The energy of this moment has a story to it.

Abbot Ryushin Paul Haller at San Francisco Zen Center, November 11, 2006 • Download from San Francisco Zen Center's Audio Dharma page (donate)

• the ideal – the paramita – of energy • the sequence of the paramitas • a poem: “the loud voice is famous to silence” • the attention to the particularities that initiates the innate energy of the moment • “can we let what we are experiencing break our heart, can it break it with sadness, can it break it with joy; either way . . . can we stay right there with that” • a painful moment in a meeting • giving our energetic emotions "enough space" • can we not contract • “how do you skillfully respond to the passion of your life?" "savoring its momentary occurrence” • “let it be famous, that famous moment when someone hurt my feelings” • “shameless about my own irrationality,” responding with “bemused curiosity rather than a desperate mission” • “the point of zazen . . . it’s ok to be human; it’s not always easy, it’s not always clear, but it has its own fundamental innate authority” • famous like a buttonhole • nothing to prove •