The intension of Sokuzan’s dharma talk is to describe and show the differences between spontaneity and impulsivity.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEHqF3IQ3hY&t=1s

A raw heart means that you’ve dropped out of your paranoia of thinking and risen out of the feeling in your gut of hope and fear and you go in to the heart that is raw, unfiltered, uncovered, unprotected. This is called “bodhichitta”, the mind of awakening.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3tDyvTw5J0&t=1s

On the mundane path, the everyday do this and you get that, there’s practically a guarantee if you spend enough time. On the spiritual path, you put in the time and there are no guarantees. On the Buddhist path, this may be called faith. if there is an outcome, it is the mundane path.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_2SqflmyKc

Karma is an extremely complicated area. It is an interesting thing to contemplate using the concepts that describe it. The more you meditate, the more you contemplate, the more you extend your awareness deep within the more you begin to see the very subtle nuances that are happening that have boundaries and no boundaries.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCfRSbQFKuU&t=66s

Karma is an extremely complicated area. It is an interesting thing to contemplate using the concepts that describe it. The more you meditate, the more you contemplate, the more you extend your awareness deep within the more you begin to see the very subtle nuances that are happening that have boundaries and no boundaries.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCfRSbQFKuU

Sokuzan talks about three types of karma: sanchita karma, parabdha karma and agami karma.

(the echo stops during minute 22)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uccgaNqfuaY

If you want to walk the spiritual path you are going to have to make some sacrifices. You are going to have to give up wanting something else. Find a way to return to the fundamental situation that you are in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZRfmJI6f8U

Sokuzan responds to questions like: What does meaningful mean? What is a natural compared to an unnatural boundary? Can you want something to be different than it is and accept it at the same time? How can we be firm without being aggressive? Is there a way to know if we stop respecting and start indulging? If fear is abandoned, is hope also abandoned?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xk0RocstO5s

If someone throws an accusation at you, don’t defend, just receive. Try taking what someone says and put it in your own words, or ask the person to clarify what they are communicating to you. It may give the situation a little more breathing room.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2kXBYgsEUc

As soon as you add anything to a feeling or emotion, you are shutting down on your awareness. This is circularity, the spinning mind. The technical word for this is samsara.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaWHmqld35A