In this dharma talk Sono introduces the important place of spiritual autobiographies in Zen Practice, inspired by Lou Norstrom’s Memoirs of an American Zen Pioneer published in 2023. Since Saint Augustine (354-430) famous Confessions, spiritual autobiographies often have a “confessional” theme. This is also the case in the spiritual autobiography Wild Ivory, written by the Zen Rinzai Master, Hakuin (1685-1768). In today’s language we would talk about self-disclosure and how self-disclosure can have therapeutic benefits.Sono begins to tell the story of his “Shakyamuni” moment – based upon two traumatic events which occurred in bis life when he was 19 years old.