Being Unborn: The Practice of Non-Objectification

In this Wednesday Night Public Dharma Talk, resident practitioner Hunt Anshin Hoffman offers his first Dharma talk relating to his path and relationship with practice (way seeking mind talk). Anshin begins by invoking the 13th century German mystic Meister Eckhart’s insight: “when we seek ways to God, we find ways but lose God.” This sets the tone for Anshin’s exploration of a “practice that’s not quite a practice” but rather “life itself.” Anshin demonstrates his deep engagement with practice through the ease in which he brings quotes and teachings from different traditions under the same roof. Referencing teachers from Meister Eckhart’s concept of “releasement”, Bankei’s teaching on “the unborn,” and contemporary masters like Drodrup Chen Rinpoche, Anshin explores how “activating the mind without dwelling on anything is the essential message of the whole canon.” Anshin shares his own transformative experience in which he is pulled from his negative thought spiral by a voice who commands, “Just stop talking to yourself!”. We are reminded that while practice is simple and always available, zazen provides essential training in embodiment, freeing us from objectifying ourselves or our practice as means to other ends.