We Just Have to Get Quiet Enough

In this Wednesday Night Dharma Talk, Sensei Monshin explores the ancient Buddhist teaching of Kanno Doko — “responsive communion” or “mystical communion.” Drawing from a Wallace Stevens poem and the writings of Suzuki Roshi, she reflects on the mind that can “get quiet enough to be in our experience, quiet enough to be our experience.” With plain curiosity, Monshin asks: What do we really feel? How do we sense Buddha’s response to us? What is that really? She weaves together insights from Dōgen, Katagiri Roshi, Simone Weil, and Joanna Macy, showing how this quieting transcends tradition and is expressed in the deep aspiration — the call and intention — for awakening. As Simone Weil writes, “Attention consists of suspending our thought, leaving it detached, empty, and ready to be penetrated by the object.” Through humility and deep listening, we may find that “if we know who we are, we can’t help but make life-honoring choices.”