Soryu Forall is the founder and head-teacher of the Monastic Academy.

Soryu has a decade of intensive monastic training, a degree in Economics from Williams College, and extensive experience in social and environmental justice. He was ordained in 1998 at Sogen Temple under the tutelage of the Zen Master Shodo Harada.

The day this recording goes live I'll be beginning an 80(ish) day silent solo retreat here on the land of the Monastic Academy. By the end of this episode, I hope you'll understand why I would do such a thing.

We discuss:

How awakening enables us to be of true service in times of crisis

How easy it is to fool ourselves about the depth of our experience and insight

Soryu’s personal crisis upon learning of the Japanese Zen traditions participation in the atrocities of World War Two

A vision of awakening that is adequate to the meta-crisis

Whether it makes sense to disconnect Waking Up, Growing Up, and Cleaning Up

Does awakening make us more ethical? Better at making decisions?

The difference between ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ enlightenment according to the Buddhist eightfold path

What kind of monsters ‘wrong’ enlightenment creates

Why transformative practices disconnected from ethical training is so dangerous

How the cultural assumptions of liberalism, humanism, and materialism distort our understanding of what awakening is

How your aspiration creates your understanding of the path

Why it’s necessary to do these practices in community

Soryu’s definition of awakening

And more!

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