Untangle Yourself

Danica Shoan Ankele, Senior Monastic and Dharma Holder - Zen Mountain Monastery, New York, Friday 07/29/2022 - From the the Sutra of Hui-Neng (The Platform Sutra of the 6th Ancestor), Hui-Neng himself describes his realization: "I thought there was an I who sees and hears. That was a great mistake. It's only a sound perceived with a mind resting in no place. Now I understand there is no birth or death. This wide open state of mind is my original mind. The mountains, the rivers, the sun and the moon are all me." - Shoan brings up this fundamental teaching of "no-self"... OK. So, there is no self. And yet here I am. How do we hold these "two truths"? And our sense of identity... How does it come to us? And why does it often become such a seemingly unresolvable entanglement? Shoan encourages us to be mindful and patient and to hold our stories loosely.