“How do you practice not wasting time?”

Stories have impact. Our thoughts and beliefs can take over our minds and actually take us out of relationship. Koshin Sensei reminds us, “We waste a lot of time indulging our thoughts.”

In this recent dharma talk, Koshin draws on the myths and narrative resonances of easter to shed light on our tendency to treat what we think and believe as most important. “What actions are we cultivating?” Koshin asks. We are invited again and again to come back to the practice of zazen, to ‘think non-thinking.’ Dogen Zenji and Sawaki Kodo Roshi are clear: seated meditation is central and “Non thinking is the art of seated meditation.” This is Zen’s ‘primary ceremony’ and where we practice cultivating being no where else but where we are. When we cultivate actions that keep us attuned to the here and now, we waste less time waiting for things to happen, for life to begin. Instead, show up and we enliven the capacity to avail ourselves of buddha nature in everyone and everything.

Koshin Paley Ellison Sensei Zen teacher, Jungian psychotherapist, leader in contemplative care, and co-founder of an educational non-profit called the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care. His books, grounded in Buddhist wisdom and practice, have gained national attention. Through its numerous educational programs, contemplative retreats, and Soto Zen Buddhist practices, the New York Zen Center touches thousands of lives every year.

Heart Sutra by Kanho Yakushiji –  Buddhist priest and musician of the Rinzai sect and Imaji temple in Imabari, Japan. In 2003, he formed “KISSAQUO”, a songwriting duo based in Kyoto.

• Untangled here: https://bit.ly/untangled-book
  
• Wholehearted: Slow Down, Help Out, Wake Up here: https://amzn.to/2JTKF1t
  
• Awake At The Bedside here: https://amzn.to/3aijXdL
  

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The post Non-thinking & the Art of Seated Meditation | Koshin Paley Ellison appeared first on New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care.