Living Your Spiritual Practice
What is it to live this human life in a spiritual way? Zoketsu Norman Fischer, Zen teacher, author and poet shares stories and reflections that offer insights and teaching, helping us define what is really spiritual practice and what supports us in living our best life. This program focuses on his latest book When You Greet Me I Bow, Notes and Reflections From a Life in Zen.
Zoketsu Norman Fischer is a poet, an author and Zen Buddhist priest. For many years he has taught at the San Francisco Zen Center, the oldest and largest of the new Buddhist organizations in the West, where he served as Co-abbot from 1995-2000. He is presently a Senior Dharma Teacher there as well as the founder and spiritual director of the Everyday Zen Foundation, an organization dedicated to adapting Zen Buddhist teachings to Western culture. Norman’s recent book is When You Greet Me I Bow, Notes and Reflections From a Life in Zen.
You can find out more about Zoketsu Norman Fischer, his teaching and books at the websites normanfischer.org and everydayzen.org. You can also find previous conversations with Norman Fischer in our archive at unityonlineradio.org/yoga-hour.
THE YOGA HOUR TEAM COMMENTS: There were many deep spiritual teachings in this program. Even though Norman Fischer is a Zen Buddhist priest and told his stories from a Buddhist perspective, Dr. Trujillo brings in the connection between the practice of Buddhism and Yoga. He reiterated how at the mystical core of all the great religions, there is connection, which is what is taught by the Kriya Yoga masters. I loved Zoketsu’s story, which he says is a canonical story, of the Buddha's wife, but not told very often. The learning from this story is that we can have a spiritual life but we don't have to be a monastic to do that. Dr. Trujillo brought up the teachers in our lineage who were householders and monastics, so we have the same example in the Yogic teachings. I also appreciated his teaching about relationship and that everything in this manifest realm is about relationship. He says "Relationship isn't about what happens or doesn't happen in this life but relationship is life. In Yoga remembering our relationship to our Self is the highest relationship. These were just a couple of my take-aways from this program.
DR. TRUJILLO’S COMMENTS: Norman Fischer’s book is delightful, and I felt privileged to have been able to discuss it with him. I enjoyed seeing the parallels between Buddhism and Yoga in our discussion of the separate self as illusory, the importance of relationship on the spiritual path, and in our discussion of suffering and the need for equanimity. His closing comments about the importance of our individual practice, not only for ourselves but for the world, and the importance of sharing kindness with all whom we meet were timely and a wonderful way to close the show.