How to Prepare and Deliver a (Zen) Dharma Talk

HOW TO PREPARE AND DELIVER A (ZEN) DHARMA TALK

James Ishmael Ford

“So the hymn comes to a close with an unsteady amen, and the organist gestures the choir to sit down. Fresh from breakfast with his wife and children and a quick run through of the Sunday papers, the preacher climbs the steps to the pulpit with his sermon in hand. He hikes his black robe at the knee so he will not trip over it on the way up. His mouth is a little dry. He has cut himself shaving. He feels as if he has swallowed an anchor. If it weren’t for the honor of the thing, he would just as soon be somewhere else.

“In the front pews the old ladies turn up their hearing aids, and a young lady slips her six-year old a Lifesaver and a Magic Marker. A college sophomore home from vacation, who is there because he was dragged there, slumps forward with his chin in his hand. The vice- president of a bank who twice this week has seriously contemplated suicide places his hymnal in the rack. A pregnant girl feels the life stir inside her. A high-school math teacher, who for twenty years has managed to keep his homosexuality a secret for the most part, even from himself, creases his order of service with his thumbnail and tucks it under his knee

“The preacher pulls a little chord that turns the lectern light and deals out his note cards like a riverboat gambler. The stakes have never been higher. Two minutes from now he may have lost his listeners completely to their own thoughts, but at this minute he has them in the palm of his hand. The silence in the shabby church is deafening because everybody is listening to it. Everybody is listening including even himself. Everybody knows the kind of things he has told them before and not told them, but who knows what this time, out of the silence he will tell them?”

Frederick Buechner, Telling the Truth.

I was looking for something else when I stumbled upon a reflection on delivering a Zen dharma talk, actually any kind of spiritually oriented talk, that I’d composed in 2017. Six years later I thought it worth rewriting, and sharing.

I have heard many dharma talks over the years. Some have profoundly inspired me. Many have helped me. Most have bored me, sometimes to the edge of tears, and were borderline waste of time. A couple were a dreadful waste of spacetime. An hour or so never to be retrieved. Probably the worst of the more common sort of bad talks are unprepared rambles where the speaker assumes their life experience and train of mind bubbles will prove valuable to someone. And as they say, even a blind pig will find a truffle on occasion. So. But. That thought of spacetime never to be regained is more likely when someone speaks totally off the cuff.

So, with that some suggestions as to how a dharma talk can be helpful to the hearer.

As to why I might be listened to. I’ve been a dharma teacher and a Unitarian minister for many years. I’ve had professional training for giving talks. And I’ve tried hard to learn how to be better over the years. Others have to judge how successful I’ve been. Whatever, over these long years, I have come to some understanding of the craft, and believe I have a few things to suggest on the subject that might be useful.

First and foremost: You must know what you are talking about. If you’re speaking of Zen, speak from a life of practice. This is the most important thing. Have a real discipline and live into it and let it touch you and shape you. Have teachers. Learn to bow. And read. Our history and the teachings we’ve received from the ancestors are enormously powerful. Read some more. Also know what’s going on in the world. If what you have to say isn’t relevant to our time and place, well, frankly, it isn’t of any use. In summary: Speak from these things. Your practice. Knowing our tradition. Being aware of the world and the people to whom you are speaking.

Only speak to political issues when you must. And, most of the time when you think you must, you probably don’t. There are times you must. Don’t shy away when the moment demands it. However, you are here to serve, not to vent. Every word should be crafted to help the hungering heart. And to help clarify the dharma and how it can best be engaged in the moment.

With that some tips and suggestions.

Length. One of the major rookie mistakes is trying to say everything. Be as brief as you can. When I was doing my parish internship at the First Unitarian Church of San Jose, I sometimes would take breaks by going and sitting in the pews of a nearby Episcopal Church. One time the room was empty and as a seminarian I was interested in the pulpit, so I walked up and stood in it. There was a three by five card pasted to the lectern resting on the pulpit. It read “No soul was ever saved after fifteen minutes…” Words to the wise. The day of the three hour sermon is long gone.

Have a touchstone. Have a larger point that informs the whole talk. Christians use a text derived from the scriptures. This is a good device for anyone, to keep your talk focused. Use a koan. Or a poem. Or an anecdote. Anything that speaks the truth and helps point the way. You might even begin the talk by reading it to the congregation.

Keep the talk simple. All you need are an introduction, a middle, and a conclusion. More complicated talks can work. But mostly they don’t.

A good talk can have up to three points. After three you will lose people. In Christian circles the most common of all templates for a talk is the “three-point sermon.” This structure can profitably be adapted for dharma talks. I suggest considering mastering it before moving on.

