Podcasts about Japanese Zen

Being FlowerOn Monday night during meditation we sat together as a community of flowers. Sun flower, daisy, rose, violet, marigold, milkweed, celosia, echinacea, blue vervain, poppy, queen anne's lace, crocosmia, zinnia.We were studying the koan Case 19 from the Hidden Lamp, Flowers in the Buddha Hall.The nuns of Tokeiji were famous for their beautiful elaborate flower decorations on Buddha's Birthday. Zen Teacher Yodo, the abbess wrote a verse for the occasion:Decorate the heart of the beholder,for the Buddha of the flower hallin nowhere else.Her attendants also wrote verse. Ika wrote:Throw away into the street the years of the past.What is born now on the flower dais—let it raise its newborn cry.Why sit as a flower? It might seem foolish or arrogant. Maybe it is.But its part of the invitation of the koans. To be inhabited by them. To practice seeing through the face of a sunflower—breathing in light—deeply connected to earth and sky. Opening petal by petal into this troubled and mysterious world.Some call the wide-eyed flower jasmine.Some call the wide-eyed flower thorn.The wide-eyed flower doesn't care what you call it.I bow to such freedom. —RumiWe've spent our lives practicing our human conditioning. Telling ourselves things that aren't true about our worth, our lacks. Reinforcing a sense of separation, loneliness, fear.What happens when you take-up the practice of being a flower?How does a flower respond to you human thoughts and worries?What does a flower think of your so called problems?We find flowers throughout the buddhist teachings and koans. The Buddha gave a whole sermon—holding up a flower. There are recorded stories of practitioners having awakening experiences upon seeing a flower. flowers are silentsilence is silentthe mind is a silent flowerthe silent flower of the world open—IkkyuRememberingIn this koan the nuns of Tokeiji are re-enacting the story of the Buddha's birth where flowers rained from the heavens. The story is ancient and the ceremony seems to have roots prior to buddhism. We build a flower bower in the shape of a white elephant that came to Maya in a dream. We decorate the bower in the fresh flowers of spring, and bathe the awakened child who stands on Great Mother Earth, pointing to the sky with one hand and the ground with the other.There is something child-like and innocent about creating a flower dais and bathing the baby buddha in sweet tea. I don't know the origins of the ritual, but it was something that we practiced when I lived at the monastery, and is part of the Japanese Zen tradition. When we prepare for and participate in the ceremony, we are practicing a kind of remembering. Remembering our own child-like innocence. Remembering how malleable and playful the heart-mind of a child is. Remembering a time in our life where our imagination was ripe. And we really were flowers. Or could become one at anytime. A time when hours could go by and we were perfectly content to sit and watch the daisies bob in the wind. Where we made crowns and wands and palaces out of flowers. A time when we could consult flowers for advice, and laugh with them in yellows, oranges, rubies and pinks.This remembering stretches back before childhood, before we were born.We are remembering who we are—before thought, before we got overly identified with this body. We are remembering our unborn buddha mind—our awakened nature.Yodo's poem is a reminder that the baby buddha in the ceremony—is us. Our buddha nature, our awakened nature is only right here.Sometimes appearing as a flower, a face, anxiety, fear, aloneness, beauty, love.All appearances are inseparable from the spacious embrace of our buddha nature.Yet, we forget. So we practice remembering.The baby buddha ceremony is a practice of remembering. Seeing flowers can be a practice of remembering. Zazen, chanting, bowing, the precepts, IFS, yoga, dancing all can be practices of remembering. I recently was invited to give a teaching to the Pause Meditation Community on the theme of remembrance. As I was contemplating the theme, I rediscovered Joy Harjo's poem Remember. And remembered the importance of poetry in our practice of remembering. What is important to remember? What do you want to remind yourself? How do you remember?Here's a poem I wrote to help me Remember to RememberRemember breathHow it breathes you, even as you sleepAnd your mind drifts here and thereEven when you feel most aloneIts gentle rhythm soothes youAnd gives you your lifeLet yourself feel this ocean inside youRising and fallingLet yourself find your way back to yourselfThrough the sensations of breathRemember and you are awareYour senses open to a world of wonderHear, see, feel, taste, smellThis is your wild and precious lifeAll is connectedYou are part of this one lifeRemember that all is changingMysteriously experience unfoldsThese thoughts are just passing throughNothing is fixedNothing is finalHow you feel now will changeIs already changingFeel the river of your lifeDrink from itRemember silenceLet yourself hear belowThe murmur or yelling of thoughtBefore the music or the noiseSilenceThough it seems we are alwaysTrying to cover it overOr fill it upSilence remainsFeel your own inner silenceBefriend itListen to its wisdomLet it show you something about whoYou really areRemember the goodness that you areFeel the sincerity in your heartCan you let yourself feelThe kindnesses that shape youOpen to joyFor no reasonIts here, even in the heartbreakEven in the painEven when it feels farthest awayRemember this is your lifeIts a good lifeIts worth livingFeel its preciousnessRememberFor a deeper dive into this koan listen to the dharma talk where we explore more deeply some of the symbolism in the Buddha's birth story, as well as Amala Roshi's commentary to the koan found in the Hidden Lamp. Join Patrick Kennyo Dunn this coming Monday for Case 20: Shonin's Shadeless Tree.I'm Amy Kisei. I am a Zen Buddhist Teacher, Spiritual Counselor, Astrologer and Artist. I offer 1:1 Spiritual Counseling sessions using IFS and Hakomi (somatic mindfulness). I also offer astrology readings. Check out my website to learn more. I currently live in Columbus, OH and am a supporting teacher for the Mud Lotus Sangha.Weekly Online Meditation EventMonday Night Dharma — 6P PT / 9P ET Join weekly for drop-in meditation and dharma talk. This is where the Summer Read is happening if you want to join the discussion and practice live. Schedule here.Feel free to join anytime. Event lasts about 1.5 hours. ZOOM LINKIn-Person in Columbus, Ohio through Mud Lotus SanghaWeekly Meditations on Tuesday, Wednesday and ThursdayRetreats, Meditation instruction and other events can be found on our website. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amykisei.substack.com/subscribe

Gyokei gives us stories of friendly (and hungry!) ghosts as he explains the meaning and history of Obon, the summer festival of spirits in Japanese Zen. Is it possible to keep dying traditions and communities alive while also letting them go? Has a fish ever remembered to be grateful for water? Do ghosts count as living beings?? Find out here!

How can poetry, mindfulness, and artificial intelligence come together to transform how we assess and support student learning? In this episode of Digital2Learn, we are honored to welcome Dr. Gwen Nguyen, Learning and Teaching Advisor at BCcampus, whose innovative work spans continents and cultures—from Vietnam and Japan to North America. With a deep passion for creating inclusive, student-centered learning environments, Gwen brings a rare blend of technological expertise, cultural insight, and poetic mindfulness to re imagining assessment in the age of AI. Join us as we explore Gwen's pioneering work on Assessment As-Of-For AI, a custom-built chatbot designed to support holistic student learning, while also diving into her belief that assessments must evolve from evaluating student output to nurturing the learning process itself. Along the way, we'll also touch on the power of haiku, the wisdom of Japanese Zen gardens, and how poetic practice can foster deeper, more meaningful learning experiences. The future of learning isn't just technological—it's poetic, mindful, and profoundly human. Don't miss this inspiring conversation! #HigherEd #AssessmentInnovation #AIinEducation #MindfulTeaching #InclusiveEducation #PoeticPedagogy #Digital2Learn #HolisticLearning #BCCampus

Very special guest Kiyo Tezuka joins us all the way from Hikone, Japan to share an epic tale of wayward youth spent as a globe wandering hippie looking for truth before accidentally settling down to the responsible(?) life of a temple monk. What do we become when we're all grown up and still don't know what we want to be when we grow up? Does Western Zen have something unique to teach Japanese Zen in return? Is parallel parking one of those secret magical powers Buddha hinted we might one day attain?? Find out here! 

How can poetry, mindfulness, and artificial intelligence come together to transform how we assess and support student learning? In this episode of Digital2Learn, we are honored to welcome Dr. Gwen Nguyen, Learning and Teaching Advisor at BCcampus, whose innovative work spans continents and cultures—from Vietnam and Japan to North America. With a deep passion for creating inclusive, student-centered learning environments, Gwen brings a rare blend of technological expertise, cultural insight, and poetic mindfulness to reimagining assessment in the age of AI. Join us as we explore Gwen's pioneering work on Assessment As-Of-For AI, a custom-built chatbot designed to support holistic student learning, while also diving into her belief that assessments must evolve from evaluating student output to nurturing the learning process itself. Along the way, we'll also touch on the power of haiku, the wisdom of Japanese Zen gardens, and how poetic practice can foster more profound, more meaningful learning experiences. The future of learning isn't just technological—it's poetic, mindful, and profoundly human. Don't miss this inspiring conversation! #HigherEd #AssessmentInnovation #AIinEducation #MindfulTeaching #InclusiveEducation #PoeticPedagogy #Digital2Learn #HolisticLearning #BCCampus

Vince Fakhoury Horn is joined again by dharma teacher Trudy Goodman, founder of InsightLA, to share reflections on her beloved teacher, Kōbun Chino Otogawa. Kobun (February 1, 1938 – July 26, 2002), also known as Chino Otogawa Roshi, was a Japanese Zen priest who brought his unique and deeply compassionate teachings to America. Renowned for his unconventional approach, he emphasized practicing dharma within daily life, often blending traditional Zen wisdom with a quiet, everyday presence that resonated with many students. In this conversation, Trudy shares stories of Kobun's compassionate presence, his devotion to helping those suffering, and his profound yet playful approach to teaching.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Episode 0863 - Lin Chi & Radical Freedom, II (Click on the above link, or here, for audio.) Extensive commentary on Lin Chi, Chinese Mahayana Buddhist theory & practice, and the ways of essential freedom. Concluding the essay, "Lin-chi and the True Man without Rank," core teachings & right view. From Indian Theravada to Chinese Ch'an & Japanese Zen.   References from Pali

With this and that I tried to keep the bucket together, and then the bottom fell out.Where the water does not collect, the moon does not dwell.—ChiyonoThis is the awakening poem of Chiyono, a Japanese Zen practitioner in the early 17th Century. The poem comes after a much longer story about this person's path of practice. In the story, Chiyono has a sincere aspiration to practice the dharma, but isn't able to spend a lot of time in formal meditation practice because of her work responsibilities.She seeks out an elder nun at the local convent—and though she is full of self-doubt, she expresses to the nun her aspiration to practice the dharma, as well as her situation and self-doubt. The nun meets her with reassurance, she affirms Chiyono's aspiration and tells her that there is a path of practice that she can do—even if she doesn't have time for a lot of formal practice.The nun gives Chiyono these instructions:* Affirm your sincere aspiration to awaken* Cultivate compassion for all beings* Recollect that you are complete as you are* Recognize delusive thoughts, and look into their sourceThis dharma talk/podcast episode was recorded on during the weekly Monday Night Meditation & Dharma event (learn more below). In this dharma talk I explore practices for looking into the source of thoughts. This is a vital practice that has the ability to completely change our relationship to thoughts and the power that they can have over us.What are thoughts made of?What happens when you take thoughts as the object of attention?Or trace thoughts back and feel the sensations/emotions in your body?To look into our thoughts is a courageous practice, to feel our feelings directly unmeditated by thought is also a courageous practice. Doing it can help us recognize the spaciousness and clarity of Mind's nature. Doing it can awaken the heart of compassion.How much energy do we spend using thoughts to patch together this bucket of self?How much energy do we use trying to prove that we are unworthy, unloveable, undeserving?What if instead of believing these lies about ourselves, we looked into the nature of these thoughts? What if we began to truly trust that we and all beings are complete as we are?While sitting meditation can be a great support for looking into the source of our thoughts, this is a practice we can do throughout the day—try it, its empowering!….I'm Amy Kisei. I am a Zen Buddhist Teacher, Spiritual Counselor, Meditation Coach, Astrologer and Artist. In my Spiritual Counseling Practice, I practice at the confluence of spirituality and psychology, integrating mind, body and spirit. Spiritual Counseling can help you:* Companion Grief + Loss* Clarify Life Purpose* Healing Relational Conflict + Inner Conflict* Work with Shadow Material* Heal your relationship with Eating, Food or Body Image* Spiritual Emergence* Integrate Psychedelic or Mystical Experiences* Move Through Creative Blocks, Career Impasses and BurnoutI am trained in Internal Family Systems (IFS), Dream Work, Hakomi (Somatic Therapy) and Mindful Eating.I also lead a weekly online meditation group, you can read more about below.Monday Night Meditation + Dharma6P PT / 9P ETJoin me on zoom for 40 minutes of meditation and a dharma talk. We are currently exploring embodiment, compassion and the principles of engaged buddhism. All are welcome to join.Zoom Link for Monday NightI currently live in Columbus, Ohio with my partner, we facilitate an in-person meditation gathering every Wednesday from 7P - 8:30P at ILLIO in Clintonville through Mud Lotus Sangha. If you happen to be in Columbus, feel free to stop by!Earth Dreams is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amykisei.substack.com/subscribe

06/08/2024, Mushim Patricia Ikeda, dharma talk at City Center. In this talk, given at Beginner's Mind Temple, San Francisco Zen Center, Muslim Ikeda examines the question, How can Zen practice be of benefit to more people during what many are calling "unprecedented times"? In mid-2024 the news is filled with political divisiveness, threats of fascism, ongoing genocides, and, as the polar ice caps continue to melt, Mexico City is facing a possible "Day Zero" when millions of people will have no running water. Weaving threads from Chinese Chan, Korean Seon, Japanese Zen, and Vietnamese Thien, Mushim Ikeda asked how possible it might be, on one hand, for her to live up to Korean Zen Master Naong's ‘Great Resolutions;' and, on the other hand, to possibly chicken out and take back her Bodhisattva Vows. Mushim shared from her wide-ranging recent explorations into a Vajrayana Tibetan Buddhist modern version of Chöd and other experiences, suggesting that the vital inquiry for each of us might be to engage in heartfelt discernment each day, asking, "What is the most important thing for me to be doing, here, now, with all that I am?"

Immerse yourself in the tranquility of a relaxing Japanese Zen garden. This serene experience features the gentle sounds of flowing water, designed to calm your mind and rejuvenate your spirit. Along with 9 Hz alpha wave binaural beats, which are known to enhance focus, mood, and alleviate stress and anxiety. The soothing water creates a peaceful atmosphere, perfect for meditation, relaxation, or background ambiance. Close your eyes and let the harmonious blend of nature's melodies transport you to a tranquil Zen garden. Ideal for stress relief, mindfulness practice, or simply unwinding after a long day. Embrace the stillness and find your inner peace.

Bright on Buddhism - Episode 88 - What is Korean Zen or Seon Buddhism? How does it syncretize with indigenous Korean religion? How is it different from Chinese Chan or Japanese Zen? Shoutout to our listener John for sending us these questions! Resources: Baker, Don (2001). "Looking for God in the Streets of Seoul: The Resurgence of Religion in 20th-Century Korea". Harvard Asia Quarterly 5 (4) 34–39.; Hong-bae Yi; Taehan Pulgyo Chogyejong (1996). Korean Buddhism. Kum Sok Publishing Co., Ltd. ISBN 89-86821-00-1.; Scoville-Pope, Bryan (2008). "Go Tell it Off the Mountain: Missionary Activity in Modern Korean Buddhism", Thesis (M.A.)--University of the West; Vermeersch, Sem. (2008). The Power of the Buddhas: the Politics of Buddhism during the Koryǒ Dynasty (918–1392). Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674031883; OCLC 213407432; Yoon Seung Yong (2012), The Movement to Reform Korean Buddhism, Korea Journal 52. No.3, pp. 35~63; Gupta, Santosh Kumar (2011),“Socially Engaged Jogye Order in Contemporary Korea,” ISKS Conference, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, 23–26 August 2011.; Buswell Jr, Robert E (1992), The Zen Monastic Experience: Buddhist Practice in Contemporary Korea, Princeton, New JErsey: PUP.; Buswell, Robert E., ed. (2004). Encyclopedia of Buddhism. Macmillan Reference USA. pp. 430–435. ISBN 0-02-865718-7.; Cho Sungtaek (2002), Buddhism and Society, Korea Journal 42 (2), 119–136.; Buswell, Robert E. (1991a), Tracing Back the Radiance: Chinul's Korean Way of Zen, University of Hawaii Press, ISBN 0824814274; Buswell, Robert E. (1991b), The "Short-cut" Approach of K'an-hua Meditation: The Evolution of a Practical Subitism in Chinese Ch'an Buddhism. In: Peter N. Gregory (editor)(1991), Sudden and Gradual. Approaches to Enlightenment in Chinese Thought, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited; Buswell, Robert E. (1993), The Zen Monastic Experience: Buddhist Practice in Contemporary Korea, Princeton University Press; Buswell, Robert E (1993), Ch'an Hermeneutics: A Korean View. In: Donald S. Lopez, Jr. (ed.)(1993), Buddhist Hermeneutics, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass; Keown, Damien; Prebish, Charles S. (2007), Encyclopedia of Buddhism: Sŏn Buddhism (Korean Zen), Routledge; Kim, Jinwung (2012), A History of Korea: From "Land of the Morning Calm" to States in Conflict, Indiana University Press; Lachs, Stuart (2012), Hua-t'ou : A Method of Zen Meditation (PDF); Marshall, R. Pihl (1995), "Koryŏ Sŏn Buddhism and Korean Literature. In: Korean Studies, Volume 19, 1995, pp. 62-82" (PDF), Korean Studies, 19 (1): 62–82, doi:10.1353/ks.1995.0007, S2CID 144954293; Park, Jin Y. (2010), Makers of Modern Korean Buddhism, SUNY Press; Sorensen, Henrik Hjort (1983), The Life and Thought of the Korean Sŏn Master Kyŏnghŏ. In: Korean Studies, Volume 7, 1983, pp. 9-33; Vong, Myo (2008), Cookies of Zen, Seoul, South Korea: EunHaeng NaMu, ISBN 978-89-5660-257-8 Do you have a question about Buddhism that you'd like us to discuss? Let us know by tweeting to us @BrightBuddhism, emailing us at Bright.On.Buddhism@gmail.com, or joining us on our discord server, Hidden Sangha ⁠https://discord.gg/tEwcVpu⁠! Credits: Nick Bright: Script, Cover Art, Music, Voice of Hearer, Co-Host Proven Paradox: Editing, mixing and mastering, social media, Voice of Hermit, Co-Host --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/brightonbuddhism/message

