“If the duality of good and bad is broken through, then there is real good.” – Harada Roshi

Aphids, flies, worms, tigers, all living beings move away from discomfort. “Most of us spend most of our time sealing ourselves off from real connection,” Koshin Sensei observes. What Shakyamuni Buddha understood is that the miracle of human life is the ability to face what makes us uncomfortable, to see what separates us, and do something different. This glimpse of freedom is a capacity in all of us.  Change does not just happen. If you leave it to hope it will not happen. It takes energy not entropy. It takes practice and it can only happen together. Will you have the resolve to see it through?

In this recent dharma talk on the penultimate day of our last practice period (Commit to Sit), Koshin leans into what Harada Roshi calls the process of buddhahood. “It’s very important to look upon yourself with the knowledge that there is still a lot of work left to do. Awakening is to be deepened and deepened–awakening upon awakening.” Harada Roshi is reminding us that there is “ever-still-more”.

The opportunities to practice seeing our minds are everywhere. Will we stay with the practice or will we just continue to come and go? Try something for while then go somewhere else? This is very popular, Koshin says, both in Harada Roshi’s Japan and here. We often say we are too busy, have too many things to do, and have no time.

“The beauty of the process of buddhahood,” Koshin teaches us in the talk, “is really learning how to show up, to shut up.” Zazen is a delicious feast. Stay with it, stay connected, and continue into the freedom that is always available. Stop feeding your old patterns and conditioning. “What would it be life if you didn’t make excuses, just made the effort to show up to your life?”  

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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