Embracing Mind

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Kobun Chino Otogawa was a key figure in the transmission and development of American Zen. If there is a single quality that defines his teaching, it is this - the Buddha has no body but ours. Again and again, he turned his students away from a conceptual view of zen and his clearest instruction to us is to look for Buddha within our hearts. While enlightenment is the simple nature of all things, the place we hear its voice most intimately, the only language we can understand, emanates from deep within ourselves. In these talks, Kobun talks about everyday life and intensive practice, or sesshin..."What 'sesshin' means is 'embracing mind.' Whoever is sitting, that person's mind embraces the whole situation, centered in that person. So you have full responsibility and full understanding, by yourself, of what sesshin means to you. The teaching is within you, which includes how you live, how you think, where you came from..."