Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi

Zen Mountain Monastery, 03/26/2020

Blue Cliff Record, Case 50

The monk in the koan asks “What is every atom samadhi?” Yunmen answers “Food in the bowl, water in the bucket.” In this talk, Shugen Roshi explores this profoundly simple teaching: the need to protect the mindfulness we are cultivating from the “thieves” of boredom, distraction, anxiety, and other hindrances. Roshi relates this constancy of practice to a teaching from Yasodhara on extending loving-kindness in every direction, reminding us that concentration must not exclude the many beings with which we share this life.