Rowing Our Wisdom Boat

If we look at this world, it will break our hearts. We have to trust that. That breaking heart bleeds wisdom and compassion. And we have to welcome it in. Welcome in the breaking heart. Zen Master Seung Sahn would say to us, “Put your practice where the pain point is.” That idea saved my life.

No matter how unpleasant, we just put our don’t know exactly where the pain is. It’s the sign. This is “rowing our wisdom boat,” yeah? This is an old metaphor. We are rowing this prajna ship, this wisdom boat. This activity of finding the pain point and putting our attention there, our don’t know. What is this? Having that courage: that’s rowing the wisdom boat. And we don’t just do it at a ceremony. We don’t just do it on a retreat. We do it all day long. And we can trust that.

The Heart Sutra says: “Avalokiteshvara, while practicing deeply.” You are Avalokiteshvara. You are Kwan Seum Bosal.

Look deeply into the pain point, and exactly what there is to do will appear. People naturally find this. My family naturally took care of itself the best it could. So, what appears “broken” is how we become whole. And when we're rowing this wisdom ship, we are going to get tired. Or we're going to be sick or we're going to be in too much pain to row. So, we rest. And somebody else will row for us. When we feel stronger, then we can row again.