“Everything is encouraging you to awaken to your life.”

In the midst of our lives, we need to experience moments of respite. Twice a year, the New York Zen Center holds a silent retreat, or sesshin. The word sesshin means “to touch the heart-mind” and for thousands of years practitioners of the awakening way have been gathering together in this manner to practice. When we have the opportunity to pause, we come face to face with our outsized preoccupations, patterns, and preferences. Can we set it all down to allow something fresh to emerge?          
 

In this recent dharma talk at the opening day of Summer Sesshin, Koshin Sensei touches on what a rare opportunity this time of practice is.  As Issho Fujita teaches, we can engage this practice, and fully participate in our lives, when we ‘Throw our body-weight and psychological defenses into the ground.’ What do you need to set down – for a few breaths or for the rest of your life?  

Near the end of this talk, Koshin shares a story about a hawk stuck in a tree. His moving observations and reflections about the effort it takes to care for all beings, including yourself, offer a way to recognize how that which is crusty and necrotic may give way to something new and fresh. Pause and awaken to your life.  

Koshin Paley Ellison Sensei is a 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.

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• 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 Set It Down | Koshin Paley Ellison appeared first on New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care.