“All beings by nature are Buddha”, Hakuin Zenji reminds us, “apart from beings, no Buddha”. Without this body, this form, there is no Buddha. So we take our seat for zazen, be it zafu, bench or chair, “belly forwards, buttocks back”. We relax our shoulders, centre ourselves and focus on the breath. Now there is little for the nervous system to do, no balancing, moving or touching, and fewer thoughts crowding onto centre stage. Now, whenever we notice we’ve been lost in dreams and fantasies, we return to the breath, to the koan, coming home to what is. How do you practice, so that ‘this very body’ presents the love and peace and wisdom that Hakuin Zenji’s line promises, the awakened one who sees through the solitary and sometimes fearful and paranoid self to be one with/as the many beings?

This Teisho was given by Gillian Coote, roshi at the July Zazenkai at Annandale