Exploring the Zen teachings of Emptiness through Koan technology. What are koans? Questions that help clarify the heart, that help awaken the creative responses to the unacceptable happenings of our times, that help heal that sense of separation, that give us access to our wholeness.

This talk is part of the Seeing Through: Zen Teachings on Emptiness Workshop that I co-led with Jogen Sensei.

One of the great gifts of the Zen tradition is it's teachings on emptiness. Far from being nihilistic, the teachings and practices of emptiness remind us of the inherent spontaneity and creativity of the universe. This talk explores koan as a technology of awakening, and invites us into koan practice in an engaging way. Time is spent exploring the koan, Everyone Has Their Own Light by Zen Teacher Yunman, from the Blue Cliff Record.

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. 

In this talk we explore illumination as an aspect of our awakened nature, sometimes experienced as clarity, brightness, lucidity, alertness. We also look at what happens when illumination is overly emphasized in our spiritual practice and our culture.

We are following the teachings of Zen Master Hongzhi from his poem on Silent Illumination, in this stanza he reminds us:

If illumination neglects serenity, then aggressiveness appears.

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?