How do you find comfort in the precepts? What is the relationship between anger, forgiveness and justice? What about anxiety due to abrupt insight into emptiness? This is one of my unscripted Q&A episodes, where I answer questions submitted by listeners. Sorry – You’ll have to listen to the audio for my responses to the questions!
Finding Comfort in the Precepts
Steve wrote:
How do you find comfort in the precepts? Truth is not always warm and inviting. Sometimes the truth is cold and harsh, no matter how it’s delivered to you or how you dispense it to someone. Right speech can still hurt. Right action can seem like a betrayal. It’s fine when we all gather at a Zen center and uphold precepts and sit in meditation. But out in the rest of the world, following precepts can leave you alone and misunderstood. How do you find comfort in the precepts?
[Listen to audio for my response..]
The Relationship Between Anger, Forgiveness, and Injustice
A concerned mother wrote:
I’d appreciate it if you could explore the relationship between anger, forgiveness and justice.
I am carrying profound anger towards a relative who sexually assaulted my daughter when she was about 8. A young adult now, my daughter suffers from physical and mental illnesses that stem, in part, from this trauma. The perpetrator of violence was also a minor at the time, and I’m still very angry at his parents. I’m also angry with myself for not protecting her. I am not in accord with the precept against anger and do not have a peaceful mind around this matter. I need to address it. However, I can’t believe that I am “contriving reality for the self.” It happened, there were witnesses, and almost two decades on my daughter suffers like so many other victims of sexual and gender-based violence. I can bury the rage but that is not skillful. Thoughts?
[Listen to audio for my response..]
Accidental Kensho: Dramatic and Sometimes Unpleasant Openings
Philip wrote:
Hello! I’m wondering your thoughts around anxiety that occurs when one has insights or perhaps kenshō when not pursuing it or expecting it. As an example, I’ve been having abrupt insights while not even practicing currently (I did so more in my early 20s, about 25 years ago).
The result is fairly intense anxiety as I “see” my true nature, and how all my language, core thoughts and constructs (and ego) melt away. It’s a bit terrifying! I guess what’s most surprising about the experience is that it’s not calming and fulfilling like we usually hear. There’s no equanimity. Rather, panic.
[Listen to audio for my response..]
