Third summer camp 2025

Kusen from L.Tenryu Tenbreul

Evening Zazen (Sesshin)

Wanshi Zenji said:

“At the very core of the spirit lies a source of stillness and purity. By touching this source, the heart and mind are freed from their worries.”

 Those who follow the Way are not indifferent. We are very much aware of the fears and worries of those around us, as well as our own, yet in touching the source it also becomes clear that many of these worries arise from speculation about the future or clinging to the past. Touching the source, however, brings us back into the wholeness of the present moment, and there we can let go of our self-concern and create an inner and present attitude in the now that can deal with the circumstances. The expression ‘at the bottom of the mind’ does not here refer to something rigid or hard; rather, this bottom of the mind is a realm where the individual and the universal interpenetrate, sound and silence, form and emptiness. It is our great koan as human beings: why we are so deeply entangled in the phenomena on the surface of the mind, and why it is so difficult to extricate ourselves from them. In the Buddhist path, it is said that this attachment is nourished by a long-standing habitual energy, yet it is precisely this habit that zazen can interrupt, allowing the connection with the source or the deep background to open anew.

By repeating this practice day after day, a unique energy of the Way and of the mind emerges within it, making it possible to open the hands of thought and allow the light of one’s true self to shine through. This light has no particular colour; it is simply the very nature of the mind itself in its depths.