Greetings!I am sending this Podcast Dharma Talk that I recorded last Monday, after viewing the Total Solar Eclipse. Which was spectacular, really beyond words, eerie, beautiful, humbling, I was struck with a deep sense of awe and gratitude.Below is the written version of the Dharma Talk. The exploration inspired by the eclipse is an active contemplation of the koan, Sun Face Buddha, Moon Face Buddha. Sending blessings with this post for your own transformations, and transformation in our world. May we continue to see love and compassion.Eclipses are viewed mythologically, astrologically as times of transformation. Perhaps something in the shadows of our psyche, unconscious to us–rises to the surface or is able to be seen more clearly. Making the unconscious, conscious is crucial for transformation to occur. And there are other transformations possible in the spiritual alchemy symbolized by the kissing of the sun + moon.I want to share a koanKOAN:Ancestor Ma was sick. The superintendent of the monastery asked him, “How have you been feeling these days?” The Ancestor said, “Sun Face Buddha, Moon Face Buddha.”—Blue Cliff Record Case 3 (translation by John Tarrant & Joan Sutherland, titled Ma's Sun Face, Moon Face Buddha)Sun Face Buddha, Moon Face BuddhaWhat kind of people where the ancient ancestors!For twenty years I have struggled fiercely;How many times have I gone down to the Blue Dragon's Cave for you?This distress is worth recounting;Clear-eyed bodhisattvas should not take it lightly.—Xuedou's Commentary on BCR Case 3I have always loved this koan. I think of the eclipse as a time when the sun-face buddha and moon-face buddha meet—In ancient Chinese and Indian cosmology the eclipse was thought to be caused by a dragon eating the sun, other cultures in the Americas believed it was a monster or a squirrel who ate the sun. In alchemy we have the image of the green lion eating the sun.It does look like someone is taking bites out of the sun, like the sun is a giant cookie, and the moon is taking bigger and bigger bites out of it. Until it is completely swallowed and night dawns in the middle of the day.Perhaps it is in blue dragons cave—in the belly of the monster– where the light of the sun is restored. Where our original light is realized.In this koan we have Ancestor Ma.Ma is a sound that corresponds to mother, in many languages–which is interesting in its connection to pre-axial religions, where mother goddesses ruled the heavens and the Earth.Sophie Strand in her research on the history of myth traces the monsters that emerge like the minotaur as having their roots in a mother goddess culture, where this goddess had energy like Kali meaning she could give life and take it away. Which is something that we say of Zen teachers or people with realization—they have the power to give life or take it away.For realization in Zen is more of a losing than a gaining. We see through our self and delusions to the point of realizing that we are everything and nothing belongs to us.The Sun and Moon archetypally play different roles in our collective imagination.Sun Face BuddhaThe Sun illuminates the day. The sun is connected with knowledge, the ego, clarity, our uniqueness, how we shine, vitality, consciousness, the mind–our knowing. If you look at the Sun card in the Rider-Waite-SmithTarot you see an image of a bright luminous sun, a naked baby so vibrantly full of life, riding a horse as sunflowers bloom all around. The Sun looks directly back at us. Bright and straightforward in its life-giving radiance.The sun you could say is what we know about ourselves.In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition the clear light of the sun is used to describe our true nature. There is this enduring, life-giving quality to the sun. Awakening is allowing the clear light of our nature to shine through us. Awakening dawns in us, as us—with the recognition that this light does not belong to us, but is the light of our shared being—our true nature.Practice-awakening involves a continual recognition of this light—our Sun Face Buddha—which is always present. We are in a sense continually recognizing what is always already here, basic to us. The clear light of mind is present even in the night or when the dark monster appears to eat the light for a few minutes twice a year.Because our inner light, the light of awareness does not dim. Even in sleep. Even when the outer world appears dark.Moon Face BuddhaAnd yet, change is our nature. As human beings, as earthlings—we change, we live on a changing planet.Some change happens to us. Or at least appears too. Friends move away. Our career pivots or the work environment undergoes changes, our relationships pass through their own seasons of connection, intimacy, seeming disconnection and rediscovery / drifting apart. People we love die. Our kids grow up. Our parents age. Our bodies age. Environmental disasters happen. The politics in our country changes.Other changes we seem to have more agency in.The Moon reminds us that we too are cyclical. Archetypally the moon has been associated with change, the tides, in many cultures each of the monthly full moons have a different name. The moon's phases remind us of our own mini cycles, that our bodies too are flowing, need periods of rest and rejuvenation. The moon is often associated with our emotional being. Our innermost experience.The moon's light is different from the sun, it's a reflective light.Ominous, it holds an element of mystery. When seen in the moonlight, things lack clear edges or boundaries, there is a blending quality to the moon's luminosity. Hazy, inchoate, the moon illuminates a world beyond distinction + labels, beyond the piercing clarity and gnosis of the sun's rays. In the moonlight we are invited to un-know. To see beyond our projections. The mind and our obsession with “seeing” is rendered ineffective. We misperceive. Is that a vine or a snake? A person in the corner or a coat hanging, the antlers of a deer on the porch or an upside down broom? We can spook ourselves and have the opportunity to laugh at ourselves in our delusional moon vision.The Moon card in the Tarot is an image of waters, a crab, a wolf/dog, howling, two towers with a path passing through. There is something a bit unsettling about the image. Looney, lunatic. The moon's face isn't straight on like the sun's —its sideways. Looking away, peripheral. It describes what many people talk about feeling in the dusky hours. A restlessness, an unsettling, a strange boredom, loneliness—this is often the time of temptation, cravings emerge for food, sex, some kind of distraction or entertainment.At the monastery, this is one of the times of meditation. Another aspect to the moon is that we can't see the entire moon. The moon has a dark side.The moon is what we don't know about ourselves.What is unknowable.In the Japanese Zen tradition the moon represents enlightenment. Here we have the reminder that awakening is ungraspable, anything that we think we can say about it, is already covering the direct, unmediated experience of life itself. The moon shadows show us the limits of mind, words, concepts and knowing.The moon reminds us of the mystery that we are. That life is. The mystery of our own light, our own gnosis—how we can't quite tell of it—for our telling casts silvery delusions like the rays of moonlight, obscuring the truth.And so—we are invited to live—Sun Face Buddha, Moon Face Buddha. Knowing and unknowing, bright clarity that is truly a mystery.Transformation comes from our ability to embrace these two luminaries, two sides of the same face? To faces of the same sky? What shines forth unobstructed as we allow our humanness, our changeability, our flaws, the mystery of what we are—to shine together with the unalterable light of our true nature?Love, our  unique expression of compassion, awe, wonder, wisdom—Sun Face, Moon FaceOriginal FaceBuddhaSee below for up-coming in-person and online group meditation events and retreats. I also offer 1:1 IFS-informed Spiritual Counseling and Meditation support. I incorporate dream work and hakomi skills in my sessions, you can learn more about my 1:1 work here, feel free to reach out with any questions.This talk is recorded during my weekly Online Monday Night Meditation and Dharma event. This event is open to anyone, you can drop in anytime. Meditation begins at 6P PT / 9P ET. Click here for more information and the zoom link. We are currently exploring the theme: Engaged Buddhism.Retreats in Oregon at Great Vow Zen MonasteryMay Zen Sesshin: The Light of Our Ancestors May 13 - 19 at Great Vow Zen Monastery in Clatskanie, OR co-led with Zen Teacher Patrick Bansho GreenDuring this 5-day silent Zen meditation retreat we will connect to the ancestral light of awakened nature. Drawing inspiration from the stories and practices of our Zen ancestors, fellow human beings who felt the call to practice the spiritual path of insight, love and presence.Love & Spaciousness: A Weekend Loving Kindness Retreat May 24 - 26 at Great Vow Zen Monastery in Clatskanie, OR with Dharma Holder Myoyu Haley VoekelWith wonderment on our side, and in relationship with all that is, we recognize the inherent compassion that naturally arises from deep and sustained presence. Held in a container of zen forms and the vibrant dance of a monastery waking up to spring, we will explore the nature of being anything at all! Love and Spaciousness are two qualities of our true nature. This retreat we will practice recognizing and opening to them.Love and wonderment,Kisei This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amykisei.substack.com/subscribe

