Posted inHenry's Messages, Koans

Message from Henry: Clearheaded and Kindhearted

December 31, 2019

During his years of Zen training, when he was having a hard time with one thing or another, one of Henry’s Zen teacher’s would advise him “Don’t get too caught up in it,” and would then send him back to whatever koan he was working on.

Henry writes about his teacher’s seemingly austere but wise style in his memoir, One Blade of Grass

It helped me find over time that things did not matter as much as I often thought, even seemingly big things. It helped to call forth my own resources. The purpose of Zen is not to create dependents, but people who stand on their own feet in the midst of life’s travails, and remain clearheaded and kindhearted. It trusts that students already have all they need. In fact, they are already the whole universe, if only they knew it.

Excerpted from midway through One Blade of Grass by Henry Shukman.
Message from Henry is from our December 30, 2019 Newsletter.
Image: Frost-Feather by Monica1607,  Pixabay License
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