On Zen

 

Zen is all about sitting directly with the human experience.

Henry Shukman

So many beautiful gems of wisdom came from this podcast on Zen...I just quoted ( and sometime paraphrased) what resonated in  me.

Mindfulness is a not separate thing we are responsible for doing; it is something that helps us to realize we are already in a great field of connections and support.

Get to the point where we are seeing through the sense of self

Realization is not contigent on practice...

"This life is a movie and the purpose of life is to turn around and see the projector. "Yogananda

Awakenning and healing go together

The destination has been here all along...In the cart track analogy from ancient Chinese buddhism...one wheel of the cart is mindfulness of what is going on now and the other wheel is awakening...Awakening is the process that is already there. The journey is the destination, It is not one or the other, there is both

Zen is not a path out of the world...it is a path deeply into the world.

Awakening is here and now...there is only now...where else could it be?

"There is only the present moment and everything is here"...Thich Nhat Hanh

Let it all be...

We do these rituals just to keep the mind busy so the reality of the moment can slip in...

"Emptiness First" "Reduce it to the maximun" Andre

Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose...Janice Joplin song

"We will not lose...but we never really had to lose things"

Socrates: "There are so many beautiful things in the world that we do not need."

Meditation helps us to align with the part of us that remains okay despite whatever is happening around us or to us. 

Beauty matters...appreciate it.

Empathy is feeling with, but it is not motivating. Compassion is energizing and motivating...[leading us to do something about the suffering of others.]

"The broken ones are my beloved"...sufi poet

If we trust grief, rather than try to avoid it, it can open us up even farther...

When the heart is open... we are alive...we know "this is my real life."

Heartbreak [can be] the great teacher

All things are emcompassed within one great reality...realize  that nonduality in awakening.

Water heats gradually and boils instantly.

You are love!

What is our purpose...to "Love actually." 

What if in the end we really are His love? 

All is well

Henry Shukman with Andre Duqum/Know Thyself ( March, 2026) The 2500 Year Old Trick to Instantly Silence Your Mind. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMk3ztb66mc&t=1262s