In today's episode of Welcome to Cloudlandia, we reflect on serenity in nature and technology, drawing parallels between Cloudlandia and meticulously raked sand. Woven into our talk is AI and how it's changing everything, from Evan's course helping us out at work to all the crazy experiments shaking things up. We get into how innovation unexpectedly boosted my creativity, which we're calling "exponential tinkering". As our annual event nears, lessons in "exponential thinking" add to the anticipation of a reunited community and potential for growth. SHOW HIGHLIGHTS Dean and I explore the serenity of Cloudlandia and how it parallels the peacefulness found in Japanese Zen gardens, reflecting on the role of imagination in experiencing digital spaces. We discuss the success of Evan Ryan's AI course within our company and how it has encouraged experiments with AI across different teams. Dean introduces the concept of "exponential tinkering," highlighting how AI is revolutionizing the arts and content creation, with a nod to OpenAI's Sora tool. We contemplate the cultural shift toward immersive experiences like VR, while expressing skepticism about their long-term utility and appeal. Dan recognizes the importance of integrating existing consumer experiences to create innovative products, using Apple as an example. We highlight insights from Mark Mills' book "The Cloud Revolution" on the strategic importance of reshoring supply chains and repurposing shopping centers into logistics hubs. We compare Tesla's success to the sustainability challenges faced by other electric vehicle companies that are more dependent on government subsidies. We share anecdotes about the Soviet-era's illusion of luxury, and how modern-day explorers uncover the true state of Soviet infrastructure. We examine the declining enthusiasm for venture capital in the tech world and the concept of "cruel optimism" that can be prevalent in this sector. Excitement is expressed for our upcoming annual event, stressing the value of 'exponential thinking' and the potential growth of our community. Links: WelcomeToCloudlandia.com StrategicCoach.com DeanJackson.com ListingAgentLifestyle.com TRANSCRIPT (AI transcript provided as supporting material and may contain errors) Dean: Mr Sullivan how are you, mr Jackson? Dan: Well, welcome to Cloudlandia. I'm sitting out in my courtyard and it's a little bit of a cold, rainy morning. I don't know if you can hear the rain gently falling in the courtyard. It's relaxing. Dean: Do you have an? Dan: umbrella over your head. No, I'm in a. I have a covered, a covered area here that I'm sitting at about. I don't know what you call it, like a lamina or a loja, I don't know how it is, but it's a covered underroof thing, that's attached to my courtyard. Dean: What you're saying is that there's something between you and this guy. That's exactly it. Dan: I'm not getting rained on, I'm under covered, as they say. Dean: Yeah, well, it's sort of a poignant, almost like a Japanese. Stay right, yeah, this almost feels like a Japanese Zen garden. Dan: here I hear the like the little the water coming off the roof of a tile roof, so that it's very Japanese Zen actually, because the there's a spout that drains the water down into a drain. Yeah, so nice. Dean: Yeah, it's very interesting. When I was a teenager I sort of fell in love with Japanese culture. This would be early 60s, late 50s, early 60s and you know I read the literature, I looked at the artwork. I was interested in their architecture, their history, and then in my military. I was drafted into the US military and got sent to South Korea. And I'm an R and R. Rest and relaxation, that's what they called it. Dan: R and R I went to Japan. Dean: I went to twice, oh nice. And my memory is of being in the mountains, at a place where they really didn't speak English I don't know even now if they you know, having Americans who was part of their experience, but it was perfectly understandable. I mean, the hospitality was so great. But I can remember being in one of these little rooms where they had. They had sliding doors that would open up and you could see the mountain, you could see the water. And I remember it raining, but I was warm and I had tea. And I was sitting there and it sort of corresponded to what my teenage visions had been. I always remember that. Dan: That's great. I love it when stuff like that happens. Well, this would definitely be the kind of day that would be conducive to tea. Dean: And sitting out here. Dan: It was kind of a Zen garden that I have in the courtyard, so it's nice. Dean: Yeah, yeah. Speaking of Zen, there's a lot about the jump from the mainland to Cloudlandia that has a Zen-like quality to it, tell me more, tell me more, especially now with the. A lot about it, well, a lot about it. You have to imagine, in other words, that you only get as far in Cloudlandia as your imagination will go. I'm really seeing this. I'm kind of being a creative collaborator with Evan Ryan, still in his 20s, but he's been investigating artificial intelligence for the last 10 years, so he's well into it. So basically his adult life has been and he's got a very thriving business and he's got clients from all over the planet. But he wrote one book which was superb. It was called AI as your teammate and he put it together into a six-module coaching course for companies and our entire company went through that. Dan: Oh, wow. Dean: So it's six to our modules and just to the main. Purpose is just to get people over the hump that this is any scarier than any technology that they've already mastered. It's just a new technology. And it did wonders. It did wonders and I can see the last module was probably four months ago and I can see the investigations and the experiments that are going on across the company, each person sort of focusing on something different. And then Evan is writing a new book and I just shared an idea with him and maybe it be a topic that we would discuss today. But I said, there's all sorts of predictions being made by people about where AI is going and where it's going to take us, and both exciting and scary. The predictions are both exciting and scary and what I realized that all these predictions, no matter how expert the person tried to present themselves, was just one person's prediction. And more or less their prediction for everybody else was simply what they wanted to do for themselves, Right. Dan: Yeah. Dean: And I think Mark Zuckerberg and there's all sorts of people the big tech people and government people and everything, corporate people and I say you're trying to make this a prediction for the world, but it's only probably a prediction for you that this is the direction and what I realized is that there's an exponential breakthrough with AI and it's in the area of tinkering, which is a neat word, yes, Tinkering. So Evan and I talked about it and he's going to. You know, he's developing the idea as exponential tinkering. Dan: And I really like it. Oh, I like that. Dean: That's a good yeah, what a nice combination of words, because, there are kind of two words that are jarring when you put them together, that's very good. Dan: I like that a lot. Dean: Yeah, so what are you tinkering? Dan: with. So I'm tinkering with a couple of things right now and deep into the. Are you talking about technology things? Dean: No, yeah. Well, technology, or specifically AI, are you tinkering at all with it, seeing what it can do? Dan: I'm starting now to. Did you see the latest thing a couple of days ago? The release of Sora, the video creation tool. Now, that was OpenAI did that right. OpenAI has just I think it's only very limitally open to their top tier, you know, data users or whatever, but the demo reels of it you know, showing what it's capable of, and I mean it's certainly you see now where that's the final piece of the puzzle here, like two things have happened in the last 30 days that have really kind of cement where I see this going. I've been predicting here that 20, that you know, almost like the big change 1975 to 2025 will kind of look and the you know all these exponential improvements reaching the top of the asymptotic curve that there's You're using big words. Dean: Yes, so Asymptotic, asymptotic. I think that deserves a subhead for our listeners. Dan: Okay, Well, asyn, in math when you do exponential, it's exponentially increases, increases, and then it reaches a point where it's just marginally like improving slightly. You know, like there's not really the exponential leap, for instance, of going from. If we just take text, we've gone from, you know, writing it on papyrus or having people hand write stuff. Dean: Chiseled as on. Chiseled as in play. Dan: Whatever. And then Gutenberg was an exponential leap in that, but it got better in terms of when we were able to, you know, create digital photocopy and things like that, and we got to the text file where you could digitize text and that became a PDF. And now so everything you know, the functional like improvement in text, has really reached the top of. There's nowhere really to go from everything ever written available instantly on any device you have. And that same thing has been over the last 25 years, kind of cascading series of those with increasing complexity of them, right? I think it's not. That's the easiest thing to fully digitize is text. And then pictures were the next thing, that you could digitize pictures so we can transfer images, then moving pictures right? Audio, sorry, was next after text, audio images or images, videos. Now we're at the point where you know every piece of media video, audio, text or images is completely digitized. It's available on any device at any time you want it. And this next piece that's falling into place is the ability to generatively create, from description, images and videos that you can describe. And so when you take this Sora, and you take Dali and you take the all the things that are converging with the, with the AI, and we'll give them another two year runway, which would even sort of double their time that they've been in our world Mainstream they'll be fully cemented into the mainstream use. And then you look at what's happening with the release of Apple's new Air Pro goggles, or whatever they're calling them. Dean: Vision Pro. Dan: Vision Pro. Dean: And that is. You know everybody who's going to use any of this. Dan: Exponential tinkerers. Dean: Yeah, but that somebody who's doing it tinkerers. Tinkerers is just someone who's doing it for their own purposes. You know they're not trying to create something for anybody else, they're just for example, I gave you the example that I've had a real interest in. You know, I wrote a new book and I had. I was writing a new book and I had one chapter finished and it was how we put our company together, and the chapter was unique ability teamwork. That, basically, a fundamental difference between coach team members and other team members is that we everybody operates according to their own unique ability within unique ability teams. Okay, so that's that, but I've always had a fascination with Shakespeare. You know he's one of my five. Dan: Yes. Dean: You know, five lifetime role models Shakespeare, because he was not only a great poet, a great playwright, a great you know creator of, you know, creator of plays, but he was also a tremendous entrepreneur and he, you know, he created the first company that was self-sustainable and he created a new theater and everything else. So he was very entrepreneurial and seems to have made a pile through theater. And anyway, but I was always fascinated with the language form that was operating in London in the late 1500s and 1600s. So Shakespeare is 1560, 1560, 1660 years and it was called iambic pentameter and it was a structure where there's only 10 syllables per line. You get to the 10th syllable and then you go to a new line, and so I had one of my team members actually go to AI, go to chat GPT and say we would like to translate Dan's copy into iambic pentameter and it was back in 24 hours. Dan: You know came back and I was just fascinated. Dean: I was just fascinated with it because I thought differently about my own thoughts when I saw them come back in a different language form. In English but about a different structure. So I was sitting there, I was reading it and I gave it to some of our team and I said what do you think about this? And they said, wow, I get totally new thoughts from reading it. It's, you know, the basic ideas, but they're in a different language form. And I said now what I'd like to do is I hear it like it here. It's spoken, you know, by someone who was really great with Shakespeare's language. So it was a very famous actor who we have their recordings of, and so we open my team member, Alex Barley, who is British you know. So he's from the UK, so he has a feel for this type of language and he has a feel for theater. And then he worked with Mike Canig's, great friend of ours and. Mike. Mike gave him two or three other AI programs that he could take a look at and about four days later I get this wonderfully eloquent reading of a whole chapter in Iambic content and I listen to it every week. I listen to it every week and it does things for my thinking. Okay, and I've shown it to a few people. This is a you know. A number of people have listened to it and they're all say, wow, that's amazing. Dan: You did that. Dean: Why'd you do that? Why'd you do that? Dan: Why'd you do? Dean: that Just tinkering? I was just tinkering and I just. I kind of said you know, if I put this together with this and maybe put the two of them together with this, I wonder what it sounds like. And I have no intention of, I have no intention of going any further with it, but it really serves a purpose, that it really influences my own thinking and I've noticed that my writing has changed as a result of listening to this for three or four, three or four months, you know, I just I just get a different take on my own ideas. Dan: And. Dean: I call that tinkering, I just call that tinkering. Dan: I like that. Dean: And I believe that with AI, what you have, there was always tinkering in the technology world, but I think what AI does, it makes, it allows tinkering to be exponential. Dan: That's interesting. So there's, I'd say, yeah, you're, there's an artistry to it in a way. Dean: You know, in that there's, it's kind of like doing something for your own pleasure for your own yeah, and your own enhancements you know you see, you see an extension of a capability that you already have, but you can see new dimensions of the capability that you already have and that in itself is the reward, that in itself. And people say well, are you going to? You know, I tell people and they say oh, so are you going to actually produce this? And you know, you know like we produce our books. And I said no, I'm just doing it for my own reasons. Dan: I just like the feel of this. I just like the feel you know and. Dean: I do not think I'm unique in this experience. I think there's a hundred million people doing the same thing with something that kind of fascinates them. Dan: And I wonder if that's the artistic expression gene or something. I mean, that's our internal desire to chase our whims. Dean: You know, in a way, yeah, that's one of the great joys of the the reason I'm saying this is that we're always making the predictions about who the giant tech giant is that's going to dominate this and I said one I don't see it emerging. I think all of them are scrambling like mad so that they don't get left behind. But I don't think the idea of tinkering really exists in that world. You know quarterly stock prices, investments that's what they're looking for, you know, and everything else, but I don't see the dominant player, even. You know, even open. Ai is the dominant player. Dan: Have you had some experience? Have you tried the vision pros yet? Dean: No, I don't like goggles. Dan: I don't need. I mean I'm not inclined either. Dean: They're anti social. Dan: I wonder you know it's going to be. I know there'll be a lot of people at Free Zone next week that have them that are, so we'll get a chance to try that for sure. But I know my kenix has it. Dean: I know Leo as his one of the things that I always look at their past stage right now, but it'd be interesting checking their lives down six months from now whether they're actually using them. Dan: That's what I'm curious about, right Like it's so. Dean: I don't need to be first in with anything. Dan: Right, exactly, yeah, yeah, I think that this chasm it's getting, you know, I think it's getting wider and wider, this that there's even now, nuances of going deeper into Cloudlandia, because I think that's like immersively diving into Cloudlandia and I think that there's. Nick Nanton just posted a thing about some big movie director who was tweeted about. You know, just spent the day editing this is a feature movie, mainstream movie director saying you just spent the day editing in the Vision Pros with, in collaboration with his editor, on a big screen. They are theatrical, like movie screen size and just fascinated. He said. Dean: you know, no headache, no anything so I don't know, yeah well, where I think and I felt five, ten years, well, let's say five years ago when people were talking about visual reality, okay. Dan: Yes. Dean: And Peter Diamonis had a lot of proponents of this at Abundance 360 and I was sitting there and I said first of all, every everything that I've seen I find boring and the reason? because what you're seeing is the creation of one brain, and if it's not an interesting brain to begin with, the result of their creation of a VR program is exponentially less interesting. Okay, and what actual reality is good? You know, I look out in my yard and you have the same opportunity there. I look at them and I've got these seven giant oak trees in their yard, I mean they're a hundred, and ten hundred foot oak trees, and the reason I love those trees so much is nobody created them. There was no intention for this to happen. It was just a lucky acorn. Dan: Right the result of it. Dean: I mean they produce thousands, millions of acorns in our yard and it's just squirrel food you know, and and it's the nonintentionality that interests me, it's not the somebody's intention, okay, and one person's story really doesn't interest me for the first time if it doesn't include a lot of other people's stories you know, in other words. You're putting that together, so I don't know. I mean, I think there's a fundamental obstacle to all technological breakthroughs, and it's called human nature. Dan: Yeah, this is where that's. What I wonder, is the goggles? Them sound like it. Just it feels like, wow, this is a you know, unless we're at a point where I think the improvement of the vision pros is that you can actually see out of them. Dean: Well, you can see out of them and it's got the thing that I think is really going to make a difference, and that's all augmented reality. Yes, exactly In other words, you're looking at a real thing. Yeah, there are useful pictures, useful data, useful messages on it, and there's useful capabilities, in other words, there's like email and, I'm sure, the design. You know design tools and everything that you can do and that, I believe, is good, but it'll only, it'll take hold where the use of this speeds up an economic process that already makes money. But you can speed up an economic process. Dan: I'm seeing that, if everything is, you know, being shaped to drive us deeper into this cloudlandia existence here, that everything's happening in the goggles, that I was just had coffee with Stuart, my operations guy, and we were saying how it seems like there's a trend towards you know, I have you ever heard the term hostile design for architecture where the Starbucks one of the Starbucks here in Winter Haven just went under when it's 10 year renovation and they completely turned it into like a basket robin's? where it's all the character of you know a basket robin's. There's no sense of that third place kind of you know origin that Starbucks started with, where, when Starbucks was first getting started in the 90s, they had, you know, nice design, comfy chairs. It was inviting to come and get a coffee and sit and you know gather kind of thing. And now it's essentially designed with the hey, keep it moving, keep it moving kind of vibe to it. There's no, nothing about the chairs, the seating, it's just literally one long banquette with facing single wooden chairs. You know that, on and round table, so there's no comfort or invitingness to come and linger. Dean: Well, they commoditize, so you know. In other words, yeah they start off at very special places. Yeah, and you know you could go in if you could use it as an office, it could be your office all day if you were I think yeah. Dan: I think that's what happened is that post as we got into the last ten years where it became more, you know, wi-fi is ubiquitous and, you know, demanded in public spaces like that. That you know I was saying to Stuart. My theory about it is that in the 90s and early 2000s the internet was still a place that you had to go to right, like you, yeah, had to go to your computer to go there, and these third places were, of you know, an important part of you're putting that aside and you're coming to this third place to be there and as laptops and Wi-Fi and all these things made it possible that people could go and set up shop in the Starbucks and spend the whole day there, that became defeated, the whole purpose. It wasn't a third place, it was the place. 0:25:06 - Dean: You know, yeah, and the other thing it became every place. You know, I mean, when you commoditize, it's every place. And, and you know, I mean you know. And the other thing is that there was a fundamental change in the Starbucks culture and I can say exactly when it was. It was in the 90s and I think it was probably around 1995. They said there's a risky part of our future and that is we can't guarantee that we're always going to have good baristas okay, because the real right. The real skill I mean of Starbucks is who is? Where the baristas who can do the coffee, just right, and they said we can't. You know, it's too risky and that we become too dependent on these people, you know and they said we've got to make it mechanical and what they did immediately is that their espresso drinks, you know, whatever form it came in, was only 80% as good, but it was predictably 80. The moment you give away quality in order to achieve quantity, you've lost all uniqueness. Yeah. I agree, yeah and that's what they've done. And now the other thing is that they created their own competition because people seeing how a coffee operation works, they went to Starbucks University and got their degree, you know, and it probably take a year to do that and they went out and created their own independent coffee shops. So I think those unique coffee shops still exist, but they're not trying to take over the planet yeah, it's really. Dan: It's interesting. I'm looking for places like that, but you just it's kind of a sad thing. It's almost like you've talked often about the, the black cab knowledge of the drivers in London that they have London, I think London. Dean: London, birmingham and Manchester, I think they have, but the black cabs are the best cabs in the world. Yeah, okay, they're, just there's nothing to compare of what an experienced black cab driver with the black cab experience in the world. There's just nothing like it, and it takes you three years of dedicated study to even pass the test to become a black cab driver, you know and it's very interesting that all of that now can be. You know, anybody in their Honda Civic equipped with their iPhone, has the knowledge right on their phone well, actually it worked out, it didn't work out in London right, because Uber came in and they said well, you know, the Uber guys got it, but they have no feel for the city right and yeah, and so within six months of Uber coming in and actually threatening black cab developed its own Uber software, so now they have the Uber software plus the knowledge of the driver yeah, right it's like AI, an AI program defeating world champion, chess champion okay, yeah and within a year, the chess champions just said okay, we've upped the game and now it's us, plus our AI program, against each other. Dan: Yeah, it's very. You know, it's a-. Dean: Humans are infinitely smarter than technology. Dan: Yeah, it's a fascinating time to be approaching your 80th birthday right now too, you know, looking into the next decade here. Yeah, what are you guessing and betting on for the next few weeks? Dean: I'm betting that people's grasp of their past is now their trump card. Okay, that the future is completely and totally unpredictable, okay as far as I'm concerned. I mean, I think you could predict the future more in the 19th and you know the book you gave me, the 1990, the great change I would think was called the Great Change. If I think back to 1950, where I was alive, I think that the first grade teacher and I had a first grade teacher in 1950, sister Mary Josephia. Sister Mary Josephia, sometime, first grade she says the reason why you're learning this now reading, writing and arithmetic is that when you graduate from high school because nobody went to college in those days- you know, you left high school and you went and got a job. She says everybody's going to be looking in the job market at how good you are at reading, writing and arithmetic and showing up on time and finishing what you start and saying please and thank you and everything else. And she was totally correct. In 1962, exactly what she predicted was true. Okay, so try a first grade teacher in 2024, can she predict anything about what a first grader will experience 12 years later? Dan: Yeah, no chance yeah. Dean: And that's just a general condition on the planet. I just think the future is no longer predictable. So what's the unused resource? The unused resource is your past. Dan: Say more about that. What do you mean? The unused resource? Dean: Well, first of all, it's unique. I mean, if I sat down with you and asked you questions about your past and it went on for a year day in day out for a year. Not one thing that you say about your past during that year is anything but unique to you. That's true. Yeah, exactly that's where all the raw material is for creativity. It's not in the future, you know and it was so funny because I remember four or five times in abundance 360, peter would invite in people from Google, okay, and they had these moon shots, okay, and what was interesting about them? They were predicting new things in the future that hadn't been imagined yet, okay. And it seems to me like sparse ingredients, but it was what they were up to and there was presentation after presentation and they had videos on YouTube and everything else. And I said is there any customer experience in this? No, there was no customer experience. They were just making it up, you know, and they were sort of, and these teams were in competition with each other who could come up with the most convincing thing? That didn't exist. And then I kept track of it and over a 10-year period they shot all those projects down. They never went anywhere. Dan: Wow, yeah, they never went anywhere. Dean: Yeah, and I said, all you do is let's find three examples of things that people are already enjoying, and can we put them together in a new way and create something new where people already have experience? With at least a third of the new thing you know, and that's what Apple does. Apple never does anything. First they sit there and they say MP3 player, napster, making money doing this Internet. Let's put the three of them together and see where they go. Dan: Yeah, that's smart. They were doing triple plays and didn't even know it. Yeah, well, maybe they were, Maybe they were yeah that's your clever observation of it, right, exactly, yeah, put a framework over it. Dean: There's a great technology thinker by the name of Mark Mills, and he wrote a really interesting book called the Cloud Revolution. Okay, and it's really worth a read. Okay, and what he said? If you go backwards 100 years and you look for all the major technological breakthroughs that have more or less been the mainstream of the last 100 years, he says they you always discover it was never one thing, it was always three things. Dan: Oh really. Dean: He uses the radio, he uses electricity, he uses internal combustion, he uses cars, he uses airplanes, he uses, you know, motion pictures and all the major things air conditioning and everything, and he shows the three things that went together before the breakthrough was possible. Oh wow, and part of the reason is you're putting together already existing habits. Dan: Yeah, that's really. You have to piggyback on something that somebody's already doing, right. Dean: Yeah, that gives them their existing habit, even though you're adding. You know you're adding factors that are two other habits. But you have to get people something solid to stand on before you ask them to take a step into the new. Dan: What was the name of that book? Dean: again, it's called the Cloud Revolution. Okay, the Cloud Revolution. Yeah and he uses an interesting example and this is a prediction he's making for the future. He said, with reshoring take place. So that's one factor the supply chains are going to get shorter and shorter in the future, because COVID sort of proved to everybody that relying products that came from a hundred different places and required 5,000 miles of ocean travel to get to us wasn't reliable for the future products you know, foods and everything. So what? The major thing is that you're going to try to have supply chains were important with things as close as possible to where the customers are. And he said that's one trend. Okay, that's reshoring, that's that process of bringing your manufacturing and your industrialization back to close to you. That's one factor. The other factor is no longer obsolete shopping centers, Okay. And he said let's suppose that you just take every obsolete shopping center and you turn it into a combination of warehouse, factory and distribution center, Okay. Okay, All the existing infrastructure is built in. That's already zone. It's got huge parking, it's got some massive, big spaces like the big anchor stores, some massive big spaces. You already have delivery docks, you have truck docks that go underground and people go yes and everything. And he says but it's obsolete for the purpose it was created for. But he says if you think about it as a nexus point for trade supply routes in other? Words the raw material will come in and then supply routes going out to the actual customers. And he says all of a sudden you got a new use. But people are used to shopping centers, people work in shopping centers, you know and everything else he says well, you know, and they have major, usually they're situated where there's major transportation routes, there's major highways, there's, you know. I mean probably the best shopping centers are in places that have, you know, highway access. They have air airline, you know, ups, and so that he says just look, look at a lot of stuff that already exists. Put it together in a new way and people's habits already supported. Dan: That's smart. Dean: Yeah. Dan: I like those things, so that fits in with the whole. Jeff Bezos, you know what's not going to change in the next 10 years model, looking not at what's going to change, but what's not going to change, because that's what you can anchor on. Dean: Yeah, it's kind of like I'm just watching all the EV companies, the electric vehicle companies, with the exception of Tesla, because they've got a unique, established niche. I don't think any of the other companies that are based on a profit motive are making that forward, shutting, cutting back. Volkswagen is cutting back, gm is cutting back, everybody's cutting back, because they're losing anywhere from $30,000 to $70,000 on a vehicle and it doesn't look like it's going to get any better. Okay, and then, but what made it unnatural is the fact that you had to have massive government insistence for it to even get off the ground. Dan: Yeah, you just kind of hit something on the head there, because Elon Musk has definitely thrown his hat over the fence on electric vehicles and it is dominating the market for it, because he's all in on that, which is something that Ford and Volkswagen and all these companies can't do. They're not, they're only like dabbling in the electric vehicle markets, you know. Dean: Yeah they did it because there were massive subsidies, there was math, you know, and the states like California were mandating. You know, you know, and by 2035 we won't have any fossil fuel vehicles. Okay, and you know, if the strong arm of government's gonna come on and just forbid the alternative, well, of course we're going to invest our future in it. But those governments are going to be thrown out. I bet the government in California is throwing out within 10 years, I mean you know, by the way, that that just reminded me of something. Dan: I just watched the Tucker Carlson interview with Putin. Did you see that? Dean: Yeah, Parts of it. I saw a part Okay. Dan: Yeah, yeah, nothing extraordinary about that. That wasn't what I was getting to. But while Tucker was in Russia, he did a series of short Videos that were just kind of exploring what is it actually like in a, you know, post sanctioned Russia that you know, yeah, since they put sanctions in place and you know, and it was funny because he was describing, you know, like every visual that we have of, you know, communism in Russia is, you know, empty shelves and limited supply and limited Choice and utilitarian things. So he went, he did a interesting series where he went to a Russian Supermarket to see, okay, so what is it like like? What's day-to-day life like in Russia under sanctions during wartime? And it was, you know, the most fascinating like grocery store where you go in and it's the shelves are stopped with Everything you could imagine, all these things. It's a beautiful, clean store, very modern. Everything about it was amazing. They filled up their basket with what would be, you know, a week's worth of groceries for a family of four kind of thing, what you would get if you were kind of feeding a, a family of four and they, you know, found everything. They they wanted a beautifully you know, fresh baked bread, all the staples that you could need. They filled them all up. They all him and the producers kind of guessed that they would have, you know, $400 or 400 worth of groceries if they were buying it in America, kind of thing which was their frame of reference and Turns out they got all of that stuff for like a hundred and four dollars is what it's what it costs. Dean: Yeah, don't you find it fascinating that he found the one supermarket in all of Russia where that was. Dan: That's what I wonder. That's what I want. Dean: No, that's not you think he went there just have passers-by on his own, I don't like to go. Oh yeah, yeah, the Soviets had one in Moscow. It was right near the Kremlin. It was called gum GUM, if you look it up on Wikipedia. Huh, capital G, capital U, capital M, and you went in and it was just well-dressed shoppers, everything you know, I think that's that's might have been where he was. That might have been it, oh yeah, and it's, and it's a show place, it's a show play and that's what they found when they found out the history of it. Shoppers would go in and they would come out the front door and then they go around the block, go through the black door Backdoor and give back everything that they had bought, and then it was restocked on the shelves. Dan: Oh boy. Dean: They were all actors. Dan: Oh, wow, very interesting. I wondered the same thing, because they did. He went to a subway station that he admittedly said was the most beautiful. So we never seen a subway station as nice anywhere in in America and it was. They showed the footage of it. You know, beautiful artwork and chandeliers and steam, cleaned cleanliness and, no, no graffiti, all of those things. And it did have the sense of. Is this a show place? Because there's an interesting YouTube channel. There was a gentleman from the UK and his channel is called bald and bankrupt and what he does is he goes just solo with a single camera and he was touring all these Soviet Territories. All the outposts, you know, like that were the height of the thing, to compare, and every one of it is Just like everything is run down. And you know all of the Soviet Union, you know post Communism is completely, you know, run down. And what you would expect, right, what you would that, your Vision of it, and I think that you kind of just hit it on the head. That's that it's more likely. Dean: That's like a show place or a yeah that that subway system was put in the 1930s. Okay, they had the boss of it, was cruise ships, cruise ships came in the fame Because he put in. But there was. There was no Limit on cost and there was no limit on how many people died. Building, they asked, made about 20,000 workers died. Putting in the subway system Okay and and, but if those are not cost you pay any attention to, then you can build anything in the world. But, if you wanted to go to another city and see the subway, they wouldn't let you do that. You could only see the subway. That they, because subways were a bigger deal you know in the 1930s or 1920s. Then they are now. You know, because most people don't use the subways. But in Europe, you know, where people don't have cars and they live in very dense populated areas, subways make sense. I mean 80 percent of the Public transportation in the United States I'm talking about buses and subways and commuter trains is the greater New York area that once you get outside the New York area, only 20 percent of the public public Transportation public transportation exists because everybody's got private transportation. Dan: Yeah exactly right. Dean: I mean you got your own. I mean you got a plush Travel vehicle called the Tesla X. You know it's kind of neat. You don't use it 99% of the time, but it's nice having you know. Dan: You know what I said. I was talking about you. Yesterday the I was had to drive somewhere that was about an hour away, just over an hour Actually. Dan said a new high watermark for my migration north. I went just about a half an hour north of I for the first time since. What's it like? Dean: I mean do you need oxygen? Dan: I mean you know I was using the self-drive, which is just name. You know it's only in named and as it has a nervous breakdown if you take your hand off the wheel for more than 30 seconds at a time. But I said you know Dan Sullivan has it figured out. Dan Sullivan has had self-drive since 1997. Dean: You've had true self drive, self automatic, self drive you know it's an interesting thing, but what I notice, you know I'm just developing the reason. This thing about the past is interesting because I'm writing my new quarterly book right now and it's called Everything Is Created Backward, and what I mean everything that sticks is actually created by starting with the past and picking the best of, and I think three things is really a formula. I mean, there might be things where it's five things, but I think three is useful because you can go looking for three, okay, and what I'm seeing is that the tech world has basically ground to. A lot of people don't know this, but the investment part, the venture capital part of the tech world, has just hit a wall. I mean, there's a massive amount of money available, but nobody wants to invest it because so many things promised as new things in the last 10 years really haven't amounted to anything. It's about, I think about less, maybe around 10% of IPOs. You know, initial public offerings have panned out Okay. That's a high risk that you have a nine you know, a nine to one chance of losing your money if you invest in something new, and I think the hype factor for getting investment has lost its energy. Dan: Yeah, that's changes everything. This changes everything, oh that's no good, then that's a sure sign that it's doomed. Yeah, this changes everything should be your signal to run away. Dean: Yeah, and you know I mean, but it does change everything for certain individuals and this is the mistake. It's like Joe Polish calls this cruel optimism. Dan: You know cruel optimism Okay. Dean: Yeah, and he has a great take on this, and he said that that when it comes to you know, because he's very interested in addictions and how one gets off an addiction, and he says there's thousands of predictions that if you do this and do this, you get a work for you. And he said what's true about it is it'll work for somebody, okay, but it's their willingness for it to work that actually makes it possible. And so there's a lot of human agency to things turning out the way you want. If you take complete ownership and it has to work for you, probably it'll work. But if you think it's going to be done to you and you don't have to do anything probably it won't work. Yeah, that's a very yeah, but I thought it was. But he says it's very cruel Because when it doesn't work and it doesn't work, and it doesn't work, your addiction gets more powerful. Dan: I said to somebody I've been talking about. I've often talked about the difference between, in marketing, a slot machine versus a vending machine, and that's a great analogy. It's often the way that most businesses take on marketing. They put money in the slot machine and they pull the lever and they hope that something happens and they're surrounded in a room by all the other entrepreneurs. Dean: Yeah, we got two out of three. Or we got two out of three oranges. Dan: We got a trend going here, that's right, so everybody's pulling their slot machine and they're all in the same room and somebody hits the jackpot and they all flock over to that machine. Look at the crowd, See see, see, it works. They're like yeah, trying to do the same thing. And then you know every all the testimonials that you see. That's exactly what that reminded me of. It's cruel optimism that sometimes see it does work, but they're usually talking about something that happened quickly and to a great extent and once. And it's not the same as the predictable vending machines. Not every time I put in the dollar I get $10 out. Dean: But you know, one of them has. One of them comes with a dopamine factor and the vending machine doesn't come with the dopamine factor. Dan: That's the truth, isn't it? Yeah, but we're all seeking that excitement of the the lot machine. Yeah, it's a cruel optimism, that's funny. Dean: I think it's a good. I think it's a good title. You know, he everything but and. But. It has that somebody else's formula for the future is going to work for you. You know, so I have a. You know I have a little saying that in order to create a more, bigger and better future, you have to first start by creating a bigger and better past. And the reason is the past is all yours to work with. The future is nobody's to work with. Dan: Right. Dean: Yeah, and so my feeling is the greatest breakthroughs with the new vision pro, you know and you know the other AI technologies that are coming along with it is that my feeling is that the best breakthroughs for this will be actually an industrial work, where you're actually dealing with existing engineering. You're existing with existing infrastructure and I think quality control is going to go way up, as people can check out every system you know and they look at, you know they go backstage, they go into a boiler room and they can do a check with their goggles on of every piece of machinery and they have a checklist, does this check and does this check and nothing gets missed. And I think it's going to. The great greatest breakthrough is going to be an industrial quality control. I think that's where it's going to be most used Wow and warfare. I mean all the 35, the latest jets. They operate as six pilot, six plane units. And all, every one of the pilots is aware of the other five pilots and what they're doing. Okay, and they operate as this six person unit, their radar allows them to see 500 miles out in all directions. Okay, and they can see any threat coming, probably two or three minutes before the threat sees them, which makes a big difference, you know. So yeah, somebody said, all breakthroughs happen in three ways, all human, technological breakthroughs. Number one is weaponry. Okay, that's number one, number two is toys and number three is porn. Dan: So there's a triple play right there in the making. Dean: There's a triple play. I mean, if you can check off the box, if this is good for warfare, it's good for play and it's good for porn you got yourself a winner. Dan: Oh my goodness. Dean: That's funny, I like within three days. The biggest complaint about Apple's new vision pro was you couldn't do popcorn on it. Dan: You can't I mean, it's funny, isn't it? That's the way, that's the thing, oh man. Dean: Now, instead of being horrified by that, you're being told something important. Dan: Yes, exactly that's great. So this, this is the week, dan, this is our yeah, so we'll be in. Dean: Orlando at the four seas, in Palm Beach at the four seasons. So Thursday evening will be arriving there. I've got all day Friday completely free. And but we already have Saturday for dinner and Sunday dinner in the calendar with others who have requested it. Dan: Okay so so I got lots of time. Okay, so that's my plan Initially. I may come down Friday then, but Saturday was when I was going to arrive, so maybe, let's you know, put Saturday lunch for sure, yeah, if that works for you yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah and yeah. Dean: So we're completely, you know, completely flexible with those days All my materials for printing have to be in by Tuesday this week. Dan: Okay, so you're gonna. You're a relax and it's all underway. Dean: Yeah, it gets printed out of Chicago and it'll be sent to the team when they get to Palm Beach. It'll be in the four seasons and they'll just have all the materials for the workshop. Dan: Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. Okay, well, worst case scenario be Saturday at lunch, maybe Friday. I'll come down on Friday, okay. Dean: What'd you get? What'd you get out of today? Dan: Fascinating, I think this whole. I like this idea of the exponential thinker. Dean: I think that I will be there. You should chat with him about it. There's so many people. Dan: I'm looking, really looking forward to seeing everybody it's. I can't believe it's been a year. Dean: You know, yeah, yeah, yeah. So there, anyway, I think we're gonna have a good. We're gonna have a good, a good event. We have about 70 free zoners and we have another 90 guests. Dan: Oh my goodness, wow, okay, great. Yeah, so hopefully that will yield some new free zoners too. Dean: Yeah, okay, dean, see you on Saturday. Thanks, dan, bye, and just let Becca know, you know, and she'll work things out. Dan: Okay, that sounds great, okay, okay, thanks, bye, bye.

