“Living fully is not an idea. Tenderness and compassion are always the barometer of how practice is going.” – Koshin Paley Ellison

Uncertainty about elections. Dozens of active wars around the globe. “Where do you focus?” Koshin Sensei asks. What practice guides your life? 

In this recent dharma talk, Koshin Sensei names where we find ourselves. Within the whirls of conflict, chaos, confusion, and upheaval we must be evermore receptive. The dharmas are boundless. What we celebrate and we what we abhor are opportunities to remain grounded in our practice. What grounds your practice, your life? Seeking after the right view and learning to act wisely means understanding that ethical precepts are not ideas. Living fully is not an idea. How are you able to approach others with tenderness and compassion? Koshin asks us to reflect on this question by turning our attention to teachings from Dogen Zenji’s work entitled Zenki, or “Full Function”. The founder of the Soto Zen lineage of Buddhism writes that “…there is leaving life and death, and there is entering life and death; and both are the great way exhaustively investigated.” What would it look like for you to be fully functioning in all your relationships? Together, with tenderness and compassion, may we exhaustively investigate how we are showing up in the world.   

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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