Zen Master Bernie Glassman talked at Google very recently. This lovely new video about his teaching of Zen and his work with the homeless.
He outlined something that is called, “mandala practice,” which is a holistic approach to social action. It involves five different types of energy: spiritual energy, training energy, social action energy, livelihood energy, and relationships energy.
He said something very interesting about Zen Buddhism: “Zen is just one school of Buddhism. Buddhism is about experiencing the interconnectedness of life.”
Bernie then talked about his connection with Jeff Bridges, “The Big Lebowski”, and their book, “The Dude and the Zen Master.”
Another interesting quote is, “…enlightenment is a realization of the interconnectedness of life.”
I love the way he talks about enlightenment being the degree of realization of our interbeing1 (interconnectedness) with life and the universe.
I also found the three tenets of Zen Peacemakers (Bernie’s organization) to be wonderful:
…not knowing, approaching something without attachment to your ideas, being totally open and deep listening2. And second, bearing witness, trying to remove the dichotomy, the dualist way of thinking between you and the environment. And third, out of that, let loving actions arise. So my opinion is that loving actions will arise.
Did you enjoy the video? Please share this video if you like “the Dude” (Jeff Bridges) and / or the Zen Master, Bernie Glassman.
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1Interbeing is a term coined by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh to express our interconnectedness with all things.
2See, for example, the Fourth Mindfulness Training of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh.
