Desperate to find a way to interact with life, catching glimpses in sports when movement and space seemed to bend, seemed tactile and plastic. Not knowing my place or how I’d find my way, I longed for something real with which to commit my awareness. Knowing somehow and yet isolated, I ventured through high…
Tag: meditation
Unspoken Contracts: The Liberation of Letting Them Go (A Former Zen Monk Reflects on Telling Bad Jokes)
Many of us are constantly, perhaps unconsciously, demanding that others around us agree to contracts we want to be true about our place in the world. We define ourselves by these ideas we have of ourselves. One great lesson I remember of Zen training is having to let go of the demands we put on…
The Embodiment Podcast: Episode 187 Zen Body with Corey Hess
Here is an interview Corey did with Mark Walsh on The Embodiment Podcast. Thanks for listening! Enjoy! Please share it! https://embodiedfacilitator.com/187-zen-body-corey-hess/?fbclid=IwAR3-rb3SnFXDG6oBxQddWhLgYsrksEDBkaQeMRn_J_c0HuM5S26zXtbiRbM
Removing the Barrier Between Self and Other
“To study the Buddha Way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be actualized by myriad things. When actualized by myriad things, your body and mind as well as the bodies and minds of others drop away. No trace of enlightenment remains,…
The Classical Ideas Podcast Ep 108: Koans with Corey Ichigen Hess
I had a great time talking on the Classical Ideas Podcast again. This time, tackling the elusive, often misunderstood zen koan. Really fun! Please Share it if you like, and support Greg! Thanks! And please leave a comment if you feel moved to! From Greg Soden: Episode #108 with my friend (and returning guest), Corey…
Guidance of the Great Vow
Sentient beings are numberless I vow to liberate them The Head monk walked into the zendo on day six of Osesshin and announced that two planes had just crashed into the World Trade Center. This was on Whidbey Island. On the the right of me was one of my best friends, Chris, who I had…
Ishin Denshin (Heart to Heart, Mind to Mind)
Ishin denshin means something like “Communication as if two people have the same mind.” This concept is a big part of my life, and in this post, I’d like to try to explain a bit about it. How can we become what we are doing more intimately right now? How can we remove…
The Classical Ideas Podcast Interview
https://classicalideaspodcast.libsyn.com/ep-80-a-rinzai-zen-life-in-japan-w-corey-ichigen-hess I recently had a great time chatting with Greg Soden about pre-monastery life, years of Zen training, and what comes after an American leaves a Japanese monastery. Please enjoy and share it if it is helpful or interesting. Minutes 43-47 are sketchy (Greg’s internet cable was eaten through by a squirrel, which the technician…
Zhan Zhuang, Standing Like a Tree
One practice that really helped me in the beginning to go deeper into my zazen, and continues to keep me healthy in my life every day, is a type of Chi Kung first introduced to me in the monastery by a fellow training person. It is Zhan Zhuang, “Standing Like a Tree” and it involves…
Second Breath, Breath of Life: Craniosacral Therapy Meets Zen
“I can say that as the Breath of Life emerges from a depth of Stillness, one experiences heart-opening radiance and compassion, a sense of great spaciousness and peace, a depth of love and interconnection, and a perception of a Presence that seems to enfold, uphold and maintain life.” Franklyn Sills In this post, I’d like…
