Enlightening) Truths of Buddhism, which plays a central role in Theravada Buddhism [117, 118].
What can be said of the ultimate attainment?
Nirvana has been described in Buddhist texts in ways that make it sound like other Indian religions. Every tradition says it has complete liberation, freedom, ultimate bliss, the highest happiness, fearlessness, emancipation, dukkha-lessness, permanence, the deathless, the unconditioned element that is the only thing that is not dependently originated, the unconstructed, unfathomable, ineffable, indescribable [119, 120].
The unconditioned element: nirvana (Ven. Bodhi)
It has also been described as release marked by a realization of the "emptiness" (impersonal, non-self nature of ALL conditioned things but most significantly the Five Aggregates clung to as self) [121, 122, 123].
Such descriptions are debated by scholars because "nirvana" in Buddhism is described as a state or condition after the dissolution of ignorance and suffering (disappointment, dis-ease, distress, ill, woe, off-kilter, unsatisfactoriness), of luminous mind, which would seem to be "stopped consciousness (blown out), but one that is not non-existent," as Peter Harvey states, and for him "it seems impossible to imagine what awareness devoid of any object would be like" [124, 112].
Nirvana is much more than the end of suffering.
See Bhikkhu Bodhi's exhaustive description in The Teachings of the Buddha: As It Is (early lecture series). Words and concepts cannot do nirvana justice because it is unlike everything else in samsara. Therefore, it is not a thought or concept but something very real to be personally experienced. Freedom awaits. More
Rock 'N Roll True Stories; Punk Rock MBA; Rancid; Dhr. Seven, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edit
Come join us in celebrating the Buddha's birthday, enlightenment, and final nirvana. Chanting, food, tea, and blessings, everyone is welcome.
On Saturday, May 9, 2026, we celebrate Vesak, a day to commemorate the Buddha's birth, mahabodhi, and parinirvana.
Hopefully we will become more aware of the fact that we are intrinsically the same as all buddhas and thus will be inspired to use the Buddha’s teachings, his Dharma (Doctrine), to help ourselves and others.
"Planting Medicine" airs Tuesdays at 1:00 pm on KPFA.org (Berkeley) and KPFK.org (Los Angeles).
"Planting Medicine," formerly "Herbal Highway," enhances the community’s knowledge of herbal (plant) medicines by sharing voices of traditional, holistic healers and their shamanistic healing practices.
Hosted and produced by Emiliano Lemus (aka "Emilia No-Lemus") and Renée Camila.
Planting Medicine originates in the San Francisco Bay Area, each Tuesday at 1:00 pm on 94.1 FM in the Bay and 90.7 FM in the Los Angeles Basin and online at kpfa.org and kpfk.org.
Call the LA studio at (818) 985-5735 and the office (818) 985-2711. Listen LIVE.
Today's show: Medicinal Berries: Host Emiliano Lemus dives into the world of medicinal berries. Join them to learn about the special healing properties carried by these wondrous fruits.
(Please don't call in with questions about drugs. This is a serious show about herbs and legal medicinal uses. And if you do call, don't laugh like Beavis & Butt-Head.)
15 Victorian drugs for kids and Brits
(Gaslight Diaries) Shocking plants (heroin, cocaine) and chemicals used as 'medicine' in England
World of herbs is bigger than pot
Good vs. Bad Bud: Differences to Notice
(Cannabis Guy) Oct. 10, 2025: Cannabis Guy breaks down the four signs of quality cannabis — look, smell, and feel. What frosty trichomes really mean, how terpenes reveal top-shelf flower buds, and how to avoid the classic signs of mids. From dull, dry buds to sticky, aromatic flower that burns clean and smooth, this is a complete guide to spotting good cannabis every time. Whether a grower, buyer, or just tired of getting burned by low-grade bud, this video teaches how to identify real quality legal pot.
Chapter 1: The Look: Visual cues reveal most of a bud’s story. Good: vibrant greens and purples, orange pistils, shimmering frost of trichomes. Trichomes are cannabinoid and terpene factories. Structure and density—tight, compact buds = good growing conditions. Contrast with bad weed: dull, brownish, yellow, moldy, airy, or leafy. Warning: buds with seeds, excess stems, or gray fuzz.
