“The zazen I speak of is not learning meditation”—it’s not a technique, a tool, it’s not something we do. It’s a living thing. It’s awakening. It’s Buddha’s sitting.

I take seriously this mandate from the Buddha that we don’t hide from death and we don’t hide from illness.

To carry the self forward and experience myriad things is delusion. That myriad things come forward and actualize the self is awakening.

When we practice together as a sangha, this is a refuge we can take—to recognize that all our ancestors are in this room, literally, right now.

We need to collectively start to care for those forces, so they don’t become monsters of continued colonial oppression, internally and externally.

Xin Xin Ming: A Reflection of the Cosmos

My fear is not a failure. It’s some part that hasn’t learned to trust yet. It’s just there. And it’s not self-generating. It’s arising out of what I feel to be generations.

In the pain of loss, it can be tempting to turn away from love or to give up on love and connection. So, finding the willingness, and courage, and capacity to be with a lot of grief, and loss, and pain, it’s part of the path of love.

You are the whole of the universe locked into a karmic thread. And I know that not everybody can see your eternity. I know that not everybody can see that you are Buddha. I know that not everybody can see that you are infinite. I know that not everybody can see that your heart is as big as the universe. And I know that you have to live a life where others can’t see you that way.

Sometimes, quieting feels like a thousand demons screaming. But, I promise you, it’s quieting. The quieting of the body and mind releases all the things that are disallowing its settling.

A conversation with Sally Chang, Chief Instructor of Evergreen Taiji Academy, and BZC dharma teacher Shingetsu Laura O’Loughlin. This conversation was offered as part of a Qigong Fundraiser Workshop for BZC, offered by Sally Chang at Boundless Mind Temple in Brooklyn in September 2022.

About Sally Chang

Sally Chang is Chief Instructor of Evergreen Taiji Academy. She is a Teacher, Acupuncturist, and 30+ year practitioner of Daoist Wisdom Arts including Qigong, Taiji, and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Sally’s teachings focus on cultivating the innate capacity for healing; and she is known for her warm, focused presence.