Waking Up is Not Enough Episode 32 - Original Love: A Conversation with Zen Teacher and Poet Henry Shukman

Why We Should Be at Ease With Ourselves and What Gets in the Way of It? 

Henry Shuman is a poet, author, and meditation teacher who has guided thousands of students from around the world in mindfulness and awakening practices. Henry is a Zen master in the Sanbo Zen lineage and the emeritus spiritual director at Mountain Cloud Zen Center in Sante Fe, New Mexico. He is the author of two books about meditation and his own experiences: One Blade of Grass: Finding the Old Road of the Heart and the book we will be talking about today, Original Love: The Four Inns on the Path to Awakening. Henry is also the cofounder of The Way meditation app and the founder of the Original Love meditation program. In addition to his being an award-winning author and having best-selling books of poetry and fiction, Henry has graduate degrees from Cambridge University and St. Andrews University

In this conversation, Henry and Polly engage in questions and inquiries about what is necessary for people to engage in a path of awakening. They talk about what Henry means by “original love,” the nature of love itself, the nature of awakening, and why sometimes love and awakening do not seem to be aligned. Further they talk about the value of Zen training and what it means to be a Zen master, as well as why Henry’s lineage in Zen is uniquely aimed at helping Westerners or those unacquainted with Zen. And finally, most important, they talk about why and how people can be “confident” if they are on the path of awakening.