In this episode, I am joined by my good friend Mark Doyu Albin (Yusan), who was my first head monk. An American now living in Germany, he discusses what brought him to Japan in the 80s and what life was like in the early days of Sogenji with Shodo Harada Roshi. He also describes the elusive and largely unknown energetic tanden practices of authentic Rinzai Zen training and how Zen training develops useful human beings. Look for a Part 2 in the future where we will go deeper into koan training and how Yusan’s life developed after he left formal training.
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OMG!! I have not seen or heard from Yusan in a long, long time. I used to sit with him @ my old space in Ballard, called the MOVING SPACE. We had a very large room there, where we would all sit Zazen on Wednesday nights. this was 25 years ago, I believe. I always found Yusan quite “ALIVE and AWAKE”!! there was no “smell of Zen” on him what so ever. He really was the embodiment of someone AWKE!! Hi YSAN!!! miss you!
Great! Yes, I remember The Moving Space. Awesome! Thanks for the comment!!
Most excellent sir, May we have another??
Most Excellent sir! May we have another??
I will keep going! Please suggest guests you’d like to have on the show. Thanks!