In this Special Episode of Buddhist Books Podcast, we'll be watching Banmei Takahashi's 2009 film, "Zen." "Zen" is a historical bio-pic about Zen Master Dogen, who first brought Chan Buddhism from China to Japan, becoming the founder of the first Japanese Zen sect in the early 13th century.

In the first decades of the 20th century the Japanese philosopher Kitaro Nishida sent students to Europe and America to see what they could discover about Western philosophy. Keiji Nishitani went to Freiburg to study under Martin Heidegger, and became one of the leading figures in the Kyoto School, a project of synthesis that tried to read the Japanese intellectual tradition through the lens of European philosophy and vice versa. These thinkers took ideas from Christian mysticism, German idealism and Phenomenology, and combined them with an interest in direct experience shaped by Japanese Zen and other forms of Buddhism. But it was work carried out in Japan in the 1930s, in a society becoming increasingly militaristic and tending towards fascism. Chris Harding discusses the Kyoto School and its legacy with James Heisig, Professor Emeritus at Nanzan University, Graham Parkes, Professorial Research Fellow in Philosophy at the University of Vienna, Raquel Bouso, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, and Takeshi Morisato, Lecturer in Non-Western Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh.Producer: Luke Mulhall

After taking a holiday hiatus from my DharmaByte column and UnMind podcast, in collaboration with my publisher and producer, we have determined a new direction for 2024, or a new way of extending our past direction. As this is the quadrennial election year in the American national political cycle, we feel it is time, and timely, to address the relationship of Zen practice in particular, and the teachings of Zen Buddhism in general, to that of governing, and more broadly, our civic duty as citizens of the United States.The differing definitions of “politic” versus “political” give us a clue as to the difference between engaging in the fray from the perspective of the Middle Way, and that of the usual partisan divide. Politic, according to the dictionary, means: “(of an action) seeming sensible and judicious under the circumstances” while “political” is rendered:“mainly derogatory — relating to, affecting, or acting according to the interests of status or authority within an organization rather than matters of principle.” We can see that what Buddha did 2500 years ago was the former, establishing the original Order as an alternative to the prevalent caste system, rather than going head-to-head with it. While many adherents, propagators and proponents of Zen in America, including some members of our community, or sangha, have expressed a reluctance, even a repulsion, toward the political arena, we take the position that “You have to say something,” to quote the title from a book by Katagiri Roshi, as I did in my “War & Karma” segment from November of 2023: I fear that if we in Zen do not try to address these terrible global realities in the context of Buddhism, it may be taken as an indication, or an admission on our part, that Zen, along with its teachings and practice, [may] have finally faded into irrelevance, in the face of such intractable 21st century problems. Setting aside for now the quirkiness of quoting one's own prior writing, let me restate the matter in terms of the political climate in general, and what it means from a Zen point-of-view, or at least from mine, informed by Zen practice and the teachings of Buddhism. If we shy away from the current campaign, with its extreme polarization and obvious threats to the operations of this democratic republic — as envisioned by the founding fathers — it may be tantamount to ignoring a train wreck, but one that is coming right at us. The Buddhist teachings of balancing wisdom with compassion may be uniquely suited to addressing the controversies of our time, the overarching theme of my second book, “The Razorblade of Zen.”As a big-picture aside, consider the fundamental divide in Buddhist thought: We usually live in a dualistic frame of mind, coping with the everyday demands of life — in the 21st century as well as 2500 years ago. This is one of the great commonalities we have with Buddha and all of his descendants throughout Zen's history in India, China, Korea, Japan, and on down to the present. Yet Buddhism teaches that this “normal” worldview is somehow askew; that there is “the rest of the story,” referred to as nonduality. Zen holds that both can be true at the same time. The resolution of this apparent dichotomy is one of the many benefits of Zen meditation, but “it cannot be reached by feelings or consciousness; how could it involve deliberation?” according to Tozan Ryokai, founder of Soto Zen in China, circa 800 CE. So we have to give up our intellectual approach, based on logic, to reach this meta-logical resolution, A.K.A. the ”Middle Way.” This applies to so-called politics as well.A concession to those who may feel their knees impulsively jerking: I do not intend to rehash the debate about the participation of Japanese Zen practitioners in the atrocities of WWII, nor any other historical period or event, but mean to focus laser-like on the application of Zen practice to our current situation only. With some recourse to the foundational documents, and what they might mean in the present circumstances of life in America, some 250 years later.As an aside, for a sort of overriding historical benchmark, let me point out that Buddhism is some 2500 years old. Which is ten times the age of the USA. From which we might conjure an analogy to a 100-year-old elder compared to a 10-year old pre-adolescent. Indeed, the behavior of the American political cohort, as well as that of most of the hoi polloi, along with the values underpinning that behavior, may be seen as rather like that of a ten-year-old, blithely and blindly in hot pursuit of pleasure and short-term self-gratification, embracing one half of a familiar admonition from Buddha's first sermon; paraphrasing: O monks, these two extremes ought not be followed by one going forth from the household life; what are the two? There is devotion to the indulgence of self-gratification, which is low, common; the way of ordinary people; unworthy and unprofitable. There is devotion to the indulgence of self-mortification, which is painful, unworthy and unprofitable.He goes on to claim that he has found a way out of this seeming lesser-of-two-evils choice: Avoiding both these extremes, the Tathagata has realized the Middle Way. And to promise that the benefits of finding this middle way between the extremes pays off big-time: It gives vision; it gives knowledge; and it leads to calm, to insight, to awakening, to Nirvana.To clear up some of the jargon, “Tathagata” is one of ten honorifics accorded Buddha during his lifetime, meaning something like “the thus-come one.” “Nirvana” is the state of ultimate liberation, sometimes misrepresented as a separate dimension much like the Western concept of heaven or paradise, being a kind of polar opposite of “Samsara,” the everyday world of suffering. The deeper teaching is that there can be no actual separation of samsara and nirvana, as they are interdependent and thus, mutually defining. the fault being, as usual, in the eye and mind of the beholder. I hasten to add that, if this is good advice for monastics, how much more appropriate must it be for us householders, living in the midst of la vida loca?It should be stated from the beginning that we do not view Zen as partisan in its outlook — it isn't right or left wing — though many would argue the point. And that is part of the point here — that while we will be mounting what may technically be defined as a series of “arguments” in future segments, it is not our intent to prove that either side of the ideological divide is indisputably in the right, and the other necessarily in the wrong. It may be possible that, as we hear repeatedly these days, “both things can be true at the same time.” This is not to suggest a false equivalence, but to remember that, according to Zen, as well as modern brain science, different people actually do experience different realities, owing to the fact that our perceived reality is a reconstruction that occurs inside our minds, and cannot possibly reflect all the many aspects of any eventuality — the knowns; the known unknowns; and the unknown unknowns; to quote a former Secretary of Defense — that appear as the causes and conditions of a particular event. Nonetheless, we might hope that by bringing the nondual approach of Zen to bear upon the dualistic thinking informing the political dialog, we may shed some light on the Middle Way as applied to the social sphere, all the while maintaining that any true insight into conflict resolution will necessarily begin in the personal sphere, in meditation.To set the tone for the next segment, which will appear in the weekly UnMind podcast before the next monthly DharmaByte, let's review the opening paragraph of the Declaration of Independence:When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.This seminal paragraph of this seminal document of the inchoate glimmering of the dawn of democracy will prove important, if introductory, to the idea of freedom in general — and its nature in Zen's reality — in our further discussions of what bearing the social sphere of community, or sangha (including political ramifications) may have on our personal sphere of private practice of free will, with implications for the usual goal of happiness, as well as the transcendent goal of liberation in the spiritual sense.Setting aside the “Nature's God” terminology, which smacks intriguingly of traditional Buddhism's “Vairocana Buddha” figure — the so-called “cosmic Buddha” — we might usefully consider conflating the “Laws of Nature” with some of the time-honored expressions of Dharma as law – i.e. the “law of the universe.”A final assurance until next time we meet: To those groaning under the daunting prospect of weekly commentary on the passing political scene, not to worry: I will confine my comments on the campaign to a monthly Dharma Byte, followed by a single podcast expanding the text a bit on UnMind. The interim three weeks of podcasts will return to our overarching, ongoing thread of efforts to translate the liberating teachings of Buddhism and Zen into the contemporary idiom of the English language and the American culture. Please join us in this endeavor. * * * Elliston Roshi is guiding teacher of the Atlanta Soto Zen Center and abbot of the Silent Thunder Order. He is also a gallery-represented fine artist expressing his Zen through visual poetry, or “music to the eyes.”UnMind is a production of the Atlanta Soto Zen Center in Atlanta, Georgia and the Silent Thunder Order. You can support these teachings by PayPal to donate@STorder.org. Gassho.Producer: Shinjin Larry Little

Philological & Philosophical Analysis of Japanese Zen Gardens: Zen = Chan (Chinese) = Dhyan (Sanskrit) --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pankaj-jain/message

On this episode of Free Range, host Mike Livermore is joined by Jess Locke, an associate professor of philosophy at Loyola University, Maryland. She studies Buddhism, Western psychology, and cross-cultural philosophy. Locke's interest in Buddhism is both personal and scholarly. She has a longstanding contemplative practice, and when she began her PhD program in philosophy at Emory, her goal was to engage with Buddhism from a Western philosophical perspective. Locke discusses how her work as a philosopher working with Buddhist ideas differs from how scholars in religious studies departments approach some of the same material. For Locke, religious studies scholars often take a historiographical and anthropological perspective on religious traditions, whereas she is interested in using philosophy to interrogate the ideas in a more general way. (0:00-10:59). Locke then discusses the difference between cultural appropriation and cross-cultural engagement when approaching Buddhist traditions. Over the past several decades, a mutual process of exchange across Buddhist and non-Buddhist traditions -- especially in the West -- has opened up. This exchange has created a new frontier in the long history of Buddhism, which has spent centuries traveling, adapting to and blending in with different histories and cultural contexts. One important recent thread in Buddhism focuses on social engagement and how Buddhist principles like interdependence and impermanence to contemporary social issues like environmentalism. Some see this as distorting traditional Buddhism, while others argue Buddhism must adapt to new circumstances. (10:59-38:50). The conversation wraps up with the contrast between Western and Eastern ethics. Locke explains how in Western culture, there is a larger focus on obligations and rights. For Locke, Buddhism is more concerned about ethical reflection and transformation than articulating a set of universal rules of conduct. In the environmental context, that might mean focusing on the relationship humans have with the environment rather than specifying the correct way to approach any given environmental problem. That said, Buddhism does not automatically lead to ethical behavior, as seen in some historical and contemporary examples like Japanese Zen nationalism and the persecution of Rohingya in Myanmar. There can be gaps between doctrine and how ideas manifest in society. Overall, Buddhism offers resources for rethinking the relationship between humans and nature, but does not represent a magic solution to ethical issues (38:50-1:02:06).

Kōbun Otogawa (乙川 弘文, Otogawa Kōbun) (February 1, 1938 – July 26, 2002) was an American Sōtō Zen priest. Otogawa, who preferred to be called by his first name, rather than by either of the Japanese Zen honorifics: sensei (teacher) or roshi (master), came to San Francisco, California, United States, from Japan in 1967 in response to an invitation from Shunryu Suzuki-roshi, serving as his assistant at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center until 1970. Otogawa was the son of a Sōtō Zen priest and was ordained a priest himself at the age of 12. He did undergraduate studies at Komazawa University and received a master's degree in Mahayana Buddhism from Kyoto University. He then trained for three years at Eiheiji. Among his primary teachers was the unconventional Zen master Kodo Sawaki, known as the last of the unsui, or wandering monks.

Calm your mind with the timeless ambiance of a Japanese Zen garden. Soothing bamboo flute music plays off in the distance, as a fountain trickles and birds chirp. The perfect background ambiance to study, work, or relax. Check out Deep Sleep Sounds on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfXhJgAKd4b6tLVQFvO8XQg Want access to an ad-free, 8-hour version of this episode? Try Deep Sleep Sounds Premium free for 7 days: https://sleepsounds.supercast.com/. Create a mix of your favorite sounds by downloading the Deep Sleep Sounds App at: https://deepsleepsounds.onelink.me/U0RY/app. Having an issue with Deep Sleep Sounds or want to ask us a question? Check out our Frequently Asked Questions.

