Suffering and liberation are impossibly close, not even an atom’s distance apart. - Henry

Description: Henry opens this teisho by offering understanding and encouragement on this third day of sesshin, sharing some of his personal challenges on sesshin during his years of training.  He then continues explicating Hakuin Zenji’s Song of Zazen by first defining the meaning of zazen. Za is training and sitting, Zen is “seeing through” or awakening. Hakuin had thought that Buddhist practitioners of his time were practicing the Za without the Zen. You need both sides of Za-zen. Too much Za focus emphasizes ritual, chanting, sutra study at the expense of direct experience. Too much Zen focus encourages quick and incomplete awakening experiences in which a practitioner may incorrectly believe he has achieved full enlightenment. It is critical to have both Za practice and Zen experience.

Post and Featured Image Credit: #zazen, by toufeeq hussain, CC BY-SA 2.0.