Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi

The True Dharma Eye: Master Dogen’s Three Hundred Koans (Shinji Shobogenzo), Case 124

 Zen Mountain Monastery, 4/12/2020

The thought that we can escape from the ebb and flow of reality as the sign of being a “skilled practitioner” is to not yet see the true nature of reality itself. In this timely exploration, Shugen Roshi invites us to explore our present situations as the very stuff from which realization emerges. With tender attentiveness, we can navigate through even our most negative experiences, and our grief. Even when we feel caught—by global forces beyond our control or emotional responses closer to home—there is a journey of discovery that leads towards open water.