Wisehearted™

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In this talk, delivered on the second day of the Fall 2021 Beginner's Mind Sesshin at Yokoji Zen Mountain Center, Shiro talks about the fundamental point of Zazen, linking basic breath practice and counting of the breath to the Four Noble Truths and the end of suffering in our lives. How do we start freeing ourselves from the shackles of our thoughts? How do we not become a tool of our thinking mind and emotions? Zazen. Starting with Case 6 of the Blue Cliff Record, "Ummon's Good Day," this free ranging talk also features questions and answers from the Sangha, more powerful perhaps than the main talk itself.

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Continuing the discussion of intimacy with self, other and all things, Shiro shares the Precious Mirror Samadhi Sutra and invites us all to first look in the mirror, then look up and out, then look back at the mirror. Who is seeing through these eyes? What is this body? That tree? The crow cackling? Dharma talk followed by Sangha Discussion.

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What happens when we go deep with our Zazen, developing the ability to concentrate on something as small as an atom, a particle of dust? Shiro and the sangha of Prajna Heart Zen Center explore what it means to go in to go out, to become intimate with the true self and thus with all things.  Case 50 of the Blue Cliff Record, "Ummon's Dust-Particle Samadhi."

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With the six senses as recognized by Zen Buddhism--sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell and mind--all providing input, who exactly is it receiving the feed? Who is that monkey in the middle. Shiro and the sangha of Prajna Heart Zen Center have some fun with Case 72 of the Book of Equanimity, "Chuyu's Monkey."

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Shiro and the Sangha explore the relationship between the usual 5 senses as we know them (sight, taste, touch, sound and smell) and the mind. Can you taste your thoughts? Find peace? Put your mind to rest? Beginning with Case 41 of the Mumonkan, "Bodhidharma Puts the Mind to Rest," the community engages in a lively discussion and exercise in concentrated meditation, sense by sense.