The basic structure of the three-point sermon is 1) an introduction where you state the “larger point,” the main point, the justification for taking up people’s time. 2) The body of the talk with three points that support the larger point. And 3) tie it all together, returning to the larger point, and out of that an invitation to action.

Humor is good. Don’t over use it. Illustrate your points as much as you can. As novelists will tell you, show, don’t tell. Use yourself as an example. But, if you do don’t bleed over the listeners. This isn’t about you.

Feeling nervous is natural. You have a considerable responsibility. In my first year of parish ministry I was at a clergy meeting where I asked a venerable, the recently retired senior minister of a thousand member church, a very large congregation in Unitarian Universalist circles, about the butterflies and the feeling that I was going to throw up. I asked when this nervousness ahead of preaching would pass. She replied, “James, as soon as I know, I’ll tell you.” However, I also learned while it doesn’t go away, the nervousness does become less powerful over time.

As to the question, write it out or extemporize? We live in a time that romances the extemporaneous. People think that first thought is best thought. I find this is rarely true. In fact my counter response is that the holy spirit(1) usually rests on the third draft. Except when it’s the fourth. That said, the spirit of the age is the extemporaneous talk. You may find the expectations, perhaps from yourself, force you away from a manuscript.

Whatever, written or not, spend some serious time preparing the talk. Read. Reflect. Write. Think. Maybe do some zazen. Sleep on it. Then go back to writing. Even if at the end the talk is not given from a manuscript, write down your thoughts. Me, I like to spend a couple of days preparing, whenever possible. I find re-writing at the very least as important as the writing. Rewriting is where the holy spirit is mostly likely to arise.

If you don’t want to read a manuscript, use notes. Me, in my professional life for the sermon I almost always used a written manuscript, while being extemporaneous for nearly every other part of the service. At the same time, if you do go against the stream and use a manuscript, don’t feel chained to the manuscript or even the notes. Be familiar enough with what you have to say to be able to step away from the page.

As you gain experience you will find if you’re speaking on a specific point that you are deeply familiar with you can simply have a clear opening and a clear conclusion prepared, and then speak out of the moment. However, doing this well, doing it in a way that is genuinely helpful is harder than it appears. And not for a beginner.

Most speakers who have deeply touched you who are preaching without a manuscript are not likely to be winging it. They know what they want to say and have reflected on it, and probably have written it down, or at least the points, even if they’re not reading them.

While I mostly used a manuscript, I read it aloud at least four times before I delivered it. The manuscript I read was printed out in large type (typically Times New Roman 36point, space and a half, and on a single side of each page. This allowed me to avoid the appearance of reading the manuscript. Increasingly speakers use tablets rather than printed paper. When using notes, the same rules apply. If your memory is especially good feel free step out on to the high wire. (My memory has always been terrible. If yours is, as well. Well…) Whatever, know exactly what you plan on saying.

Be gentle with yourself. Some talks will be good. Others will not. And, interestingly, you’re not the judge of these things. Experience will mean that over time you will give more talks that are helpful than are not.

Like most things in life you get better at doing something by doing it. If you can get yourself videotaped, which is increasingly easy; watch the videos. It can be excruciating. Especially in the early days. But do it.

Enjoy yourself. If you aren’t having a good experience, why should your listeners? Take the material seriously, but don’t take yourself too seriously.

As an addendum,

two articles on delivering a spiritual talk by other people. One from a Zen teacher and the other from a Unitarian Universalist minister. I believe both offer some valuable pointers. I double underscore the helpfulness from the UU minister.

First that essay on delivering a dharma talk by Sensei Peter Shireson. I didn’t agree with every point. Which, I think is important all by itself. Get a little experience and have your own view on the matter. But, a word to the wise. Get that experience before holding a view. And then be prepared to change it. Life is filled with lessons for those willing to listen. And then that truly first rate introduction to sacred speaking by the Unitarian Universalist minister Dr Victoria Weinstein. I strongly recommend anyone who gives dharma talks read her essay. Maybe twice. Okay, three times. It is that to the point.

As a bonus

here’s a good video on how and why to prepare a three-point sermon. If you have trouble translating the Christian language, I suggest returning to the pillow for a year or two before embarking on giving talks.

May all beings be at ease…

(1) Holy spirit is a Christian term. It refers to the third person of the Trinity, the Christian normative understanding of how God manifests. It is also meant and is used here as the great source of inspiration. Don’t get tangled in literalisms. Makes you seem a jerk.