Summary: Episode Description: In this talk, Matthew Kozan Palevsky explores what it means to practice being completely ourselves. Kozan first consults The Platform Sutra, a teaching attributed to Hui-Neng, the 6th Patriarch and founder of Zen Buddhism. Hui-Neng implores us to see our own true nature. Kozan contextualizes this plea by providing some guidance for zazen practice from The Sutra. He quotes, “Externally, if you are attached to form, internally, your mind will be confused. But, if you are free of form externally, internally your nature will not be confused.” He then continues by asking us why we might lead a life that may not be our life, and how we are not ourselves? After discussing three fundamental ways that we avoid this life, Kozan concludes with a comparison between a time that he spent weeding Upaya grounds and the process of weeding the mind, as well as the notion of taking refuge in the body.<br> <br>