Chapter 2: The Smell: Aroma is a major quality indicator. Good: bold, distinct scents like citrus, pine, diesel, or berries—driven by terpenes with good preservation through proper curing. Bad weed: smells like hay, grass, or wet cardboard → poor curing. Stale, bland, or ammonia-like smells = old or wet-jarred weed → bacteria/mold risk.
Chapter 3: The Feel: Texture reveals quality. Good: sticky, springy, and resinous—snaps when broken. The “snap” test is proof of proper drying and curing. Airy/hollow buds = poor lighting or low nutrients. The ideal feel = sticky, dense, but not brittle.
Info: When it comes to bad vs. good, knowing how to tell good flower apart from trash is key. More
Row, row, row your board gently on the plane/Merrily, merrily, merrily, life moves to the drain
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Can non-Indians enjoy it, too?
Seasons change, Anicca reigns; it is the way of Samsara. That will be our new saying. What does it mean? "Weather alters, impermanence in all things; that's how it goes in this incessant Cycle." But at least on the Island of California, it's not so bad. We get a reprieve before fall starts in earnest. And it's called "Indian summer." Berkeley, one of the greatest places on the planet, got hit by an earthquake to wake everyone up and keep them agitating for positive change. We know things are changing because Christmas Tree Lane lights are going up in post-Eaton Fire Altadena, a Los Angeles custom.
Berkeley gets a wakeup call
Indian summer
Native Americans enter a Quaker Friends meeting and find them quite nice and peaceful.
An Indian summer is a period of unseasonably warm and dry weather that sometimes occurs in autumn in temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. Several sources describe a true Indian summer as not occurring until after the first frost, or more specifically the first "killing frost" [1][2][3].
The late 19th-century lexicographer Albert Matthews made an exhaustive search of early American literature in an attempt to discover who coined the expression [4]. The earliest reference he found dated to 1851. He also found the phrase in a letter written in England in 1778 but discounted that as a coincidental use of the phrase.
Later research showed that the earliest known reference to "Indian summer" in its current sense occurs in an essay written in the United States around 1778 by J. Hector St. John de Crevecœur, describing the character of autumn and implying the common usage of the expression:
Great rains at last replenish the springs, the brooks, the swamp and impregnate the earth. Then a severe frost succeeds which prepares it to receive the voluminous coat of snow which is soon to follow; though it is often preceded by a short interval of smoke and mildness, called the Indian Summer. This is in general the invariable rule: winter is not said properly to begin until those few moderate days & the raising of the water has announced it to Man.
The essay was first published in French around 1788 and remained unavailable in the United States until the 1920s [5].
Although the exact origins of the term are uncertain [6], it was perhaps so-called
because it was first noted in regions inhabited by Native Americans,
or because the natives first described it to Europeans [7],
or it had been based on the warm and hazy conditions in autumn when Native Americans hunted [6].
John James Audubon wrote about "The Indian Summer that extraordinary phenomenon of North America" in his journal on Nov. 20, 1820. He mentions the "constant Smoky atmosphere" and how the smoke irritates his eyes.
Audubon suspects that the condition of the air was caused by "Indians, firing the Prairies of the West." Audubon also mentions in many other places in his writings the reliance Native Americans had on fire. At no point does Audubon relate an Indian summer to warm temperatures during the cold seasons. More
Fall, of course, is a season; every fall is heralded by the autumnal equinox. But The Fall is something else. We can look at fascists in the White House, the Department of War, the Senate, Congress, and police departments across the nation for that sort of toppling or the coming down of the things we all loved and cherished as our birthright under a Constitution.
So long, Cruel Cruel Summer!
But the present administration, like administrations before it on both sides of the aisle, doesn't seem to care about the writing of the Forefathers at the birth of the nation. One is reminded of Hamilton, now out in a three-hour extravaganza of rap, choreographed dancing, and dueling. What is a good example of a Fall that falls upon us like an Indian summer, maybe driving along happily and without a care along PCH. Then BAM! Crash. Eyes covered with a sheet. Coroner's office...more Samsara.
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