Posted inDharma, Videos

Surrender: Rohatsu Talk One, Henry Shukman (Video)

December 29, 2021

Tenderness is what remains when you stop trying to fix anything.

How can we make the world a safer, just and healthy place? Work for the Oasis, the little cell of joy and peace in a harried world, says Dorothy Day. We can create this in our zendo without walls while remembering the suffering in the world, hunger, violence, fear, and illness. Henry asks us to reflect on why we do this practice. It is not an isolated solitary pursuit or a private self development. Zen actually is our lives, our surroundings, all of life as a living reality. Henry talks about what a koan calls forth when we are sitting: me and mu are not two things. Inseparability.

Henry goes on to talk about the process of this rohatsu retreat, and how to allow for turbulent feelings. If you don’t like the weather, just wait a bit…. it will change. Remember to allow whatever is at hand. This gentle allowing brings tenderness into our practice.

Henry closes the talk with some words on the Mu koan.

Photo by Biel Morro on Unsplash

 

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