Sesshin

And, um, he wrote about...

He went to three Sesshin in a row.

Um, in fact, he's gone to many, many Sesshin.

Mm-hmm.

The first one was at Talma Monastery, so I still have a connection with Harada Roshi.

Mm-hmm.

And I thought, "That would be cool." So on the hour drive back up to Santa Fe, I, I thought, "Okay, uh, the engineering would be undergrad, so I would not be able to have any, uh, uh, any su- f- financial support.

I'd have to get loans out, and then I'd have to go to work to repay those loans, and I would get maybe two, at most, weeks off a year to go to Sesshin." And I thought, "That's not, that's not gonna work."

Safe in our own skin, safe in our own life, no matter what the conditions.

And that's part of what I've found over the years in practicing and leading Grasses and Trees Sesshin.

That sitting with a tree or a large stone or in the presence of, of ferns, or held in the embrace of the earth and sky, we can touch or presence or feel aspects of our experience that we habitually avoid.

You know, p- probably due to our social conditioning.

Deep wells of grief, despair, fear, emiss- emotional and physical discomforts that bubble up in the arms of nature.

But it's part of the earth's medicine, giving us permission to know ourselves a little bit more completely and not have to be afraid of our own experience.

And that's the healing balm of Sesshin.

We just become more intimate with who we are and what we contain.

Please, like, enjoy it freely and, and, uh, you can, you can even walk down to the beach.

Unless you're in Sesshin.

[laughing] We have one more period.

This is Zazen.

I do different things with different fascicles, depending on the context.

I wouldn't give a talk like this during, uh, Sesshin, for instance, 'cause it's gonna be a little scholarly in my version of scholarliness.

Um, but the important thing is that you study Dogen Zenji the way you study Dogen Zenji.

It's so rich.

Day five of Norang Zen Temple Summer Sesshin 2026.

Continuing our examination of the Rinzai Roku, the Book of Rinzai Kanben, Cross-Examinations, Chapter 11.

The master heard that Tokusan of the second generation had said, "Thirty blows if you can speak, thirty blows if you cannot." The master told Rokuho, "Go to Tokusan's place and ask him, 'Why thirty blows to one who can speak?' Wait for Tokusan to try to hit you, grab his stick, push him away, and see what happens." Rokuho went to Tokusan's place.

And yet we keep pursuing onward with this great, great, great doubt at the very structure of existence.

What fun.

This is what we came to Sesshin for.

Who am I? What am I really? We can, and I think in some ways should, ask who am I authentically? Who am I authentically? But that authenticity does not come from the surface layers.

There is a movement, I don't know if it still exists, hopefully not, called the authentic movement.

Thank you for listening.

No matter what happens during Sesshin, Saturday always rolls around [laughs].

So on Wednesday, I spoke a little bit about teachings on conditions that are favorable or unfavorable for practice.

And, um, when we begin, when we first make contact with Buddhism meditation, you know, naturally we'll think in fairly limited terms because we don't have much experience yet or knowledge [clears throat].