Waking Up is Not Enough Episode 29 - What Is the Point? A Conversation with Zen Master Barbara Rhodes About The Primary Point of Spiritual Practice

Most spiritual practice, especially Zen, emphasizes a kind of engaged curiosity – remaining aware of the present moment. Why? What can we get from this kind of awareness that we cannot get from just enjoying a warm brownie? How can you drop your desire to control what’s going on in yourself and around you and what might happen if you did?  In this sometimes light-hearted and sometimes serious conversation, Mike, Polly and Barbara – who goes by the name Bobby – tumble onto some extraordinary topics. For example, consider the possibility that good and evil, light and dark, are held together by love, by one great big hug. Bobby had that experience. She considers Zen to be the most down-to-earth way to live, in the present moment, making the best of everything. Why doesn’t everyone do it?

Barbara Rhodes, whose Buddhist title is Zen Master SoengHyang, is Zen Master of the Kwan Um School of Zen. In 1992, she received dharma transmission from Seung Sahn, an eminent Korean Zen Master. She is also a hospice nurse who has served in that role for many years. 

Her new book Composting Our Karma: Turning Confusion into Lessons for Awakening Our Innate Wisdom came out with Shambhala Publications in 2024. It was edited by Elizabeth Goldstein, a psychologist and Zen student from Burlington, Vermont.