About this episode
“What would it be like to realize that you're not missing anything, that the brightness is not somewhere else and it's not someone else.” We share one final excerpt from last winter's Commit to Sit as the next 90-day summer practice period starts this Wednesday! In this talk, Koshin Sensei captures the essence of Zen practice through the lens of lineage and transmission. Speaking on the 90th day, he weaves together ancient wisdom stories with intimate personal reflections from his time training in Japan earlier this year. The talk centers on a profound paradox: how “setting down the small self” actually leads to greater intimacy and connection. Through stories of Buddha's flower-twirling at Vulture Peak and Bodhidharma's encounter with Emperor Wu, Koshin Sensei illustrates how genuine spiritual transmission happens not through concepts or credentials, but through complete presence and receptivity. He transforms lofty spiritual concepts into immediate, practical questions: How do we really receive what life offers us? Are we dividing up the world into what we like and don't like? Can we see the light that's already emanating “through every pore”? Koshin insists that awakening isn't somewhere else or for someone else—it's the “vivid alertness” available right now, in this moment, through whatever role we're given, whatever circumstances we face. This is Zen practice at its most immediate and heartfelt: not escape from the world, but complete engagement with it through the ancient practice of “turning the light inward” to illuminate what we've been missing all along.