Zen Master Henry Shukman — 20 Minutes of Calm, Plus the Strange and Powerful World of Koans (#560)
Illustration via 99designs“Through koans, you can meet in the boundless wonder of this other dimension of our experience.“
— Henry Shukman
Henry Shukman (@mountaincloudzencenter) teaches mindfulness and awakening practices to a wide range of students from all traditions and walks of life. Henry is an appointed teacher in the Sanbo Zen lineage and is the Guiding Teacher of Mountain Cloud Zen Center. He has an MA from Cambridge and an MLitt from St Andrews and has written several award-winning books of poetry and fiction.
Henry’s essays have been published in The New York Times, Outside, and Tricycle, and his poems have been published in The New Republic, The Guardian, The Sunday Times (UK), and London Review of Books. He has taught meditation at Google, Harvard Business School, UBS, Esalen Institute, Colorado College, United World College, and many other venues. He has written of his own journey in his memoir One Blade of Grass: Finding the Old Road of the Heart, a Zen Memoir.
Henry has also recently created a new meditation program, Original Love, which aims to provide a broad, inclusive path of growth through meditation.
Please enjoy!
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Listen onApple Podcasts[image error]Listen onSpotify[image error]Listen onOvercast#560: Zen Master Henry Shukman — 20 Minutes of Calm, Plus the Strange and Powerful World of KoansThis episode is brought to you by Laird Superfood. Founded by big-wave surfer Laird Hamilton and volleyball champion Gabby Reece, Laird Superfood promises to deliver high-impact fuel to help you get through your busiest days. Laird Superfood offers a line of plant-based products designed to optimize your daily rituals from sunrise to sunset.
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What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.
SCROLL BELOW FOR LINKS AND SHOW NOTES…
Want to catch Henry Shukman’s last appearance on this show? Listen to our conversation here in which we discuss examining the deep wounds of childhood trauma, how the phenomenon of awakening compares and contrasts with psychotic episodes, Zen tramps, what koans are and how they guide us toward nonduality, why Henry considers the term “non-ordinary consciousness”– when applied to an awakened mind — a misnomer, if someone can have a “bad trip” through Zen, and much more.
#531: Henry Shukman — Zen, Tools for Awakening, Ayahuasca vs. Meditation, Intro to Koans, and Using Wounds as the DoorwaySELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODEConnect with Henry Shukman:Mountain Cloud Zen Center | LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram
A New Approach to the Ancient Path of Awakening | Original LoveOne Blade of Grass: Finding the Old Road of the Heart, a Zen Memoir by Henry Shukman | AmazonOther Books by Henry Shukman | AmazonHenry Shukman — Zen, Tools for Awakening, Ayahuasca vs. Meditation, Intro to Koans, and Using Wounds as the Doorway | The Tim Ferriss Show #531Tame Reactive Emotions by Naming Them | MindfulDiana Chapman — How to Get Unstuck, Do “The Work,” Take Radical Responsibility, and Reduce Drama in Your Life | The Tim Ferriss Show #536Nature’s Lessons in Healing Trauma: An Introduction to Somatic Experiencing by Peter Levine | Somatic Experiencing Trauma InstituteMindful Somatic Psychotherapy | Hakomi InstituteWhy Saying “Boys Don’t Cry” Hurts Boys and Men | Blackburn CenterTerra Incognita | WikipediaNot Knowing Is Most Intimate | Marc LesserWhat Is A Zen Koan? History And Interpretation Of Koans | Being ZenHow to Practice Zen Koans | Lion’s Roar15 of the Deepest Zen Koans | Wisdom PillsChan Buddhism | Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyTang Dynasty | World History EncyclopediaNonduality: Defining the Undefinable | Deconstructing YourselfKoan | WikipediaPsilocybin Acutely Alters the Functional Connectivity of the Claustrum with Brain Networks That Support Perception, Memory, and Attention | NeuroImageMeditation Alters Brain Connectivity in Areas Associated with Emotion, MRI Shows | Health ImagingJorge