Welcome to our podcast where we bring you the ultimate solution to your sleepless nights.  In this video, we present to you the Japanese Zen Garden Sleep Hypnosis, where the beauty and tranquility of the Japanese Zen Garden provide the perfect backdrop for this journey.  The soothing sounds of nature combined with gentle guidance will lull you into a state of deep relaxation and peace, leaving you feeling refreshed and rejuvenated when you wake up. Hypnosis has been used for centuries to help people overcome a range of issues, from anxiety to insomnia. And in this video, we combine the power of hypnosis with the calming influence of the Japanese Zen Garden to bring you the ultimate sleep experience. So, sit back, relax, and allow yourself to be transported to a place of deep calmness and serenity. Our hypnotist will guide you through the process, helping you to let go of any worries or concerns and to fully surrender to the present moment. Say goodbye to restless nights and hello to deep, restful sleep with our Japanese Zen Garden Sleep Hypnosis. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/andrew-m-green/support

Step into the tranquil ambiance of an ancient Japanese temple on a rainy day with our episode, "Rainy Day in a Serene Ancient Temple." Let the gentle sound of raindrops create a soothing and calming atmosphere, harmonizing perfectly with traditional Japanese Zen music. This meditative and healing music is designed to guide you through a serene journey of relaxation and meditation. Allow yourself to be immersed in the peaceful melodies that echo through the temple, providing solace and rejuvenation to your mind, body, and spirit. Whether you're seeking to find inner peace, meditate, or experience a moment of healing, this Japanese Zen music will gently accompany you on your journey. Tune in and embrace the serenity of a rainy day in an ancient temple, where the sound of rain and Zen music harmonize to create an atmosphere of tranquility and mindfulness. Support our mission of spreading relaxation and wellness by rating and reviewing our podcast on your preferred platform. Your feedback helps us improve and enables others to discover the benefits of our soothing sounds. Enhance your listening experience by subscribing to our ad-free version, immersing yourself in uninterrupted tranquility.  Clicking Here  Join our community of relaxation seekers and embark on a journey of self-discovery. Subscribe, rate, and review Meditation Sounds today and unlock a world of serenity and rejuvenation.  Email List Support this podcast  https://www.meditationsoundspodcast.com Say goodbye to stubborn belly fat with our revolutionary product! Our formula is designed to target and dissolve unwanted fat, leaving you with a slimmer, more toned midsection. Try it now and experience the results for yourself. #dissolvebellyfat #slimandtoned http://bit.ly/3jV1Ip1 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Do you want to Stay Motivated?Then follow our Motivation YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/3jv2wBmFollow us on Instagram: https://instagram.com/themindsetmeditationpodcast?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=Japanese Zen Music - Japanese Music For Healing, Soothing, Meditation, Deep SleepDetox your mind and heart of thoughts and emotions that don´t serve you anymore, but are there out of habit. Close your eyes, take a minimum of six slow deep breaths, and begin focusing on relaxing every inch of your body.- Start by focusing on your toes and wiggle and relax your toes- Relax your feet, rotate your ankles and relax your feet- Work up to your calves, Relax your muscles- Continue working your way up your body, one body part at a time. Within minutes as you work your way up to your head continue to take deep breaths. You will begin to feel relaxed as if you were floating. Your body and brain will be massaged into a deep sleep. Detach and let go. Feel at peace. Feel happy. Feel Free. Don't forget it may be useful for your family and friends too. Enjoy this amazing episode. Don't forget to Subscribe to our YouTube channel: The Mindset Meditation Link to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/2RnSdjSHosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

Dr Pierce Salguero sits down with Paula Arai, a scholar of Japanese Zen, gender, and healing ritual. Paula is an inspiration in the way she blends critical analysis and compassion in her work. In this episode, we talk about how her journey into Zen began with her relationship with her Japanese mother, as well as her work on everyday Japanese healing rituals. Our discussion focuses on the ethics of empathetic scholarship and how Paula's care for relationships has shaped her five books. Along the way, we touch on the centrality of women in Buddhism and the challenges of facing misogyny and sexism in academia. Enjoy the conversation! And, if you want to hear from more experts on Buddhist medicine and related topics, subscribe to Blue Beryl for monthly episodes here. Resources: Article about Paula by Karma Lekse Tsomo in Challenging Bias Against Women Academics in Religion (2021) Women Living Zen: Japanese Soto Buddhist Nuns (1999) Bringing Zen Home: The Healing Heart of Japanese Women's Rituals (2011) Painting Enlightenment: Healing Visions of the Heart Sutra (2019) The Oxford Handbook of Buddhist Practice (2022) The Little Book of Zen Healing: Japanese Rituals for Beauty, Harmony, and Love (2023) Pierce Salguero is a transdisciplinary scholar of health humanities who is fascinated by historical and contemporary intersections between Buddhism, medicine, and crosscultural exchange. He has a Ph.D. in History of Medicine from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (2010), and teaches Asian history, medicine, and religion at Penn State University's Abington College, located near Philadelphia. He is also the host (with Lan Li) of the Blue Beryl podcast. Subscribe to Blue Beryl here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Dr Pierce Salguero sits down with Paula Arai, a scholar of Japanese Zen, gender, and healing ritual. Paula is an inspiration in the way she blends critical analysis and compassion in her work. In this episode, we talk about how her journey into Zen began with her relationship with her Japanese mother, as well as her work on everyday Japanese healing rituals. Our discussion focuses on the ethics of empathetic scholarship and how Paula's care for relationships has shaped her five books. Along the way, we touch on the centrality of women in Buddhism and the challenges of facing misogyny and sexism in academia. Enjoy the conversation! And, if you want to hear from more experts on Buddhist medicine and related topics, subscribe to Blue Beryl for monthly episodes here. Resources: Article about Paula by Karma Lekse Tsomo in Challenging Bias Against Women Academics in Religion (2021) Women Living Zen: Japanese Soto Buddhist Nuns (1999) Bringing Zen Home: The Healing Heart of Japanese Women's Rituals (2011) Painting Enlightenment: Healing Visions of the Heart Sutra (2019) The Oxford Handbook of Buddhist Practice (2022) The Little Book of Zen Healing: Japanese Rituals for Beauty, Harmony, and Love (2023) Pierce Salguero is a transdisciplinary scholar of health humanities who is fascinated by historical and contemporary intersections between Buddhism, medicine, and crosscultural exchange. He has a Ph.D. in History of Medicine from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (2010), and teaches Asian history, medicine, and religion at Penn State University's Abington College, located near Philadelphia. He is also the host (with Lan Li) of the Blue Beryl podcast. Subscribe to Blue Beryl here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/buddhist-studies

Dr Pierce Salguero sits down with Paula Arai, a scholar of Japanese Zen, gender, and healing ritual. Paula is an inspiration in the way she blends critical analysis and compassion in her work. In this episode, we talk about how her journey into Zen began with her relationship with her Japanese mother, as well as her work on everyday Japanese healing rituals. Our discussion focuses on the ethics of empathetic scholarship and how Paula's care for relationships has shaped her five books. Along the way, we touch on the centrality of women in Buddhism and the challenges of facing misogyny and sexism in academia. Enjoy the conversation! And, if you want to hear from more experts on Buddhist medicine and related topics, subscribe to Blue Beryl for monthly episodes here. Resources: Article about Paula by Karma Lekse Tsomo in Challenging Bias Against Women Academics in Religion (2021) Women Living Zen: Japanese Soto Buddhist Nuns (1999) Bringing Zen Home: The Healing Heart of Japanese Women's Rituals (2011) Painting Enlightenment: Healing Visions of the Heart Sutra (2019) The Oxford Handbook of Buddhist Practice (2022) The Little Book of Zen Healing: Japanese Rituals for Beauty, Harmony, and Love (2023) Pierce Salguero is a transdisciplinary scholar of health humanities who is fascinated by historical and contemporary intersections between Buddhism, medicine, and crosscultural exchange. He has a Ph.D. in History of Medicine from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (2010), and teaches Asian history, medicine, and religion at Penn State University's Abington College, located near Philadelphia. He is also the host (with Lan Li) of the Blue Beryl podcast. Subscribe to Blue Beryl here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/religion

Dr Pierce Salguero sits down with Paula Arai, a scholar of Japanese Zen, gender, and healing ritual. Paula is an inspiration in the way she blends critical analysis and compassion in her work. In this episode, we talk about how her journey into Zen began with her relationship with her Japanese mother, as well as her work on everyday Japanese healing rituals. Our discussion focuses on the ethics of empathetic scholarship and how Paula's care for relationships has shaped her five books. Along the way, we touch on the centrality of women in Buddhism and the challenges of facing misogyny and sexism in academia. Enjoy the conversation! And, if you want to hear from more experts on Buddhist medicine and related topics, subscribe to Blue Beryl for monthly episodes here. Resources:Article about Paula by Karma Lekse Tsomo in Challenging Bias Against Women Academics in Religion (2021)Women Living Zen: Japanese Soto Buddhist Nuns (1999)Bringing Zen Home: The Healing Heart of Japanese Women's Rituals (2011)Painting Enlightenment: Healing Visions of the Heart Sutra (2019)The Oxford Handbook of Buddhist Practice (2022)The Little Book of Zen Healing: Japanese Rituals for Beauty, Harmony, and Love (2023)

Eddie Cohen is the founder of Walden, a brand that designs, engineers, and manufactures products for meditation. Eddie's founder journey started after a 10-day meditation retreat. As a product designer who worked at Apple, he discovered that the products at the retreat lacked inspiring aesthetics. With Walden, Eddie wants it to become Nike for the mind, providing customers with beautiful and thoughtfully designed products that promote a mindful lifestyle.Eddie and I discuss his founder journey, why he decided to manufacture products in the US, the post-COVID health and wellness boom and how he manages to finance inventory for his growing product assortment. He also provides insights for how entrepreneurs can use meditation for dealing with the inevitable stresses of building a company.If you love a good founder story from someone who is truly living their passion, then I think you will enjoy this episode.Discussion Topics:(1:20) Icebreaker: Instagram handles and burning man.(5:28) Meditation & mental health in a post-COVID world.(12:12) Designing a better cold plunge.(17:39) 10 days of silence.(22:44) Japanese Zen influence.(29:00) Using meditation to become a better entrepreneur.(38:50) Inventory financing and launching new products.(47:59) Giving up a dream job to become an entrepreneur.(52:43) The future of Walden.(55:50) Rapid fire questions.

In this interview I am once again joined by Martin Faulks: author, hermeticist, meditation adept, and memory expert. Martin takes us through a journey of the remarkable people he has encountered in his life as an occultist and meditation practitioner. Including his close inner circle of adepts, a famous American Ninja, Bohemian occult masters, Freemason private detectives, nature mystics, and more. Martin also discusses his own career as a teacher, how he deals with online haters and stalkers, and why it is that so many students fall out from their teachers. … Video version: www.guruviking.com/podcast/ep191-sojourns-in-the-occult-martin-faulks-2 Also available on Youtube, iTunes, & Spotify – search ‘Guru Viking Podcast'. … Topics Include: 00:00 - Intro 00:42 - Martin's powerful group of friends 05:20 - Martin's two disclaimers 07:41 - Two significant observations about practice and instructions 15:38 - Consistency in the Zen temple 18:31 - Small virtues and the celebration of champions 21:20 - Martin's unusual upbringing and his clairvoyant grandmother 25:20 - Deep friendship with Swami Atmagyanam 34:17 - Bo Ou Mander the acupuncturist and internal arts master 42:42 - The transformative influence of Martin's partner Kindra Jones 54:01 - Is Stephen K Hayes the ninja the real deal? 01:02:32 - A remarkable Japanese Zen nun 01:11:44 - Duncan the Freemason private detective 01:22:14 - The spiritual aristocrat and other honourable mentions 01:24:42 - Practicing Franz Bardon brought Martin everything he ever wanted 01:25:34 - How to really practice Franz Bardon's system 01:36:45 - Training with a reclusive nature mystic 01:43:30 - Martin's occult students 01:49:08 - Learning from all sources 01:51:41 - Working with Martin and advice for practitioners 01:55:53 - Dealing with conflicts and haters 02:01:40 - Martin's female stalkers 02:04:38 - Does Martin have a nemesis? 02:15:33 - Falling out with your teacher … Previous episode with Martin Faulks: - https://www.guruviking.com/podcast/162-the-hermeticist-martin-faulks To find out more about Martin Faulks, visit: - https://martinfaulks.co.uk/ … 
For more interviews, videos, and more visit: - www.guruviking.com … Music ‘Deva Dasi' by Steve James

Japanese Zen State Bamboo Flute for Deep Meditation with Water & Forest Sounds... Story: Long ago, in ancient Japan, there was a fierce warrior named Hachiman. He was feared by his enemies and respected by his allies for his skill in battle and his unwavering sense of honor. One day, Hachiman decided to embark on a journey of spiritual enlightenment. He traveled alone through the majestic mountains, surrounded by lush forests and snow-capped peaks. As he walked, he listened to the beautiful music of the bamboo flute, which he had learned to play himself. The melodies filled his heart with a sense of peace and tranquility, helping him to clear his mind and focus on his meditation. Hachiman spent many months on his journey, living off the land and spending his days in quiet contemplation. He trained his body and mind, becoming stronger and more attuned to the natural world around him. He studied the teachings of the ancient sages and learned to understand the secrets of the universe. As he traveled deeper into the mountains, Hachiman encountered many challenges. He fought off wild beasts and battled fierce storms. But through it all, he remained determined and focused, never giving up on his quest for enlightenment. Finally, after many months of travel, Hachiman reached the summit of the highest mountain. There, he found a hidden cave, and inside, he discovered a wise old sage who had spent his entire life in meditation. The sage taught Hachiman the ultimate secrets of enlightenment, and the warrior emerged from the cave a changed man. Hachiman returned to his homeland, but he was no longer the fierce warrior of old. He was now a wise and peaceful sage, and his people looked up to him for guidance and wisdom. He continued to travel, spreading the teachings of enlightenment, and people from far and wide would come to listen to him, and the sweet melody of his bamboo flute. Years passed, but Hachiman's name was remembered by many and was passed down from generation to generation, and people would still tell the tale of the Warrior who had journeyed alone in the mountains, listening to the music of the bamboo flute and achieving enlightenment. Support our podcast & us grow with a small donation: ✅PayPal: www.paypal.me/soundsky ✅Venmo: www.venmo.com/soundsky ✅Cashapp: www.cash.app/$micropower DISCLAIMER: These sounds are for educational purposes only. Please consult with your doctor for serious health issues. Tags: Soundsky podcast, RWS podcast, Relaxing White Soothing Sounds, RWS, sound sky, relaxing music, soothing music, sleeping sounds, study sounds. nature sounds, deep sleep sounds, Soothing music, chinese instrumental music,flute,bamboo flute,chinese music,sad chinese instrumental music,best chinese music for relaxing,instrumental music,beautiful chinese music,sad flute,best chinese music,chinese instruments,chinese relaxing music,traditional chinese music,meditation music,relaxing music,chinese song,classical music,best chinese music, Japanese flute, japan relaxing music

Ross Dawson's mission in life is to advance human evolution – but he's facing a dilemma. How can humans evolve in the Information Age when so much misleading and distracting information surrounds us? By figuring out where to find value amid information overload, Ross became a globally-recognized futurist, creating better business strategies for companies like Microsoft, Coca-Cola, and Citibank.Ross is a global keynote speaker, futurist, author, strategy advisor, and entrepreneur. As an advisor, he has worked in over 30 countries for big names like Microsoft, Visa, and Walmart, among others. He is a best-selling author who predicted the social networking revolution in his book, Living Networks. His latest release, Thriving on Overload, is available now.In this episode, Dart and Ross discuss:- How to find value within our information overload- The 5 capabilities you need for success in the information era- The 6 ways humans pay attention- Ross' time living in a Japanese Zen dojo- The importance of aligning individual mental models within a team- Information hazards we can avoid- The future of humans and technology in work- And other topics…Ross Dawson is a globally-recognized futurist, keynote speaker, author, strategy advisor, and entrepreneur. Named by Digital Media as one of the most influential people in the world in the future of work, Ross has appeared on CNN, ABC TV, and the Today Show, as well as been featured in The New York Times, The Guardian, and BBC, among others. As an advisor, he has worked in over 30 countries for companies like Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Visa, Citibank, and Walmart. Ross is also the best-selling author who predicted the social networking revolution through his previous book, Living Networks. His latest release, Thriving on Overload, is available now. Resources Mentioned:Thriving on Overload, by Ross Dawson: https://www.amazon.com/Thriving-Overload-Success-Exponential-Information-ebook/dp/B0BFP6WCHP Living Networks, by Ross Dawson: https://www.amazon.com/Living-Networks-20th-Anniversary-Hyperconnected-ebook/dp/B09V1PCFWB Winning on Purpose, by Fred Reichheld: https://www.amazon.com/Winning-Purpose-Unbeatable-Strategy-Customers-ebook/dp/B08TCJHZWZ Connect with Ross:www.RossDawson.com www.ThrivingOnOverload.com Thriving on Overload podcast: https://thrivingonoverload.com/episodes/

A unique 8-hour music called "Japanese Zen Music - Japanese Flute Music For Healing, Soothing, Meditation." Japanese Flute Song, Soothing, Relaxing, Meditation, Yoga, Sleep Music. Just close your eyes, focus, and visualize yourself in this beautiful movie ShangShi and you are meditating, relaxing with a Relaxing Zen Japanese Sound in the background. Relaxing Asian (Japanese) Zen Music. ---------------------------------- Here are some great products to help you sleep or relax better: 1- ▶ Collection of the Best Mattresses, Premium Pillows and products for Perfect sleep: https://cutt.ly/premium-sleep-aid-collection 2- ▶ Tools to Relieve Stress and Anxiety: https://cutt.ly/best-relaxation-tools 3 - ▶ Best Collection of Study Aid Products: https://cutt.ly/best-study-aid-tools 4- ▶ Best Nature Custom Warm Blankets for Good sleep: https://cutt.ly/best-nature-warm-blankets ------------------------------------- ✅ Donate on CashApp: https://cash.app/$micropower Best Music therapy for your soul healing. Enjoy Calm music for Meditation, Sound therapy, Zen meditation, Massage, Sleeping Music and Relaxing. Right now, there are people all over the world who are just like you. They're either lonely, they're missing somebody, they're depressed, they're hurt, they're scarred from the past, they're having personal issues no one knows about, they have secrets you wouldn't believe. They wish, they dream and they hope. And right now, if you are here listening to this sound, don't feel alone anymore. Always remember, don't be depressed about the past, don't worry about the future, and just focus on today. If today's not so great don't worry! Tomorrow's a new day, a new chance. One of the main benefits of sound therapy is relief from stress. The soothing sounds of the wind in trees in forests and birds singing help to re-tune your brain to cope with anxiety better by supplying brain energy with high-frequency sound. By creating a mental state of relaxation, peace, and considerate focus, nature sounds can be deeply relaxing. Sound therapy can help retrain the brain to listen more efficiently and help focus attention on tasks. This meditation will rejuvenate you and enable you to replenish your own energy to deal with the rest of your daily life or enable you to sleep better. Please always consult with your doctor if you suffer from any mental issue. Disclaimer: Soothing SoundX receives a small commission (at no additional cost to you) on purchases made through affiliate links. Thanks for supporting the podcast! Tags: Soothing SoundX, nature sounds, Chinese zen music Asian zen music, relax music,relax,Music Therapy,Soothing,calm,background music,Instrumental music,Long music,Relaxing music, Music,Meditation music,Soothing Relaxations,Relaxing sleep music,Relaxing songs,Piano,sleep,spa,therapy,sad piano,Romantic,ocean music,ocean sound,romantic music,yoga,sleep music,spa music,Sunset,meditation music, Zen music, flute sounds, chinese zen sounds, Japanese zen sounds, bamboo flute, Japanese flute, asian flute relaxing sounds --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/soundsky-soothing-rws/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/soundsky-soothing-rws/support

East Bay Meditation Center teacher Mushim Patricia Ikeda is thinking about death. Having practiced Korean and Japanese Zen, and Vipassana, she now finds new wisdom on the end of life via the Vajrayana tradition. This piqued the interest of Lion's Roar's Rod Meade Sperry, who reached out to hear more.

