Puget Sound Zen Center

09/07/2026

08/09/2026

Sunday Speakers in August

August 2: Eko Jeff Kelley, This is Me II: More on Non-self
August 9: Giko David Rubin, Metaphysics and The Dharma Activity
August 16: Abbot Koshin Cain, TBD
August 23: Cedar Simmons, My Zen Life
August 30: Garlic Bee! (no speaker)

07/11/2026

Friends,

I can't resist a bouncing ball.

I hadn't slept a wink on the flight to Oslo, but after my daughter and I had dinner at the mall, this cybersecurity student gave me a second wind. He was good. I thought he must play on a team, but no, he says, he just plays. He let me beat him 3-2 — at 2-2 he started taking wildly unreasonable shots from downtown.

They know how to have fun with sport in Norway. There's a word for it: idrettsglede — the joy of sport. Years ago my nephew told me that here they don’t keep score in sports until the kids are thirteen. Play first, keep it fun, and the winning takes care of itself. And it does — look at the Winter Olympic medal tables, and now the football team led by Erling Haaland.

Haaland competes ferociously. He puts in the hard yards. He suffers in training. But when you watch him, you can feel it's all built on top of a love of the game. The suffering is something you do for love.

Zen is like this too.

I hope you love the practice. I hope you find lighthearted fun in the sangha and delight in the dharma. I hope you find wonder in zazen. It looks so dull from the outside, but as you get closer and closer to the world of zero, it gets so interesting.

And yes, you'll have to suffer. If you're serious about the practice, you'll sit when you don't feel like sitting. You'll meet the parts of yourself you'd rather not meet: the petty ones, the frightened and frightening ones. Losing the self is genuinely hard, it just is.

One of my favorite Zen books, the cartoon book Unsui, says that nowhere in the Buddhist world is there a yoking of the deadly serious with lightness and humor as in Zen. I do love that mixture.

The joy in Zen isn't an ultimate reward, handed over after years of suffering. It's mixed in all along the way. You go through hardship, I hope, because you love the practice. Maybe as much as Haaland loves football — whether he wins or loses.

In a couple of hours I'll be in downtown Oslo watching Haaland play. Tens of thousands of us will be nervous. I'm sure he will be too.

And I'm sure that at times, he'll be having fun.

Koshin

07/09/2026

Meditate with PSZC

Daily
- Morning Meditation (M-F 6:30 to 7:30 AM), in-person and on Zoom
- Evening Meditation (M-Sat 7:00 to 8:00 PM), Zoom only. No Sunday evening.

Weekly
- Sunday Morning Sit & Dharma Talk (10 AM to Noon), in-person and on Zoom
- Sunday Early Morning Sit (8:30 to 9:30 AM), in-person and on Zoom
- Saturday Morning Qi-gong (8:30 to 9:30 AM), Zoom only
- Monday Evening Sit at Fauntleroy Church West Seattle (7 to 8:30 PM), in-person

Monthly
- Intro to Zen (10-11 AM) first Saturday of each month, in-person
- Extra Early Sunday Morning Sit (7:30 to 8:30 AM) second Sunday of each month , in-person and on Zoom
- Sunday Potlucks first Sunday of each month after regular Sunday service
- Saturday Samu work practice (10 AM to Noon) second Saturday of each month

07/03/2026

Sunday Speakers in July

July 5: Abbot Koshin Cain - What Kind of Freedom?
July 12: Sozui Schubert Roshi - Fear
July 19: Eko Jeff Kellley - This is Me
July 26: Shuko Sissel Johannessen - Boredom: A Dharma Gate?

06/30/2026

Dear friends,

I love kinhin. Walking outdoors in silence, practicing under a canopy of trees -- the swing of it, the togetherness, the sound of feet falling together. Your steps are my steps.

During kinhin each of us follows and leads others. We depend on each other.

And I think this is true of our practice: you and I are following in the footsteps of those whose dedication and generosity created the community we now enjoy -- those who helped establish our places of practice, developed programs, supported teachers and retreats, and sustained this practice through the years.

And now it’s our turn.

We are leading the way for those who will come after us, those who will walk through our doors for the first time -- young families, new seekers, people we haven't yet met.

Will you help us prepare the way?

I invite you to make a donation to support our community. Our goal is to raise $10,000 during this month's campaign.

Your generosity supports our many programs, retreats, teachers, scholarships, and the ongoing care of our practice spaces on Vashon and in West Seattle. Most importantly, your support ensures that the Dharma remains available and accessible for every person who will walk through our doors in the years ahead.

Thank you for walking this path with us.

With deep gratitude and a bow,

Koshin

Thank you for considering donating to the Puget Sound Zen Center. You can donate in the following ways:

To make an online donation, visit https://app.aplos.com/aws/give/PugetSoundZenCenter/summer2026

Or, mail a check to PO Box 2644, Vashon WA 98070.

06/23/2026

Associate Teacher Eko Jeff Kelley delivered the dharma talk this past Sunday. Link to the recording in the comments.