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#560: Zen Master Henry Shukman — 20 Minutes of Calm, Plus the Strange and Powerful World of Koans

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Dec 29, 2021

Guest

Henry Shukman

Henry Shukman, a Zen Master and the Guiding Teacher of Mountain Cloud Zen Center, dives into the transformative power of mindfulness and koans. He discusses how embracing self-compassion can aid in navigating emotional turbulence. Shukman explores the intriguing intersection of Zen practice with modern psychedelic research, particularly the concept of non-duality. Additionally, he illustrates how koans challenge our rational thinking, urging deeper self-reflection and awareness, and shares insights on integrating mindfulness into everyday life for profound personal growth.

02:06:28

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insights

INSIGHT

Impact of Childhood Experiences

Childhood experiences shape how we handle emotions, especially if we lacked support during difficult times.
We might develop coping mechanisms to suppress emotions to avoid pain, but this can hinder our growth.

insights

INSIGHT

Deep Primordial Grief

Many people carry deep primordial grief, possibly inherited from generations of human suffering.
Opening up to this grief can be cathartic and healing, connecting us to shared human experience.

insights

INSIGHT

Understanding Koans

Koans are phrases or statements that challenge rational thinking, often originating from Zen masters.
They aim to reveal non-dual experience, a state of oneness beyond separation.

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Embracing Mindfulness and Self-Compassion

03:16 • 22min

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Exploring Emotional Literacy and Healing

24:51 • 9min

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Navigating Recruitment and Personal Growth

33:53 • 2min

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Exploring the Wisdom of Koans

35:58 • 11min

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Zen Koans and Psychedelics: A Journey to Non-Duality

47:03 • 21min

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Mindfulness and Koans: A Journey of Insight

01:08:21 • 8min

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Navigating Spiritual and Psychiatric Perspectives

01:16:11 • 22min

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Balancing Science and Personal Experience in Understanding Reality

01:38:20 • 2min

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Exploring Shared Psychedelic Visions

01:40:13 • 21min

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Self-Care, Weekly Insights, and Effective Donations

02:01:03 • 5min

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One Blade of Grass

Finding the Old Road of the Heart, a Zen Memoir

Henry Shukman

One Blade of Grass is an autobiographical journey of Henry Shukman from his troubled childhood to becoming a healing teacher. The book describes how Zen practice transformed his life, making him calmer and kinder. It demystifies Zen training by casting its profound insights in simple, lucid language and takes the reader on a personal journey into the hidden treasures of life revealed through contemplative practice. The memoir is marked by humorous and moving sections, poetic lyricism, and the author's ability to articulate both inner and outer experiences with precision and nuance.

The Case Against Reality

Why Evolution Hid the Truth from Our Eyes

Donald Hoffman

In this book, Donald Hoffman challenges the notion that our senses report back objective reality. He argues that evolution has sculpted our minds for fitness, not to accurately represent reality, leading to a mismatch between our perceptions and the true nature of the world. Hoffman introduces the concept of 'Fitness Beats Truth' and uses analogies like the computer desktop to explain how our consciousness interacts with the world in a way that is useful but not necessarily reflective of underlying reality. He also proposes 'Conscious Realism,' suggesting that conscious agents create the perception of an objective reality, rather than the other way around.

Zen Master Henry Shukman — 20 Minutes of Calm, Plus the Strange and Powerful World of Koans | Brought to you by GiveWell.org charity research and effective giving, Laird Superfood clean, plant-based creamers, and LinkedIn Jobs recruitment platform with 770M+ users. More on all three below.

Henry Shukman (@mountaincloudzencenter) teaches mindfulness and awakening practices to a wide range of students from all traditions and walks of life. Henry is an appointed teacher in the Sanbo Zen lineage and is the Guiding Teacher of Mountain Cloud Zen Center. He has an MA from Cambridge and an MLitt from St Andrews and has written several award-winning books of poetry and fiction.

Henry’s essays have been published in The New York Times, Outside, and Tricycle, and his poems have been published in The New Republic, The Guardian, The Sunday Times (UK), and London Review of Books. He has taught meditation at Google, Harvard Business School, UBS, Esalen Institute, Colorado College, United World College, and many other venues. He has written of his own journey in his memoir One Blade of Grass: Finding the Old Road of the Heart, a Zen Memoir.

Henry has also recently created a new meditation program, Original Love, which aims to provide a broad, inclusive path of growth through meditation.

Please enjoy!

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