Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi

Zen Mountain Monastery, 8/30/2020

Shugen Roshi returns to the topic of the contemplative life, the practice of reflective inquiry which is often the first thing to be abandoned in difficult times. He cites the Faith-Mind Poem: “If you wish to see the truth, then hold no opinion for or against anything. To set what you like against what you dislike is the disease of the mind.” In an incredibly polarized political climate, what do these instructions truly mean? How do we turn back again and again to the reality of our lives in order to free ourselves and one another?