Posted inMC Podcasts

Teisho: Buddha’s Heart

May 18, 2017

If you put store in things that are not permanent you will never find peace…
everything in our sense experience is one river of lightning

experience of being

Description: This talk focuses on “heart.” Henry recaps Shakymuni’s awakening. After years of grueling and ultimately unsuccessful austerity practices, Shakymuni recalled a buried moment from childhood where he was sitting calmly beneath a tree watching the spring plowing festival. He saw plows grind up a field and demolish thousands of tiny insects, shattering their intricate worlds, tearing apart their existence. The boy Shakymuni felt great compassion for their suffering and he had the sudden realization that his own existence was the very same as the existence of those tiny insects. Through the spontaneous impulse of his own heart he suddenly entered into a wider consciousness. Near starvation, Shakymuni remembered that this boyhood experience had brought him overwhelming joy and great peace. He then decided to trust his own heart, sat beneath the Bodhi tree and fulfilled his aim.

Henry asks: Do we all have a similar buried knowing within us, that there is a way to bring our human hearts to peace?  Perhaps it is already within our hearts and it’s up to us to surrender our life to it. Henry quotes Yasutani Roshi, “Throw away your own life.”

How does one do this? Henry explores three essential qualities—Great Faith, Great Doubt and Great Determination— and adds a fourth, Courage.  Listen to this powerful talk that points us directly to the experience of being.

Post & Featured Image (edited): Fungus on Tree Stump by nidan, CCO Public Domain.

footer support banner image

Support Mountain Cloud

You can show your gratitude for Mountain Cloud events, retreats, podcasts and other teachings by making a one-time gift, or by becoming a supporting member.

Donate to Mountain Cloud Become a Member