Ferrer: The Challenge of Shared Psychedelic Visions for Scientific Materialism | International Transpersonal ConferenceKenshō | WikipediaJ.D. Salinger and a Zen Koan by Henry Shukman | Tricycle: The Buddhist ReviewSanbo Kyodan | WikipediaSong Dynasty | World History EncyclopediaThe Blue Cliff Record | AmazonThe Book of Equanimity: Illuminating Classic Zen Koans | AmazonThe Gateless Gate: The Classic Book of Zen Koans | AmazonFlowing Bridge: The Miscellaneous Koans | AmazonHow Does a Zen Master Determine When a Student’s Answer to a Koan Is Correct? | QuoraWhat is Mu in Zen Buddhist Practice? | Learn ReligionsBuddhist Concept of Emptiness | Routledge Encyclopedia of PhilosophyOxford Brookes UniversityWho Framed Roger Rabbit | Prime VideoBuddhism Is Not a Treatment for Mental Illness | Lion’s RoarWaking Up with Sam Harris AppThe 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman by Timothy Ferriss | AmazonDharma Transmission | WikipediaVipassana Meditation | Dhamma.orgTop Five Major Beliefs in Tibetan Buddhism | Tibet TravelAldous Huxley: The Reducing Valve Theory | Nexus VoidDonald Hoffman: Do We See Reality as It Is? | TED TalkDo Psychedelics Expand the Mind by Reducing Brain Activity? | Scientific AmericanThe Case Against Reality: Why Evolution Hid the Truth from Our Eyes by Donald Hoffman | AmazonHow Different Languages Say “It’s All Greek to Me.” | The Language NerdsSHOW NOTESHow does Henry deal with unexpected curveballs the game of life often throws our way? [05:18]“To name it is to tame it.” What are the characteristics of allowing/not allowing and accepting/not accepting, and how might someone consciously manifest them when trying to identify and correct what’s upsetting their balance? Henry mellifluously leads us through an exercise. [11:46]Things to consider when we’re having difficulty pinpointing and processing the emotions we’re experiencing (to which many men in the West may relate). [25:25]For anyone not familiar with Henry’s first appearance on this show, what is a koan, and how do they work? [35:14]For the healthy skeptics among us: why the states toward which koans are designed to guide us aren’t “woo woo,” but scientifically documented. [47:14]How can the experience of “awakening” be explained to someone who’s never experienced it? [52:01]How many koans are there, and how many has Henry passed? [55:24]What are the checking questions that determine whether or not a koan has been passed? Once someone has passed a koan, are they done with it? [1:00:02]Sitting with Mu and Roger Rabbit. [1:04:22]What isn’t a koan? [1:11:49]There’s no business like Kenshō business. Is it possible for someone to experience something that might be perceived as a psychotic break if they experience awakening but don’t have a framework to make sense of it? [1:16:11]Using koans for meditation. [1:25:31]How does someone who is brand new to Zen separate a legitimate teacher from a charlatan? [1:27:13]What is a Dharma transmission? [1:32:43]Do shared psychedelic visions have anything in common with the “right” answers to a koan’s checking questions? In other words, is someone who experiences Kenshō extending their senses into the same unseen world as someone on, say, an ayahuasca journey? [1:37:42]Parting thoughts. [1:57:48]MORE QUOTES FROM THE INTERVIEW“To name it is to tame it.”
— Dr. Daniel Siegel
“A koan isn’t an annoying, boring, little, pointless thing. It’s got an incredible purpose, which is sharing this deepest reality of our existence.”
— Henry Shukman
“Inside of many of us, I believe there’s some kind of deep, primordial wound. There’s some deep, ancient grief. [But] … grief is not an enemy.”
— Henry Shukman
“I can’t believe how fortunate it is to be a human being.”
— Henry Shukman
“Koans love the world so much”
— Henry Shukman
“We sit with koans because they can open us up to this boundless reality. Ongoing beyond a first experience, they train us more and more in realizing that our ordinary life and that mind-blowing reality, they’re not separate.”
— Henry Shukman
“Through koans, you can meet in the boundless wonder of this other dimension of our experience.”
— Henry Shukman
