In this dharma talk Kisei explore's the phrase from Hongzhi in Silent Illumination:

If serenity neglects illumination; murkiness leads to wasted dharma.

This life is a play of emptiness and illumination, yin & yang. When the emptiness side (which also can be defined as silence, serenity, darkness, unknowing) gets off balance--what happens to our lives? our practice? our awakening?

This talk is a deep exploration of the ins and outs of emptiness. 

We all have had experiences of being in the flow of life. What is this flow? How do we find it? What do learn from the times that we feel obstructed, and what do we learn from being in the flow?

Inspired by Zen Master Hongzhi's poem Silent Illumination, this talk explores the flow of the natural world as well as the research on flow & the flow-state by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.

Inspired by the lines from Dogen Zenji's Being-Time:

For the time-being stand on top of the highest peak.

For the time-being proceed along the bottom of the deepest ocean.

An exploration of the interplay of highs and lows, bright times and darkness. What is the wisdom of the night, and how can we open up to it? How do we practice un-knowing? How do we befriend the dark?