“It is not enough that your carcass is here. Are you really alive to who you are, who you’re with, and what is around you in this moment?”  – Koshin Paley Ellison 

Can you bring more liveliness into your life? Whether walking down the street or sitting zazen, Koshin Sensei invites us to practice being fully alive, keenly attuned to the present. Too often, because we are human, we move in and out of touch with what each moment has to offer. Come back. Again and again, practice.

In this recent dharma talk, Koshin continues his series of talks on Dogen Zenji’s gyobutusu iigi, “Deportment of the Practicing Buddha.” Dogen writes, “For this practicing buddha, since his deportment appears in each thing, his deportment appears before his body; his teaching spills out before his words, spanning the times, spanning the directions, spanning the buddhas, spanning the practices.” The Way is about how one carries oneself. This is a central teaching. Deportment has something to do with posture, bearing, presence, and totally inhabiting your body and mind. Koshin encourages us not to merely follow our stream of thoughts and waves feelings wherever they take us. Rather, we are to allow the practice to spread its influence and grow to become that from which all our words and actions flow. This way of engaging with ourselves and others, Koshin reminds us, is dynamic and attuned and alive. Bring this liveliness into everything you do. This is how we will be able to meet whatever arises. Our thoughts may bounce from one thing to another or ruminate on one thing for hours. We may go from feeling bored, raw, tender, challenged, connected, and triggered from one minute to the next. How can we hold all of this? Can we remain in relationship? May we keep showing up to everything we do. And continue to do this together. 

ZENTALK NOTES

Koshin Paley Ellison Sensei is a Zen teacher, Jungian psychotherapist, leader in contemplative care, and co-founder of an educational non-profit called the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care. His books, grounded in Buddhist wisdom and practice, have gained national attention. Through its numerous educational programs, contemplative retreats, and Soto Zen Buddhist practices, the New York Zen Center touches thousands of lives every year.

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Heart Sutra by Kanho Yakushiji –  Buddhist priest and musician of the Rinzai sect and Imaji temple in Imabari, Japan. In 2003, he formed “KISSAQUO”, a songwriting duo based in Kyoto.

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