Summary: Episode Description: Sensei Kaz begins this fourth talk of the sesshin by discussing the Heart Sutra, the most frequently chanted scripture in Mahayana Buddhism. Central to the Heart Sutra is the concept of wisdom beyond wisdom, or a kind of wisdom outside of everyday conventional wisdom. We often get stuck in conventional wisdom and look for freedom from it in spiritual practice. However, we can also become stuck in wisdom beyond wisdom, believing we can do anything we want. For Kaz, conventional wisdom and wisdom beyond wisdom are equally important and in fact, mutually inclusive. In the second part of the talk, Roshi Joan discusses "suffering and the end of suffering," or in her words, "stress and the end of stress," in light of the first three Noble Truths. In Roshi's view, the first Noble Truth is not that "life is suffering," but that our experience of life often entails stress, anxiety, tightness, and "reduced horizons." The second Noble Truth, the source of suffering, refers to our sense of self. This sense of self is one of an inherent "I, me, my, mine," out of which grow fear-based narratives that are extraordinarily damaging. The third Noble Truth is about cultivating deep internal stillness, equanimity, in the face of all the speed and confusion of life. Crucial to cultivating this stillness is attention. Attention is the vehicle, primed by aspiration, which glues us to the present moment and simultaneously frees us from our dispersion and biases. Roshi then discusses four "valences" that are important to cultivate in practice: (1) Physical and mental ease, (2) stillness and coherence of attention, (3) vividness and clarity, and (4) wisdom beyond wisdom. Roshi concludes the talk with a wonderful poem by Jim Harrison and with a quote from the Diamond Sutra: "Let the mind flow freely, without dwelling on anything." For teacher BIOs, please visit Part 1. To access the entire series, please click on the link below: Rohatsu: Morning Star Series: All 6 Parts