In this episode, first aired on December 23, 2020 , Zen teacher David Loy shares his thinking about EcoDharma: combining the teachings of Buddhism with ecology . In this fascinating discussion, David explore the ecological implications of Buddhist teachings with insights into how to embody that understanding in the kind of eco-activism that is needed in the world today. David explains that in Buddhism, while there aren't prescriptive steps or writings from the Buddha on how to solve modern problems, we can follow the spiritual path of Buddhism to deal with our grief over climate change and move past it to feel empowered and grounded, part of the larger community of sentient, living beings. He outlines the Ecosattva Path, a path of liberation and salvation for all beings and the world itself. David Loy is a professor, writer, and Zen teacher in the Sanbo Zen tradition of Japanese Zen Buddhism. He is a prolific author, with his most recent books including Ecodharma, Buddhist Teachings for the Ecological Crisis. He has also published in major journals such as Tikkun and Buddhist Magazines, and a variety of scholarly journals. In his lectures and teaching he focuses on comparative philosophy and the encounter between Buddhism and modernity. He is one of the founding members of the new Rocky Mountain Ecodharma Retreat Center, near Boulder, Colorado. 

Japanese Zen Garden - 10 Hours for Sleep, Meditation, & Relaxation --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/dan-foster6/support

Immerse yourself in the tranquil ambiance of a Rainy Day in a Serene Ancient Temple with Japanese Zen Music. Let the gentle raindrops create a soothing backdrop, as you embark on a journey of meditation, healing, and inner peace. As the rain gently falls on the ancient temple grounds, allow its serene sound to wash away any stress or tension you may be carrying. Embrace the sense of calm and tranquility that envelops you, as you find solace in the peaceful surroundings. The Japanese Zen Music that accompanies the rain adds a touch of serenity to the atmosphere. Its soothing melodies and gentle rhythms guide you into a state of deep meditation, where you can find a sense of inner stillness and mindfulness. In this sacred space, let go of the worries and distractions of the outside world. Allow yourself to be fully present in the moment, as you focus on your breath and the gentle sound of the rain. Embrace the healing power of this meditative experience, as it nurtures your mind, body, and soul. As you immerse yourself in the harmonious blend of rain and Zen music, feel a sense of rejuvenation and renewal. Allow the healing energy of this experience to flow through you, bringing balance and peace to every aspect of your being. Embrace the opportunity to connect with your inner self and find harmony amidst the soothing rain and calming melodies. Let this moment be a reminder of the beauty and simplicity of life, and the importance of taking time to nurture your well-being. As the rain continues to fall, let it serve as a gentle reminder of the impermanence of all things, and the importance of embracing the present moment with gratitude and mindfulness. So, on this Rainy Day in a Serene Ancient Temple, let the Japanese Zen Music and gentle rain be your guide to soothing, meditation, and healing. Allow this experience to leave a lasting impression on your soul, bringing a sense of peace and tranquility that will stay with you long after the rain has ceased. Support our mission of spreading relaxation and wellness by rating and reviewing our podcast on your preferred platform. Your feedback helps us improve and enables others to discover the benefits of our soothing sounds. Enhance your listening experience by subscribing to our ad-free version, immersing yourself in uninterrupted tranquility.  Clicking Here  Join our community of relaxation seekers and embark on a journey of self-discovery. Subscribe, rate, and review Meditation Sounds today and unlock a world of serenity and rejuvenation.  Email List Support this podcast  https://www.meditationsoundspodcast.com Say goodbye to stubborn belly fat with our revolutionary product! Our formula is designed to target and dissolve unwanted fat, leaving you with a slimmer, more toned midsection. Try it now and experience the results for yourself. #dissolvebellyfat #slimandtoned http://bit.ly/3jV1Ip1 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Valerie examines beginner's mind and explores the question”what is Zen?” during our March one-day Introduction to Meditation retreat. Suzuki Roshi – a Japanese Zen master who brought Zen teaching to

Water trickles down a bamboo fountain while a gentle stream flows nearby. Birds sing softly between seldomly heard wooden chimes and old oak trees creaking in the passing wind. PROMINENT SOUNDS - Bamboo water fountain • Gentle Stream • Singing Birds SUBTLE SOUNDS - Wooden chimes • Wind Chimes • Creaking oak trees • Wind blowing in the trees To unlock intro-free, ad-free versions of all the 12 Hour Sound Machines, subscribe to the Podcast at 12hoursoundmachines.com. This free episode has a single ad at the very beginning but once the Sound Machine starts, rest assured there will be no more interruptions whatsoever

What you'll learn in this episode: Why an empty mind is the key to creative exploration The difference between an artist-jeweler and a jeweler or artist alone What fair-trade gold is, and how Ute became a pioneer in the ethical jewelry movement Why greenwashing is the newest trend threatening the ethical jewelry market How jewelry creates connections, even when someone wouldn't wear a piece themselves About Ute Decker Ute Decker, born 1969, Germany, lives and works in London, UK. The jewels of Ute Decker are described as “a powerful statement” that “sets a shining ethical example” (Financial Times). The Economist 1843 compares her “avant-garde sculptural pieces” to “swirling sculptures” while Christie's simply calls them “wearable works of art”. Ute's pieces are exhibited internationally and have won prestigious awards including Gold Awards from The Goldsmiths' Craft and Design Council, UK. Public collections include the Victoria & Albert Museum, UK; the Crafts Council, UK; the Goldsmiths' Company, UK; the Spencer Museum, USA; Musée Barbier-Mueller, Switzerland; and the Swiss National Museum. As a political economist-turned-journalist-turned-artist jeweler, Ute Decker is a pioneer of the international ethical jewelery movement. She works predominately in recycled silver and was one of the first worldwide to work in Fairtrade Gold. Additional Resources: Website  Instagram Ute's Facebook Ute's Jewelry Facebook Photos Available on TheJewelryJourney.com  Transcript: When it comes to ethical jewelry, artist-jeweler Ute Decker is the real deal. She was one of the first people to use fair-trade gold when it became available in the U.K., and she has spent her career advocating for the use of truly ethically sourced materials in the jewelry industry. Above all, she's proven that ethical can be beautiful: her sculptural works have won several awards and are in the collection of museums worldwide. She joined the Jewelry Journey Podcast to talk about what fair trade means; how she approaches the creative process; and what makes an artist-jeweler. Read the episode transcript here.   Sharon: Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Jewelry Journey Podcast. This is a two-part Jewelry Journey Podcast. Please make sure you subscribe so you can hear part two as soon as it comes out later this week.    Today my guest is Ute Decker, talking with us from London. Ute is an artist-jeweler who's known for an innovative method of sculpting, bending and twisting metal into three-dimensional, wearable sculptures. She works in fair-trade gold and recycled silver and is considered a pioneer in the international ethical jewelry movement. We'll hear more about her jewelry journey today. Ute, welcome to the program.   Ute: Sharon, thank you very much for having me. It's a pleasure to be here.   Sharon: So glad to have you. Tell us about your jewelry journey. How did you end up doing what you're doing?   Ute: Yes, it was rather unplanned. I'm the daughter of winemakers, several generations of winemakers. As a child, I thought that's what I wanted to be, making wine. So, I grew up in beautiful nature. As I grew up, I was more and more interested in politics, history, philosophy, and I ended up in political economics, because already as a teenager, I wanted to change the world. I thought it was best to have some understanding of how things work. During university, I did a six-month internship at the United Nations. It was also a real eye opener on how slow progress is made and lobbying, so I was quite disheartened after that internship. Then I worked as a journalist for a while, doing news, current affairs. I probably failed in that because I'm not a good storyteller. Words are not my medium.    I was a little bit lost for a while as to what I really wanted to do. When I grew up, in primary and secondary school, art classes were all about figurative drawing and making. I admired it in other people when they can do it, but that's not my interest, and certainly I can't draw a stickperson to save my life. So, I left school thinking I'm actually not very creative or artistic because I failed in what was required. It was probably not until my mid-30s or maybe late 20s when friends said when I made something, “Oh, that's interesting.” For years I was a closet creator. I went to evening classes and all kinds of workshops, whether it's large-scale sculptures, textiles—I love ceramics—several photography workshops. It really was doing workshops that I kept going back.    Nearly for 20 years before offering myself as a jeweler, friends said, “You should do something with your jewelry,” and I said, “Absolutely not.” I loved it so much. There's no way I would like to make it something professional, to have that kind of pressure. I enjoyed it far too much, but then I was invited to take part in a group show. I thought, “It's fine; I'll add a few pieces and just see.” That was quite amazing. That was in 2009. I won a prize and tons of press, and a couple of major collectors bought my pieces. I thought, “Wow, that's nice! I'll maybe do that one more time.” Soon afterwards, I got a proper, full-time studio. The rest is history, really.   Sharon: I don't know if it's still in progress or you just finished up a solo exhibition at the Elisabetta Cipriani Gallery. Tell us about that. Did you feel it was fulfilling, the adulation?   Ute: Elisabetta Cipriani Gallery is absolutely wonderful. We met, I think, in 2013 at Design Basel where they gave me a spotlight showcase, and we've been working together ever since. As you know—you've done an interview with Elisabetta—Elisabetta primarily represents jewelry by artists. Probably the best known is Rebecca Horn. She does collaborations with fine artists, and I was the first one that was more of an art jeweler than a fine artist making jewelry. Now she works with a few more art jewelers. Elisabetta is Italian and it's always “bella.” What a joy to work with somebody who has a really keen eye, interesting observations, does some wonderful projects, is incredibly supportive and is just a joy to be with.    For that exhibition, it's been in discussion for years. I maybe procrastinated a bit because it feels like—it's the same with how I never wanted to show my jewelry. It feels like you're offering it for others to judge. For me, it's a private thing in a way; it's my way of expressing. A solo show is similar. Here is me at this time. I didn't quite like the idea, but of course it's crazy to postpone an offer of a solo show. Then I finally said to Elisabetta, “Look, I will never be ready. Let's just set a date.” So, we did, and then Covid happened, so it was delayed even more. But I created a new body of work for that show called “Creating Waves.” If you have a chance to see it on Elisabetta's or my website—   Sharon: Which we'll list afterwards with show images.   Ute: Yeah. I've also worked with some system of loops because, for me, jewelry is about making connections. It's making personal connections, but it's making broader connections. Coming from that political/economic background in journalism, it's connections of materiality; it's connections where the material comes from. For me, the interlinking loops—and quite a few of those loops are open, so you can change which connections you would like to make and configure the piece. That's another strand that I developed for the solo show, yeah.   Sharon: I can see. We'll hopefully have a picture of it posted with the podcast. You're wearing one of your rings. Were the loops something you saw in front of you when the metal is flat? Was that something that came to you when you were playing around with it? How did that happen?   Ute: For me, making is very much an exploration. I might have certain ideas when I go into the studio and sit, but I'm very fascinated by Japanese Zen philosophy. That philosophy talks a lot about emptiness as well as empty mind. We in the West see emptiness as a void of something we absolutely, quickly need to fill, as something missing, while in that philosophy, emptiness is the vast openness for potential. For me, I don't want to come to the studio with a fixed idea of what I'd like to do, because then I've already determined it as if I know. I don't need to explore anymore if I feel I know. So, I always kind of know what I'd like to do, but then I usually do something completely different. It's that almost empty mind of exploring metal, shapes.    Quite often it's the sculptural form that I explore. As I said, I can't draw, so I make maquettes in garden wire or in brass and explore the shape for its sculptural form. It's quite often only later that I decide for which part of the body that sculpture form would work best. Then it's weeks of tweaking the brass maquettes. I'm quite often seen wearing the maquettes, because when you create such large sculptural forms, they really need to balance and sit well on the body. It's important that I work that out while wearing them, how they engage with the body. It's only then, when I'm happy, I make the final pieces. It's only then, once the pieces are in front of me, that there's another thought process and those pieces remind me of something, remind me of the loops, how they're interconnected, how we can change our connections, other waves.    I think if you gave me a commission to make a piece about waves, I would fail. It is rather I make a piece, and then it reminds me of waves when I see them. It's kind of arresting time of that kind of movement. I'm very happy with some of the pieces that have become quite special to me. Maybe if we can add a particular armpiece for your listeners to see, it is very much a large wave, but when you put the several maquettes next to each other and you don't have any idea of scale, some people who saw the maquettes said, “Oh, that looks like a Richard Serra that you could walk into.” I think that's also why I give my pieces relatively open titles, because I don't want to pre-determine people's associations, just like I don't want to predetermine what reaction I might have to it. We all come with our own backgrounds, with our own thoughts to a piece, and it's the same. Any great artwork will elicit different reactions depending on what state of life we're in and recent experiences. I like to give pieces very open titles for the viewer and wearer to make it their own.   Sharon: So, you say you're an artist-jeweler. What is the difference between that and an artist alone or a jeweler alone? What is an artist-jeweler to you?   Ute: That is the eternal question, isn't it? That is the eternal question, and I still don't know how to answer that. When I'm asked what I do, if we're face-to-face it's very easy, because I usually wear one of my pieces. I hold it up and say, “This is what I do,” and then you decide what that means to you. The other times when you say you're a jeweler, very few people know about the art jewelry world, really surprisingly. So, most people think you're designing little hearts for the high street shops. I think that's why an artist-jeweler will then elicit another question where you can go deeper into it, but it's all just words. This is what I'm doing.    Sharon: No, it is. It's a very difficult question to answer. I usually ask people what they consider a collector, which also is a very difficult question. When you find the answer, give me a call.    You tried textiles. You tried photography. You tried sculpture. What is it about the kind of jewelry you do; why did it attract you? Why did it stand out?   Ute: I guess jewelry is not called the most intimate of art forms for nothing. I love that you can disappear in your studio and quietly work. I create everything myself with my two hands. I sculpt everything myself. With large-scale sculpture, there's much more immediacy with jewelry because I can bend the shapes with my own hands. In fact, my jewelry studio has very few tools, has no nasty chemicals. It's really my hands, a few pliers, a few mallets, mandrels. I like being able to have a spark and immediately translate that into a shape. That's also why I love ceramics. I think in my next life I'll try ceramics as well, explore that.   After setting up as a jeweler, I was commissioned to make some large-scale sculptures, and I thought, “That's amazing. That's what you wanted to do, of course.” But they're so large I had to work with a fabricator. It was a fantastic fabricator who had done it for very well-known artists, the YBAs, the Young British Artists, and did a fantastic job. But for me, it felt unfinished. I handed over the maquette. The fabricator did a wonderful job making a large piece, but usually when I finish a piece of jewelry, I then go and tweak it. It sits there for weeks, and I continue working on it. Here, I was handed over something finished. I don't want something finished. You can't bend it any more with your hands. So, it was surprisingly unsatisfying to make very large sculptures, but I'll do table-size sculptures where I can still be fully hands on. That is something I enjoy doing.   Sharon: Do you do that now, make table-size sculptures similar to jewelry that you bend?   Ute: Yeah, quite a few pieces. In fact, that is one of my favorite reactions when I show my work. People say, “Oh, this is a sculpture. I'm sure you can't wear it,” and then I put it on my hand and the person's hand, and I say, “But surely you can't wear that piece,” and it's wearable. Quite a few pieces look like they only could possibly be sculptures and there's no way to wear them. That's what I really enjoy. Many pieces have been purchased purely for the sole purpose of displaying them rather than wearing them. It's the liminal space between sculpture and wearable sculpture, and again, it's your choice.

