Angel City Zen Center - Beginners Only Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Dave Cuomo - The Great Mistake (Ignorance - part deux!) Apr 27, 2021

Show notes

“To remember that ignorance is enlightenment is to not separate myself from what's right in front of me, to not think that I can be better than the people in front of me, to not think that I'm going to be a better person by trying to be a better person. It’s to love and accept what's in front of me.

To embrace ignorance is a loving act. And that's why I like Zen. It sounds weird and ironic, but I always think they mean love.” - Dave Cuomo

By popular demand Dave takes a deep dive into delusion and follows up his talk on the 12 Fold Chain with an in depth look at ignorance in Buddhism. What is this great mistake we can't help make that causes the whole world to come into being? And what does Zen mean when they tell us that ignorance is already enlightenment and does Dave have any tips for what to do with that personally?? (Stories yes, no promises on helpful tips...) And bonus round! One deep dark koan, two contemporary Zen masters duking it out in the commentaries. Who will win the great dunce crown of ignorance supreme?? Find out here!

Dave Cuomo - Ignorance is Bliss (pt 1 - The 12 Fold Chain) Apr 20, 2021

Show notes

"In classical Buddhism, the fundamental mistake is that getting what you think you want will make you happy. In Zen they seem to say the fundamental delusion is that you exist at all.

This is why Zen is so weird. We're trying to look at what comes before awareness, and that's hard. It’s really hard to be aware of something that precedes awareness. But not impossible....” - Dave Cuomo

Dave takes us for a freewheeling ride on that big beautiful ferris wheel of life we call samsara, aka The 12 Fold Chain of Dependent Origination. It’s the great pie chart of all reality that Buddha warned us we can either wake up to, or be doomed to repeat over and over again. But do we really want it to end, or can we find a way to make the ride a little less bumpy? How does anything happen and do we actually have any control over it? Is reality just a mistake and would knowing that make any difference?? Does the ACZC sangha want to get down on some seriously nerdy Buddhist theory??? Find out (and let us know) here…

Emily Eslami - Love Potion ((#)9th Precept - No Giving Way to Anger) Apr 05, 2021

Show notes

"When you get mad at yourself, that means you’re mad at another self. Maybe you turn your face and see yourself. Or you see yourself as other. This is very hard...
If you become angry, you don’t stop being Buddha. Anger appears, that’s all." - Kobun Chino

In the latest installment of her ever timely precept series, Emily takes on that molten hot lava of an emotion, anger. What do we experience when we feel it? How can we feel it and not be consumed by it? How can we use it skillfully when we need to? In this inspiring talk she shows how what exists at the bottom of anger is pain. And how sitting with it is to experience the path of the Boddhisatva – and of Zen meditation itself.

Dave Cuomo - Fringe Benefit Mar 22, 2021

Show notes

"If you want to make peace with yourself and not hate zazen, it's going to help to like yourself, or at least just accept yourself the way you are. I promise, you're great and you're worth it. And it'll help.

And fringe benefit, you might find yourself a little happier and nicer, your whole life might improve in every way you ever wanted it to. But that's not why we're here, that's not the point of zazen.” - Dave Cuomo

In a wide ranging talk full of surprises and conundrums, Dave delves into Dogen’s Fukanzazengi (Instructions for Zazen) and the older Chinese text that preceded it to answer the question of whether Zen is something that can be taught, or whether it’s something we can only experience. And bonus! In the latter half Dave treats us to his own "What Am I Doing Here" talk as he shares his experience of how he came to Zen and why he's so stuck on it, along with a sincere inquiry into whether it's a practice we can learn or something that has to come and find us when it's ready.

Emily Eslami - My Missing Piece (8th Precept - No Coveting) Mar 09, 2021

Show notes

"When you go to the mountain, and see a flower blooming, pick it, break it, and make it yours - this is attachment. If you let it be there for everything and everyone - this is 'no attachment.'

