Danica Shoan Ankele, Senior Monastic

Zen Mountain Monastery, 01/24/2020

Using teachings from the Faith-Mind poem by the third Zen ancestor, senior monastic Shoan explores why we persist in our delusion if, indeed, “The Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences.” She explores delusion and non-grasping as the basis of practice, and as the bardo or “inbetween place” of the ungraspable present moment. Within nongrasping in zazen is awareness, our natural mysterious capacity to be able to see our own minds. Zazen and particularly sesshin are potent training ground for the bardo of this life where we practice loosening and soften, easing our grip on all the causes of suffering.