Gesshin Claire Greenwood is the author of Bow First, Ask Questions Later and the popular blog That's So Zen. She trained in Japanese Zen monasteries, including in the kitchen, for several years before returning to the United States to obtain a master's degree in East Asian Studies. She lives in San Francisco, where she cooks, teaches meditation, and works in the mental-health field. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Satyen is the founder and CEO of the multi million-dollar transformational academy WarriorSage. Satyen has impacted over 100,000 students from over 50 countries around the world. After 35 years of rigorous study & practice in both creating enlightened business growth and developing higher consciousness, Satyen works privately with CEOs, high impact individuals, executive teams who have mastered accomplishment in the financial and public world, but now want a deeper balance, illumination and self-realized equilibrium that he calls Peak Existence. A remarkable living synthesis of eastern wisdom and western practicality, Satyen combines the power of the warrior and wisdom of the sage to lead leaders worldwide into their highest self knowledge, self-expression and impact. Satyen's elite clientele know they are ready for next level integrated fullness, and a life vibrant with purpose, passionate intimacy, connection, significance and transcendence. If you are ready, Satyen's fearless and heartfelt style will transform your untapped potentialities into strengths and the full spectrum of your life into peak existence. https://warriorsage.com/   Unknown Speaker 0:00 Your journey has been an interesting one up to hear you've questioned so much more than those around you. You've even questioned yourself as to how you could have grown into these thoughts. Am I crazy? When did I begin to think differently? Why do people in general, you're so limited thought process Rest assured, you are not alone. The world is slowly waking up to what you already know inside yet can't quite verbalize. Welcome to the spiritual dough podcast, the show that answers the question you never even knew to ask, but knew the answers to questions about you this world the people in it? Most importantly, how do I proceed? Now moving forward? We don't even have all the answers, but we sure do love living in the question some time for another head of spiritual Brandon Handley 0:36 one. Hey, there's spiritual dope. I'm on here today with our guests. Satyen Raja. He is a co founder with his wife, Suzanne Raja, that founded warrior sage back in 1999. That's the last millennia, right? So it's and they founded it with a mission to activate leaders with powerful missions to bring their dreams into reality. So for the past two decades, Sultana Suzanne utilized her three decades of immersion in wisdom, transformational and enlightenment methodologies to provide hundreds of trainings and workshops, international, Lee teaching 10s of 1000s of students, the art of the warrior, the art of sage and the art of the lover. So Sam, thanks for being on today. Satyen Raja 1:20 Brandon, thanks for having me. You're nice introduction. Brandon Handley 1:24 Awesome. So, you know, I usually like to start this off with the whole ideas outside. And I think you'll appreciate this, that we're, we're conduits for like universal energy, right? And whatever is coming through us today is for the listeners like highest and best good. Right? So what's coming through you today for that listener? Satyen Raja 1:43 Well, it's what you just said that we are conduits, we are the conduit. And one of the foundations of, you know, the philosophy that I am to live by is rather than seek freedom and love. Recognize we are the conduit of freedom and love, we already our freedom and love, we might not remember it, we might forget, look, you and I whoever's listening, we're free enough to step aside a few minutes in the middle of a day, how many people on the planet in the history of the planet, have even the time the energy to do so or even listen to this. So we're in a special category of beings who have the choice to go, I want to learn about being spiritually dope, I want to learn about deepening myself having more prosperity, deepening my content. So means we are already free in many, many, many, many ways. So the appreciation of our current state of freedom is valuable. And we also have to appreciate where do I have love who, where is the love? I have beautiful love with my wife, my family? My, my, my friends? My colleagues, of course, is their lack of stuff is their glass here and challenges here we all will have. And right now the challenges are magnified many fold as we know, from the planet due to all the circumstances. But can we anchor ourselves as love as freedom, rather than neurotically keep trying to seek it from stuff outside of us? Brandon Handley 3:13 Yeah, 100% I love that, right? Recognize really what we already have, and who we already are in this moment. Right? Without having to go beyond that. You know, as you're talking, it's just kind of reminds me of kind of the Buddha's story, you know, regardless of how real or true it really is. But like, you know, the idea of a woman says, saying, I want to be happy. And the Buddha is like, hey, drop the eye and the want just be, you know, happy. So it sounds a little bit like that's what you're saying, right? And again, look, it's super easy to look around and realize what we don't have. And I think that, that as a Western culture, that's what we've been trained to do. Right? With all the marketing and all the things hey, here's all the stuff you don't have you want this, that's what's gonna complete you. And so, so, you know, I love that I love what you're saying. So but here's what's cool about what you're doing right now, you've been doing this for a long period of time. And as you and I spoke about in the beginning, we connected through a mutual friend, lend right, who I've had on a previous podcast hasn't great conversations, and he introduced me to your book that is coming out. Let's see if I've got this in front of you here, the transcendent CEO, and I wanted to talk to you and share with the audience a little bit about what you're doing in that today. So let's just start off with a very thought and the idea of what does it mean to be a transcendent CEO? Satyen Raja 4:41 Well, I mean, a very blessed privileged position to be a guide and mentor, supporter of business leaders, founders, CEOs who are leading socially impactful companies that are here for the greater good. And the challenge with business leaders is we're stuck in an old paradigm of extreme reaction, greed, goal setting to achieve more and more money, more and more market gain. And you know, it's predatory. And it's almost militaristic, the idea of like, going to take over this merger, acquisition all the languaging. And the paradigm is based on a military, energetic and paradigm that is dead. If we keep going down that way, we're gonna destroy ourselves. Business leaders are some we are the most powerful people on the planet more powerful than clergy more powerful than politicians. Why? Because wielding Money, money, whether we like it or not, is a power on the planet. Now, it's not the money that's good or bad, or indifferent or neutral. It's how we use it. And how we use it is based on the depth, the resonance of our consciousness. If we're going to meet egoic state, we're going to how much money we have, we're going to correct continuously be voraciously looking for more. If we're in a weak state of being, which is the next evolution, then it's about sharing collective win win. But even that has a limit right now. The next stage of evolution, what I call the transcendent leadership, and the transcendence CEO is a leader who's become aware of the whole, they've had some type of spiritual awakening, they've had some type of Inner Awakening, where now they feel their symbiotic relationship with the whole existence. It's not a mental thing. They're not reading that we are one, they're not intuiting or hoping that Hey, are we interested, they know it, they got they've had some medicine journey. They've had shamanic experiences, they've had enlightening experiences, which have dropped the veils of separation. And now with that Omni wind consciousness, they're able to make decisions run their companies leave their personal lives, from a win for the whole of humanity. This is the next level. And I believe it's necessity. And those who aren't moving into that dimension are claiming that they're going to die, they're going to die on the vine, because that paradigm is dead. And it's self destructive. And whoever is still entertaining, it is going to reap the benefits, or I should say the destruction of that paradigm. But as you know, what you expressed at the beginning, we are in a whole new era where the transmission, the vibration is calling us into Gaia centric, Earth centric, unity. This is where we're going, this is where we're at, let's drop into it and make a difference with our businesses. So that's the that's the essential essence. Yeah, moving forward, it's about taking the path of least resistance and maximum impact, rather than will will will will willful power. We go from mule, to magician. That's, that's Brandon Handley 7:51 my Ultimate Edition. I like one of the things you threw out there a couple of things you threw out there that I found in the book that also resonated with me was the idea of the Omni win. I mean, I think we we say Win, win win. But sometimes there's a loser in there and looking for those Omni wins in these situations. That's the point we're trying to do. And as you spoke about, we we live in a culture and these corporations that you're talking is the hired mercenaries hired guns, right, you know, that we're talking about a militant state? And, you know, I don't think that you can really approach you know, something that's for the good of all, from a militant stance. Right. And so that's the stuff that you're sharing. And you talk about the Enlightened leader being necessary, right, and how that's going to be the change paradigm and how that's how we've got to move forward. Yeah, my question, I guess is, you know, is that something that you're able to help these leaders cultivate? Or is it something that these leaders have experienced? And then they're like, Well, how do I integrate this new way of being and knowing into my business? Satyen Raja 9:04 That's a great question. Brad needs both. You know, look, COVID has brought the world together. We all sharing the whole world, sharing a worldwide challenge over the last two years. Right now we've got more current challenges, wars, and all these other things going on. But that brought us together in a way seeing our humanity, it doesn't matter if you're the queen or a popper. All of us are vulnerable to these things, you know, and there's a great equalization in it knowing that in the invisible is our faith. Perhaps this is a humbling of our ego. But I think it's a good humbling and I think it's an invitation for all of us to recognize, I'm not even going to feel fulfilled unless what I'm doing. It has a good benefit for more than just myself and my family and my personal goals. It's not about becoming absolutely give everything away and treehugger and, and not have any care for your personal success. It's personal success and plus plus plus. So the paradigm I like to introduce, you know, the old paradigm was peak performance. Let's go from average in a low peak, then remove ourselves and we're able to get more done, be more effective, create more results in a shorter period of time, with more focus of who we are. Everyone focuses on the peak performance focus for too long burns out, I've seen it over and over families burning out, heads, you know, relationships, going through all types of strife and struggle, even when the businesses are going strong. Why because there's not a balance and equanimity and equilibrium of being. And so I really feel it's time that we embrace equilibrium, having a healthy family life, having a healthy body, having a healthy relationship to spirit to God to truth, to enlightened, whatever we want to call it. And then from the wisdom from oversaturation, in that our leadership in business is now wise, it's not extractive, it comes from wisdom. And this is, this is the era we're going into the era of universal wisdom, which I believe is the most important value right now to embrace. Brandon Handley 11:35 If you I mean, if you recall out what what Universal Wisdom means, like, I guess, a phrase or a paragraph, what would that sound like? Satyen Raja 11:45 Wisdom is tapping into the ancient knowing that's within us. That comes from all the wisdom traditions of east, west, north and south. There's things that masters have told us, of every ilk that is familiar, that's resonant. And those ancient wisdoms that our indigenous elders hold our elders hold from all around the world, from all cultures, we've made we've we've put a golden calf on the throne, and that success, money and peak performance, and all these things in that realm. But the wisdom shows us that peak existence is where the diamonds have lifeline. And peak existence is how is my life living, peak performance is you're going towards a goal of having more output more success in one area. Peak existence means I mean, join the whole spectrum of life being with my lady making love with my lady, taking my children out, having fun with my friends, having time to relax, and do nothing and enjoy nature and all the gifts of Mother Nature, as well as being focused on our success. And we're in an era that I've seen with the CEOs, I mentor, where we can truly have all of that without compromising at all the depth of who we are in our integrity. Brandon Handley 13:10 Yeah, that's awesome. I mean, because, again, breaking away from what we've had for the past 100 150 years, right, I think, to your point, we've seen the we saw the fractures and the fracturing through COVID. Or nobody escaped it. Like you said, Nobody got away from COVID. And, you know, what it did everybody experienced the same thing at the same time. Nobody, nobody got away from it. Right. And that burnout, and the willingness to, to try to continue as as though there were no pain, no pandemic here, nothing to see, right, everything. Everybody's everybody keep moving forward. And that really forced everybody to take a real look at themselves and get close and see themselves for who they were, and ask themselves Am I Am I living this peak existence? Like you're talking about? We don't know what's around the corner? How can I? How can I start living a peak existence? And I think that one of the formulas you give in the books is the five pillars right in the five s? Watch. Is there a little bit about those? Because I think that I think that those are kind of core when essential to not just the peak existence of a CEO but for any life. Satyen Raja 14:23 Absolutely. So one of my mentors, Kevin nation's business mentors, he shared with me his philosophy of these F's and and so faith, so I call them the I call them the freedoms, faith, family, finance, fitness and fun course you can add more apps to that. But faith is our spiritual connection to ourselves, our belief in ourselves, our belief in the higher power, our connection to the universe, is how connected we are to the synchronous flow of existence is what I call faith. It's very valuable to cultivate. Family of course, you know, we can enjoy all the riches of life. But if our family life if we're not having beautiful relationship and flow in our, with our intimates with our family members, there's an emptiness of life, there's an ache, because our home base is not there. So fostering and putting family people see which one you put first I go, I don't faith, family finance, fitness and fun. Our threads have a strong rope. Any one of them are weak. If you put pull on the rope, it'll break. Each one has to be healthy faith, family finances. There's a lot of focus on earning. But what about saving? What about spending? What about investing? What about dealing with your money from a place of the doubt that there's infinite, but and that you don't own anything, that we're just a steward of all our belongings and our money as we're here that stewardship energy is a very wise way of approaching it, it takes us out of the ego at faith, family finance, fitness. Our bodies are a vessel for our spirit. When we feel strong and healthy and alive and vital. To make love more, we're seeing more, we're respected more, we feel better about ourselves. And we got more energy to fulfill life, faith, family finance, fitness and fun. This is one of the ones I had to work on is a very focused individual. Now, before that, I would burn myself out years back. Now I make sure in my week, every night every day, I've got fun going on. Fun than this and fun with my wife and with my friends fun with my kids fun by just by myself. So when we have these faith, family finance, fitness, and fun, and we water each one like a garden, they all grow together into 12 into a inter weave into a very powerful rope that's unbreakable. And we can scale that all the way up to heaven. Brandon Handley 17:10 That's awesome. And, you know, I think that one of the things that, you know, knowing about you is a strong background in the martial arts was I think, you know, just has always kept you probably connected into at least some type of reflection, even though at certain points sounds like you, you went real hard, right? And just life in general. And I think that that's just kind of that's kind of the path, right? That's kind of this, this is what everybody tells you, you're supposed to do. Santana go go hard, go strong. Don't stop until you sounds like a Michael Jackson. So I'm gonna stop. So you had enough. But you go strong. And you find yourself you know, looking back and like what was all this for? Because you you find that you maybe you lost touch with your face, you find touch that you maybe lost touch with your family, and the fun. Maybe you've had a success and you're fit but like there's this vast amount of emptiness. But uh, you know, I know that last I read at least you know, you've you've got the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, which I think that as we go, I practiced this myself and I love it. I don't think jujitsu. Yeah, listen without it. Listen, listen, 530 in the morning, you know, I jump out of bed and I make that part of you know, three days, three days a week, it's 530. In the morning, I'm on the mats, you know. And this, I love it. Because there's no ego there, right? There's no ego, you're you can't be in any better state of flow than when you're trying not to get choked. Right. And you know, as we're as we get older, we're still able to do this. And this is another place where we can put into practice maybe slowing down and teaching others Hey, listen, sure, you can go super fast and get it but maybe you're relying on your, your piss and vinegar as it were right. Versus like technique and just a practical, purposeful application. And again, this is stuff that I'm seeing you teach in the transcendent CEO, right. So when you approach are people approaching you or you going to companies and pitching I'm just kind of curious what this looks like from, you know, not necessarily even a business perspective, but how are you being approached and how's this I transcend the CEO reaching the ears of CEOs that might be willing. Satyen Raja 19:22 Most of my clients are all by referral. They've heard me on a talk or heard me somewhere, or I've shared on the stage for I've expressed in a conference. You know, like I invited do keynotes and such and, but, you know, I've been very blessed to have you know, my focus has not been on marketing. So this is for anyone in business. My focus has been on serving my clients so they have exceptional experiences, and results in their own personal lives, which then become a 10 times better marketer than anything I I could write or market or put out in ads and all that. That's because that's me, that's what's worked for me. For me, I just take my heart, my soul, when I have my clients, I want to flush out their dreams or aspirations, I want to take a look at the good, bad and ugly, what's working, what's not, where's their shadow, where's the ship, they don't want to look at and go right for that fearlessly. And then take them there. Why? Because as leaders, we got to we can't bullshit around with our shadows, we got to strengthen them, we got, we can't put them aside and show our shiny successful side. And inside, we got termites in our, in our cart or in our consciousness, right. So because I have that, how can I say, ferocious love to accept only the highest in those I work with, because I know they've got missions that are valuable, I don't bullshit with them. And I believe that my experience has been that attitude of love with fire, with care. Seeing the results in their life, that's where I put all my deepest investment on, and I trust the universe. In the return that results of that. Brandon Handley 21:17 That's awesome. And I love reading some of the stories in the book of you hanging out with Stuart while to write like so. I mean, you've had some really connections with some cool people, you've had this great journey, and you're able to share this with others to, you know, look, create connections to leaders, and oftentimes, you know, I think it's great look, for everybody to experience, you know, some type of enlightenment, some type of awakening some type of spirituality, right, like, you know, definitely connects with your all your five, right, your faith family, you know, but one of the things that I think is most neglected throughout, again, Western culture, and just speaking primarily from experiences face, right, and the spiritual connection, we're like, Listen, I'll get to that, like when I'm dead. Right. Like, I'm willing, I'm willing to, you know, gamble on the deathbed with that one. But I think that, you know, that's, that's too late, personally, and so, you know, having a CEO speak to you, you know, from that level, opens that up for the company, or the people that are, you know, within there to just say, wow, you know, if he's doing it, and he's talking about it, and he's sharing it, I might need to check this out. Right. Is that kind of the idea? Yes, yeah. Let's hear more about it. Satyen Raja 22:37 We follow people we trust, we follow people that are demonstrating lifestyle lifestyles that we value. There's a lot of great operators, a lot of bullshit con folks. There's all types of talk, talk talk. We've got Tech Talks every weekend going on great talks, who is doing the walking? Are we doing the walking? Are we doing the talking? So one of the things is to discern what's a talker, who's great at oration, and who's embodying and living it. My only concern is that we live these ancient principles and where I start, and everyone is invited to this, I believe a foundational start, is awakening to your true nature, the spiritual side. Now, faith to me is not belief in something that I don't know of. Faith is having an experience, of divinity, of union of truth, of that of essence, if you will, of enlightenment, from the experience orienting our life, to become Gerland with the truth of who we are not the identities. The shallowness is of ourselves, or the, if you will, the wobbliness is within our own psyche, but identified with the essence and you know, all the leaders, I take through the coaches that we got different levels, right I have, I've got about 300 coaches in my organization. And the first thing that we do with our clients is we take them through what we call kinjo ke NSHO. That comes from Japanese Zen tradition. And it's a process which helps people dissolve the barriers of what they're not and who they're not, and come into their true nature. Like for the first time, they wake up to know who they are, I am. Once you have that essential experience, everything you do if you're a business leader, you're a father, a mother, an athlete, you're an everyday person working, everything will be far more deeper, harmonious and connected to the universe, because you've discovered who you are. So that's an essential I'm going to recommend and challenge invite everyone to experience Brandon Handley 24:52 so as you would recommend that they check out what Kensho is or do you have something else that would help them to dissolve those barriers, right? Yes. Satyen Raja 24:59 Absolutely, and they can download that free on our warrior sage.com website, we've got three activations one is called fight. One is called the abundance activation. It's a one day complimentary, totally free, no strings attached seminar that you do at home with your beloved's friends, family members. There's another one called relationship activation to really up level your emotional IQ and your skill sets in all relationships, including intimate. And then the power activation is awakening your enlightened power, not the power of the ego, it's dissolving, it's enlightening, and all that's available, absolutely free, you can download it, experience it for yourself, it's less lecture, and it's exact guided processes. So get a friend, family member, a spouse, a child do with each other, and you see the results. Okay. Brandon Handley 25:51 Now, I love that. And a couple things in what you're saying here, too. I don't know if you blanked out and on the I am when it becomes too like who you are. Because it's almost ineffable, right. Like, it's this type of thing where like, you find out who you are. And that's it. There's, I think you talked a little bit earlier in the beginning, there's a there's a knowing, right, there's, there's no disputing what had happened. In that moment of awakening, of accessing realization, activate whatever you want to call, like, there's so many different ways you can do it. But like, once you're there, and you hit it, you're like, oh, shit, right, like everything. There's a big ol, like, everything just kind of moves to the left or whatever, right, like everything. In that moment. Everything is different. And even then, and I think that I think that a big challenge for a lot of people is to realize, you know, the awakening, that's just the start. Pray, I mean, like, the awakening is just like, Okay, you just got here. Thanks for showing up. Satyen Raja 26:59 When we go to bed at night, right, we sleep. When we wake up in the morning, it's not the end of the day, the waking up is the beginning of the day, right Brandon Handley 27:06 first? Yeah. 100% 100%. And I think that there's a challenge to a couple of things that you're saying. It's like, again, not power isn't an egoic sense. I remember. And this was I was just beginning, even just the podcasting and feeling, feeling encouraged to step into myself, right when I am stepping into, say, stepping into my power and talking to peers and said, you know, wouldn't it be great if you could step into your own power into your own greatness or like, wow, I'm not great. And so what is it that is keeping people from accepting the truth of who they are. Satyen Raja 27:46 It's the attachment to the identities that keep us safe, secure, and huddled in the known. Okay, safe, secure and huddled in the known to discover who we are. We have to have the willingness to go I know who I am already. I'm a father, I'm a husband and this and that of that I'm a friend of someone, I'm a son of my father. Those are all identities, all labels, your schooling your education, as you shared when one discovers who they are, it's like a spiritual soul orgasm, a recognition of who I am. That goes beyond words. It's beyond this world beyond this earth plane. There's no words for it. But we can talk about it I can talk about orgasm but if you haven't experienced orgasm, it's so much more than that what can be spoken about even you can talk volumes on it but one experiences profound in the same way waking up or what the Japanese called Kensho or in India Yogi's call it Samadhi in English we can call it the direct experience or the direct consciousness of your of who you are and what you are. So we call it the our I am this we can hear it. You can meditate you can do mantras or I am you can feel the center of I am this but it's not full enlightenment. It's that it's not a full awakening. Brandon Handley 29:17 Right there's a there's like I I consider myself awakened but I don't consider myself enlightened. Yes, right. So I mean, but I would still consider awakened just a different plane than I'd had existed before. Right as no better no worse. And it's look everybody's a Buddha, right? Like I get it like it resides in everybody. But there's still there's still more right? I just wanted to call that out, right? Like I don't Satyen Raja 29:45 in Japanese. In the zip tradition This can show or the initial waking ups. And Satori is a term given to sustain enlightenment which comes after maturation guidance, support or after the initial awakenings that so Satori represents the sustained state. And there's depths of that as well, right Brandon Handley 30:10 now, and I say, I don't know, right, like I'm my first time through. So, you know, so I guess the question I would have to write let's, you know, gain transcendence SEO, I think what you're doing in this is really awesome. Do one of the things that in the book, you recommend to use it as almost an Oracle? Right? You kind of open it. I don't know, if you mean Oracle, similar to like the eaching, you kind of open it and you get to a point, you're like, hey, what's on my mind at work? Today? Think of a reflective question something that's, you know, hard on me, opening the transcendent CEO book and be like, Oh, here's some stuff that I could work on. This is this is indicative of what I'm going through? Oh, here's some answers on how I can apply this. Satyen Raja 30:54 Right? Absolutely. You know, I designed it as an Oracle, anyone who is in business, or you're interested in leadership, or a leader, you're might not be a CEO, or founder, CEO. But we all are leaders, you might be the CEO of your household. You might be the CEO of yourself. Right? So this book goes into these principles, you can open it anywhere can incite reflection stories, wisdom, attunement. So it is like an oracle or an eaching, or a tarot deck. Easier to read that way. That way, you don't have to start getting to the end. Brandon Handley 31:34 For sure, and so of the people that you've shared this with and have worked through with, what would you say, has been the largest impact or Aha, teaching out of this book for for some years. Satyen Raja 31:50 It's what I said earlier meal to magician. tendency is in the wet in the whole world is to be overly willful, especially in leader ship positions, willful willful Drive, drive, drive, keep going take a breather, drive, drive drive, and it produces results. You know, the old paradigm, massive action equals massive results, it's a great paradigm. What we don't hear is also equals massive burnout. Behind the scenes, we don't hear about people exposing Crush It, massive it, right, right. When you say that, you'll end up being crushed, I've seen it over and over and over, every person that continues down that road, always has some backfire a boomerang backlash, some on physically, the relationship, something pans out, they get some they get burnt out, and they don't know what's going on, or they lose their fire. So the paradigm of going from hard work to a transcendent leader is the trans transition. And to deal with that we have to deal with our we have to transform our addiction to doing we have to transform our addiction to control. And, and and when we do that, in fact, the control and the commanding becomes 100 times stronger. You become like Archimedes, you get you're able to lift the whole world up with this with a lever, because you're not using willpower, you've made your internal lever so powerful, right? That's the key. That's a good formula to magician. And that's, I think, the essence of this book. Brandon Handley 33:34 And you've also got, you know, transcendent culture, which is the companion book with this. And to be honest, I haven't had a chance to jump into this one just yet. But, you know, is this where the leader can kind of refer to and how to grow and nurture their, their people talk to us a little bit about the comparison. Satyen Raja 33:52 Yeah, exactly. You nailed it, Brandon. So the transcendence seals for yourself and your own mastery and leadership, transcendent cultures. Now, how do you bring that into your teams, they bring in your family, your team dynamics, whether your team is 2345 or 1000. This we've always sages also chief, a cultural adviser for numerous companies. And we also bring in programs of coherence taking teams that are in chaotic state into coherence in less than two hours. That's powerful. That's part one of our reputations and fame and claim to fame is that we take the most ragtag crazy wild set of discontinuous and chaos filled teammates in a zoom call for two hours, we can really literally dissolve the major obstacles that got in their mindset and get them aligned and coherent and moving forward in a good way. And that to me, I believe human dynamics is the essence of and supporting the Hello in the happiness and the joy of healthy human dynamics in an organization, that's the key to making them grow. And 20 100x, which now I've seen with the companies, I mentor, many fold TEDx as a minimum that happens to them over over the time they work with me. Brandon Handley 35:19 Sure enough, super powerful. And I think that, you know, science is proving out, you know, a lot of what you're saying how you put people in this state of being, you can expect to have these type of returns the, the old fear and, and again, militant, you know, crack the whip or whatever, you know, run them down, run a run to the ground. Sure, to your point, we can get results that way. But, you know, you're gonna toss that one out and go get a new one. Or they'll quit. Satyen Raja 35:44 Right, right. Turnover churn rate. Brandon Handley 35:47 Right? So hey, Satya, I always been awesome. And I love it. I know, we don't have too much more time left. What, uh, what I got here for you is the fun portion of the podcasts. And it's what I like to think about is that this is a little bit like spiritual speed dating, right? Like somebody's gonna tune into Satya as podcasts, they're gonna be like, well, do I feel like spiritually dating site 10. And what he has has brought out for us today. And to that end, I've got a couple of questions, I'd like to ask you, you ready? Please? All right. And I know you're married, but spiritual Bachelard. Number one, you know, why are so many people depressed. Satyen Raja 36:25 They don't know what their true mission and purposes are. They're denying it, or they're avoiding it. Because even when you find what you're what you're really here for, right? And the way to ask, the way to know that is take some time, get a journey going or go for a walk, sit down at a river sit down in nature underneath a tree, pick a few hours, universe, me and my soul. What is mind to do now? What is not mine to do now in the world? Have a sheet write down what is mine to do? What is not mine to do? What is mine to do? What is not mine to do? Do that for an hour or two, you'll get more honed in to your center of what you're here to do when you do the depression will start to alleviate Brandon Handley 37:11 now. And, you know, that's also one of the exercises in the book, if I recall correctly. And so there's more more like that in the book. So thanks for sharing that. You know, then that reminds me to the call of the hero, right? Joseph Campbell's called the hero, right? If you find out what your purpose is, and you kind of reject it, it's just kind of keeps nagging at you. Right? And it keeps following you around. Like I'm still here, you still got your thing to fulfill. We talked about this? I don't know. I'm not a soul contract guy. Because I don't know enough on it. But But soul contracts, right? Say, Hey, we said we're gonna do this. And we showed up. So thank you for that answer. What is the relationship between science and religion? Satyen Raja 37:53 Well, in this day and age, all the lines are blurring, and science, philosophy spirituality are getting closer and closer together. Because we're noticing that universal laws or universal laws, doesn't matter what spectrum you're in. And I believe science. As we go deeper into the quantum mechanic dimension, it sounds more and more closer to spiritual dimensions. And one day, I believe will be a place where there's no distinction, where it's just a universal science that takes into account the observer, the subject, relationship, and all of the whole spectrum of the game. Brandon Handley 38:34 Yeah, I think it's been a lot of fun to watch them converge over the past couple of years. I don't know about you how kind of excited you are. When something comes out. You're like, oh, I can go to somebody and be like, it's not all woowoo here it is. I've got something for you. Right. Satyen Raja 38:49 But some of my top CEOs are like, some of the world's most brilliant scientists, like scientists, AI genius is a biotech geniuses I'm talking geniuses, right? But when they get the taste of the spiritual flavor and the awakening, they're like, Wow, the maturity of their science goes to a whole new level. Wisdom informs science. Brandon Handley 39:14 Sure. There's a correct me if I'm wrong, like I mean, there's a you know, what's the opposite of constriction? Right, there's a release, right? Because they've been going through constricted and they've been going through like, forcing and if they can sit back, release, relax, and I guess you receive, right is kind of how it works out. Well. Hey, Satsang has been so much fun. Is there anything else that you wanted to share prior to sign off today? Satyen Raja 39:39 Well, you know, I'm just very grateful for you your energy, the good work you're doing out in the world. Thank you for sharing and asking me these great questions and everyone who's listening. You're welcome to come to our website, Warrior sage.com. And there's many, many different teachings and interviews with all the great CEOs there a lot of inspiration, and it's just been a pleasure, my friend. And let's let's keep banding together for the greater hole right now. Okay, Brandon Handley 40:04 I appreciate it Santana thanks for being on today. Satyen Raja 40:06 Let's brother be well I Unknown Speaker 40:09 really hope you enjoyed this episode of the spiritual dope podcast. Stay connected with us directly through spiritual dove.co You can also join the discussion on Facebook spiritual though and Instagram and spiritual underscored. If you would like to speak with us, send us an email there Brandon at spiritual dove.co And as always, thank you for cultivating your mindset and creating a better reality. This includes the most thought provoking part of your day. Don't forget to like and subscribe to stay fully up to date. Until next time, be kind to yourself and trust your intuition Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Japan just devours data, statistics and information.  When you visit some scenic spot, there will be an amazing level of data available about that venue.  The announcement on the subway train when you arrive at your stop will warn you that there is a specific gap in so many centimeters between the platform and the train, so be careful.  I first discovered this data addiction when I was here as a student, some forty years ago.  I attended a scholarly conference on Sino-Japanese Relations, as that was my area of specialty, trying to combine my Chinese and Japanese skills to access original source documents for my research.  A Japanese Professor was making a point in his lecture about the differences between China and Japan and he used a story about the introduction of Zen into Japan.  Zen originated in India and came to Japan via China, so various Japanese Zen monks would make the perilous journey to China, to study there.    There was a Zen story involving a well and a bucket to make some esoteric point about the condition of humanity.  In the Chinese version, the concentration was on the broader allegorical point.  The Japanese version had that too, but went into supreme, finite detail about the dimension of the well, its construction, how the rope and bucket were made, etc.    This love of detail and data still permeates in business today as well.  Because there is that distinct fear of making a mistake, one of the clear antidotes in Japan, is to amass masses of data, so that you can analyse everything before you take any decisions.  We have the same thing in the West and we characterise it as “paralysis by analysis”.  When we turn up to sell our widget, we had better come packing data, lots of data.  This is a slippery slope though.   The temptation is to wade straight into the detail, the facts, the stats, the data.  This is certainly what the buyer wants, but we have to temper that data obsession.  The data doesn't sell anything.  We know we buy benefits, we buy the application of the benefits, we buy results and the data is just the detail to explain how we can provide the required benefits.  We should certainly lug around a lot of information to the sales meetings, but we shouldn't show it.   My recommendation is to have the product catalogue, the flyers etc., at the ready but either leave them in your bag or place them on the seat next to you, well out of sight.  If you put them on the table, the magnetic attraction will be too great and the buyer will want you to start wading through the minutiae.   The point is to know which part of that thick, bulging catalogue you should go to or which Flyer you need to bring forth.  We need to find out what they need first, before we have any idea if we actually have what they need. If we do, then we need to dole out the information sparingly in the meeting.  We only have limited buyer time, so that part should be concentrated on digging deep into how we can add value for them, such that they don't do it themselves or do it with our competitor.   The other part of this equation is do we have the information needed at two levels – very high level and the into the morass level.  Our Flyers should have a structural split between the key points and the nitty gritty details. We should avoid the deep detail dive at this point, but assure the buyer we have it and they can parse the entrails later by themselves.  If we don't get to the benefits part, then this won't become a purchase decision.  It may not happen in the one meeting.  Often, we will go away and put together a proposal.  One key thing is to get the appointment for that discussion during that first meeting.  Everyone is so busy and you don't want to be ghosted, when you are trying to get things moving to the concrete stage.  Set the day and time right there and lock them in.   When we are going through the Flyer or the catalogue, don't just hand over the details and let them read it by themselves.  We must control what they are looking at and we decide what that will be.  Turn the document around to face them. Using your pen, draw their attention to the parts of the catalogue or the Flyer which you want then to look at.  If it is an online meeting then share the screen. Use the annotation tool to draw lines on the document on screen, directing their attention to the key bits you need them to know.    There is an ocean of information in our materials and we need to be very time efficient as to which parts we highlight.  Naturally, the materials must be set out professionally and must be clear in the presentation of data and information, such that it is easy for you to find and also easy to show to the buyer.  If we need to leave supplementary materials with them then certainly do that, but don't concentrate there, rather focus on the areas where the sales decision is most likely to be made.  Your supporting materials should be just that – supports – not the dominant element in the sale.  You are the key part of the sale and let's make sure we keep the attention there.