Even your self does not belong to you. You are everything." - Kobun Chino

In the latest installment of Emily’s ever timely precept series, she takes on the eighth precept, "no coveting," ie craving – what it looks like, why we do it, whether we can stop ourselves, and how it turns out that coveting and stinginess are two sides of the same coin after all. What exactly are clinging to when we grasp after those desires, states, and people? And (maybe more concerning) if there is no self, what is there even to cling in the first place?

Dave Cuomo - A Functional Fantasy Land Mar 02, 2021

Show notes

"To love the mountains is not to know about mountains, but to climb mountains and to live and die continuously with them.

The best way to realize the true beauty of Mount Fuji is to actually go climb it. If you do that, the beauty of Mount Fuji as you have known it will disappear. But this does not mean that the true beauty of Mount Fuji has disappeared. The beauty of Mount Fuji is eternal and unchanging.

When we live with Mount Fuji and breathe with Mount Fuji, we can experience the deep taste of being at one with Mount Fuji. We are already beyond the realm of 'trying to understand.'” - Dainin Katagiri

Dave celebrates the return of in person discussions with reading and commentary on a beautiful piece from Dainin Katagiri on Dogen's "Instructions to the Cook," where Katagiri gives us his unvarnished impressions on his adopted American homeland and why our nation of problems and possibility is such fertile ground for practice.

Dave Cuomo - Karma Happens Feb 09, 2021

Show notes

"Sometimes I walk by a pile of poo and think "What jerk did that? I hate that guy. This is why we can't have nice things." And then I go around telling everyone about this jerk, and we all get upset and probably sound like a bunch of jerks.

And sometimes I walk by and think, "Huh, look at that poo." Maybe I have to scrape some poo off my shoe, and then I walk on, smelling it for a minute, and then smelling flowers on the next block. I'm guessing things go better for everyone when that happens, but I wouldn't really know because I'm not dwelling on it." - Dave Cuomo

In a podcast exclusive, Dave takes a deep dive into the steaming pile of confusion that is karma. Is the universe a fair place? Is there such a thing as cosmic justice?? And if not should we even bother trying to be good people??? And if someone does poop in the road and no one is there to smell it, what will those flies even greet on their return??? Find out here!

Emily Eslami - The Fundamental Human Disaster (7th precept - No Praising Self or Berating Others) Feb 02, 2021

Show notes

"There's a saying, do you want to be right or do you want to be married? I would extend that to, do you want to be right or do you want to be human? Do you want to be right or do you want to be in a relationship with anyone at all?" - Emily Eslami

In her ever timely precept series, Emily takes on number seven, no praise or blame! Aka, our consistent habit of comparing to others. Who are we trying to build up when we put down? What are we comparing against? And is it possible to have confidence without falling into pride? A great talk for anyone with superiority or inferiority complexes and everywhere in between (which is to say, pretty much all of us).

Dave Cuomo - An Unknowable Hope (Inmo) Jan 19, 2021

Show notes

"If everything you know isn't working, what do you have left? What you don't know. When you stop and allow space for what you don't know to happen, something else can happen." - Dave Cuomo

Dave delves into Dogen's famous "It" (Inmo) to see if it can offer us a way to pick ourselves up when the world knocks us down. But what is "it??" Some say the universe, some say enlightenment, some say God, while Dogen just says (helpfully as always) that "it" is a "what." Let's find out what that is...

Emily Eslami - Stuck in the Mud With You (6th Precept - No Speaking of Past Mistakes) Jan 12, 2021

Show notes

“…other people’s mistakes, the mistakes you can’t stop talking about, your mistakes, the mistakes you think are worse than everyone else’s, look around you, we’re all in the mud making those same mistakes. But at least we’re not alone. At least we’re all stuck in the mud together.” - Emily Eslami

Emily takes us on a journey through everyone's least favorite precept (/favorite precept to break) - no speaking of past mistakes! You make mistakes, we all make mistakes, so why does Buddhism not want us to talk about them and is there a danger in not doing so? What's really at stake, and if it's so wrong, why does it feel so good to dish a little gossip now and then?? And wait a minute, what does it even mean to make a "mistake" and who really ends up taking the blame when we point the finger??? Let's find out...