I just so love listening to you.

I practiced Zen with a teacher for several years, this was followed by 7 years of practicing on my own. I have recently reconnected with a teacher and a sangha and am experiencing the discomfort of leaving my solo practice. Your wisdom about "bumping up against something" and "being vulnerable" rings very true for me and helps me to realize that this discomfort is exactly what I need. Thank you for your teachings !

I strongly resonate with the question about finding out your limits and I am grateful for your answer. This is something that I have had a hard time connecting over with my local group and eventually resulted in me quitting the group although not the practice. I notice that I burned down so many beliefs, very rapidly and did not find anything recognizable in my environment nor did I have the feeling they recognized much of their own in me. Looking back this has been a powerful experience and I am grateful for that, but at the time it felt like everybody was busy looking at their work or social life while the fundaments of reality seemed to unravel at the seams for me. I was very happy to have a lot of (dead) friends that I could rely on though. Found some kindred spirits in the works of Robert Anton Wilson, Alan Watts, Timothy Leary, Philip K Dick and sorts alike. Having someone there who could at least tell me this is OK in real life would have helped much, but it has inspired me a little bit to try and be this to someone else when needed. I notice this has turned into more of a ramble, so let me just restate my gratitude 🙏

I play basketball , almost every time I have a good game I start being cocky , I heckle the opponents and verbally trash them. The next game I always find myself playing like trash. Whenever I keep my profile low I do good , not 20 every game but moderately good , like 10-15. Sometimes I have a good streak of being humble cause that works for me but every time after a week or so I feel like I cant controll myself and give in to be the cockiest on the court. Im rarely present and zen , thats a realization that I was thinking of but never been able to put into words on my mind.

Responding accordingly as opposed to reacting on impulse is a challenge in itself for most.

Thank you for the video, keep up the good work! In my view, meditation is extremely helpful to me as an investor for precisely the reasons you described: to identify the false narratives and break through them.

Thanx. Great explanation. :-)

There is no self to understand. When life constantly changes there is little point looking for stability. Just be here now.

Thank you for this teaching. It's really helpful and made question a lot of my own training. Love from Mexico :)

I would understand Zen to be knowing through unknowing. One self understanding; not understanding Yourself.

Unfortunately I haven't been fortunate enough to belong to a Sangha, but I was thinking about finding our edges. Wouldn't our day to day encounters serve as sufficient sensors to recognise our own boundaries? And how would that differ from being engaged by your Sangha or Roshi?

At 19 min. Could one say....i understand that thing i call my self is a kind of combination of factors, conditions and relations, where the thing that is called my seeing , my consciousness....is not an actual self personality. It is more like clothing for my awareness and relation to this seeing that thinks it is my own awareness? (ain't language fun?)

an enlightenment gives right understanding of self. right practice, for to reach it, is zen sitting, but not talking. an enlightened man see the reality of empty dream quality. no more duality, wishes, thinking and reasons to talk. to help or to trouble. situation dictates, to kiss or to heat. an enlightened man see karma, so, never to quick and to serious . au-au.

your perception is skewed from what? what selves are we trying to know? very difficult. hmm…

Sad that too many systems confuse the Masses. What to follow? Is it about truth or is it simply to be aware ? Resurrection is about getting alive again.

A Zen psychologist? Why does he where a costume? Save yourself some time. Open yourself to reality through your senses Recognize the actions of your mind Become aware of your mental constructs Recognize the 'body mind' Meditate connect to yourself & universe

And if ¨yourself¨is a montage for survival and reproduction that changes every second adapting itself according to circumstances; how can a non permanent entity "know itself"!? Eh? Knowing should be changed by experiencing, and this is not just a question of words.

This a good Talk. That Donald Trump portion of being a Buddha, to those used to/prone to/desiring to following, is dangerous Especially without Full explanation, that part is speaker's experience Only - Don't accept that program. (1/6 is proof there need to be more explaining as the adoration was a catalyst to violence) The rest of Talk is good. Side note: to believe the journey is personal would be to not accept questions the day of the Talk - they can be answered after experience of practice..because you can only Answer from your experience, not theirs.

Nope, that's not it.

The title seems very Western. People are already obsessed with trying to "understand" themselves and create a "story" for their own ego to be pleased with. Might a better title be "Letting Go of Yourself?"