Satori means "enlightenment” in Japanese Zen. It was a true pleasure to have Satori CEO, Chengxi Wang share her inspirational journey from musician to financial analyst to 3D printing creative leader. Developing professional 3D printers for dentists, engineers, jewelry designers, manufacturers, and innovators around the world...Topics Include:0:05 – Intro Chengxi Wang – CEO, Satori – Creatives put the "why" in "buy"1:45 – Behind the creation of Satori – Musical and finance background – 3D printing and the creative process3:44 – Satori – Empowering the creative user's experience4:51 – Customized resin and machine solutions developed from customer feedback.6:21 – Learning from failure - Embrace the chaos - Water washable resin9:25 – Dental industry value: aligners – Surgical guides 11:33 – Musician creativity mindset – Team leadership – Discipline14:14 – Leading a team during the pandemic – Partnership programs17:11 - Continuing education – User experience – Dental ROI21:30 – 3D printings special charm – Owning your journey 22:52 – Future plans for Satori23:37 – Curiosity and a creative mind – Inspiration - CommunityChengxi WangTwitter: https://bit.ly/3feb6QeLinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3cl9Nx3Satori:https://twitter.com/satori3dphttps://www.linkedin.com/company/satori-3d/website: https://satori-tech.io/Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/alldigitalam9283/donations

In this episode of The Healers Café, Dr. Manon Bolliger, ND, chats with Dr Matt Lyon, Chiropractor, acupuncture practitioner and a teacher of meditation   Listen to the full story today! https://www.drmanonbolliger.com/dr-matt-lyon2   Highlights from today's episode include:   Dr Matt (05:33): I've Noticed a qualitative shift. I'm so curious what you think, how you feel.... I've noticed a qualitative shift in people's nervous systems, We're more on alert, more on guard, more, in that flexor reflex, afferent fight or flight sympathetic overdrive, you know, nor epinephrin fuelled fear state, we are just kind of..... In this, this ocean of fear and that's changed, you know, that's been an issue Dr Matt (08:18): i feel one of the big issues in our society is that people are sort of cutting down from here, like talking heads already disembodied......being disembodied and then asking people to wear masks and then believing or expecting that we're going to become more. Heart-Centered. I mean, that's a big leap. Dr Matt (11:39): I mean, no disrespect to any chiropractors who are watching this, but chiropractors who solely focused on pain or, Hey, nice to see, mrs. Jones, crack, crack, crack, pop, pop, pop, see you later. Those are the guys that are really struggling and they're struggling for a few reasons. Dr Matt (14:54): I've seen the situations where people are just really struggling. And then I've seen this situation where people are really thriving and the more holistic and the more emotionally attuned people are and the better communicators there are. And they have effective systems that actually work with the whole person they're doing really well. Dr Manon (17:10): The board standing up for for chiropractors saying, this is essential. We were as naturopathic doctors, also considered essential, but here's the kicker. We were not allowed to talk about the immune system. We were not allowed to say our truth. Dr Matt (28:25): The vast majority of people in the United States either don't have access to that, or don't have economic access to that. And so we look at communities that are disproportionately affected, whereas a major conversation about how many dollars you have to buy foods that are healthy. And when it's Kraft macaroni and cheese and processed grains and processed meats and Sugar Sugar Sugar huge amounts of obesity, hypertension, high blood pressure, diabetes prediabetes, all of these predisposing conditions where you've got loads of cytokines, loads of inflammation, loads of emotional stress in the community because people in survival and all of a sudden now damn, and that's to say that wealthy people aren't affected, but it's, it's different. It's very different.   About Dr Matt Lyon: Dr. Matt is a chiropractor and acupuncture practitioner who owned and operated one of the largest chiropractic clinics of its kind in the world. His clinic had a 6-9 month waiting list where clients flew from around the world to participate in a wholly unique MindBody paradigm and practice of healing and wellness. He specialized in deeply energetic approach to alignment and balance called Network Spinal Analysis (as featured on the GoopLab special, episode 5 found on Netflix). He was also a master practitioner and facilitator of SomatoRespiratory Integration - a somatic breath and energy practice to up level the human nervous and energy system. Dr. Matt Lyon has been teaching meditation to groups for 27 years. Dr. Matt began his deep study of meditation in 1992 with an initiation in traditional Japanese Zen meditation with a renowned Zen Master. After that, he studied with a monk and Christian meditation master in the tradition of Centering prayer. He has also been formally initiated and trained in Tibetan Buddhism, Mindfulness meditation, Transcendental Meditation, and Loving-Kindness meditation. Dr. Matt also lived and trained at the US Olympic Training center as an athlete where he was trained in leading edge biofeedback, meditation, and visualization. Dr. Matt has worked with and taught in over 20 corporations as a wellness and mindfulness consultant. At Duke Energy, the largest power utility in the United States, he rolled out a watershed 6 month meditation program for employees. Dr. Matt also leads his own private retreats for small groups in the USA, Latin America, and the Caribbean. He and his wife sold their clinic and relocated to Longmont, CO as they begin their next service adventure to the Colorado community. They are currently opening a healing center here in Longmont, CO. Dr. Matt is an intuitive Energy strategist to some of the most influential thought leaders of our time and has worked directly with a number of prominent politicians, authors, influencers  and Hollywood actors. Facebook  |  Website  |      About Dr. Manon Bolliger, ND: Dr. Manon is a Naturopathic Doctor, the Founder of Bowen College, an International Speaker with a TEDx talk in Jan 2021, and the author of the Amazon best-selling books "What Patient's Don't Say if Doctors Don't Ask & a Healer In Every Household.   About The Healers Café: Dr. Manon's show is the #1 show for medical practitioners and holistic healers to have heart to heart conversations about their day to day lives. For tips on health & healing go to: https://www.drmanonbolliger.com/tips Dr. Manon, ND – Facebook | Instagram |  LinkedIn  |  YouTube  |  Twitter

In the 5th episode of the Lion-Faced Guru Podcast, Kim Katami interviews Lama John Hoag from the US about his in-depth experiences with Japanese Zen and how he eventually switched to Vajrayana Buddhism ending up studying with Dudjom Rinpoche, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and Chatral Rinpoche in Nepal. John and Kim also discuss the incomparable directness and simplicity of Tantric Guru Yoga comparted to the concentration-based approaches of Zen.

In which we continue the story of Japanese Zen monk Soko Morinaga Roshi. In this episode, he receives two honors from his teacher, and then leaves for a large monastery. Watch the YouTube version. — This show is only possible because of people like you. Visit A Brief Chat‘s Patreon page and become a supporting...

In which we continue the story of Japanese Zen monk Soko Morinaga Roshi. In this episode, Morinaga talks about lineage and tradition, and the bond between student and teacher. Watch the YouTube version. — This show is only possible because of people like you. Visit A Brief Chat‘s Patreon page and become a supporting member...

In which we continue the story of Japanese Zen monk Soko Morinaga Roshi. In this episode, Morinaga is a new student of Zen and is learning the hard way. [Photo source.] Watch the YouTube version. — This show is only possible because of people like you. Visit A Brief Chat‘s Patreon page and become a...

In which we continue the story of Japanese Zen monk Soko Morinaga Roshi. In this episode, he meets his first Buddhist teacher. [Photo source.] Watch the YouTube version. — This show is only possible because of people like you. Visit A Brief Chat‘s Patreon page and become a supporting member today. Members get a weekly...

In which we continue the story of Japanese Zen monk Soko Morinaga Roshi. In this episode, Morinaga returns to school after fighting in WWII, and struggles with good vs. evil. Watch the YouTube version. — This show is only possible because of people like you. Visit A Brief Chat‘s Patreon page and become a supporting...