Dharma Talks

It is a koan, this condition of climate change we find ourselves in because of radically altering the biosphere. And it is not an optional koan—it works on all of us even if we don’t want to work on it. The koan approach is the only way to fully meet something that threatens to kill us. Am I willing to be changed? Am I willing to learn something that I wish I didn’t have to learn?

The koan of Mu is the first classic exchange in the tradition. It may sound a little stale until we feel this monk’s desperation: “Does a dog like me have Buddha nature?” Like us, the student is full of uncertainty, despair and self-doubt. We are encouraged to take Joshu’s “No” in with the whole body and mind, to become Mu.

A koan gets us off the bleachers of our life. It pushes us out of our comfort zone and into the game, saying "discover something." We have to rely on something deep and intrinsic the thinking mind can't grasp, and trust in our own awakening. If we come out of the other side of a koan, we might be roughed up a bit, but we are lighter, more free, and more alive.

What does it mean to say that our identities are “empty”? Anatta (no-self or beyond self) invites us to consider that identity is not fixed and essential. And yet identity really matters in our personal journeys, how we tend to human suffering, and where we feel a sense of safety and belonging.

As the Sangha welcomes the Twining Vines apprentices, Seido reflects on what truly nourishes. Growing food, sitting still, living in community and listening for the deep vow--these bring joy and beauty, and keep our hearts open to address the pain and suffering in and around us.