7. On Seeking Approval, Feeling Lonely, Wearing Monk's Robes, Soul Pain, Touching the Absolute, Waking Up

These are questions and topics that Claude AnShin Thomas - fully ordained Zen Buddhist Monk in the Japanese Soto Zen tradition - reflects on. He reminds the listener of how to stay awake to life and how to understand more deeply the trappings of a deluded mind.

This episode was recorded during a zoom questions&responses session with a German-speaking audience.

For more interesting information: https://zaltho.org/

If you want to ask a question: [email protected]

Want to read up on this topic? Book recommendations:

-       Bringing Meditation to Life - 108 Teachings on the Path of Zen Practice (Oakwood Publishing 2021)

-       AT HELL'S GATE - A Soldier's Journey from War to Peace (Shambhala Publications 2003)

https://zaltho.org/en/media/books.html

Questions and Time Stamps:
*1:40 I am noticing that I am have difficulties with recognition. I feel as if I need constant positive feedback for everything I do. How do I deal with it?

*7:34 You had mentioned another time that a friend of yours had cut off contact with you and you mentioned that you were probably “inconvenient for him.” How far is it the case that you also  consider that this might be completely about him?

 

*11:59 Do you feel lonely sometimes and if so, how do you deal with this feeling?

 

*14:44 I was wondering if you found any relationship between the relief of pain and sitting?

 

*18:15 How or where do you perceive the absolute realm compared to the relative realm?

 

*21:07 Do you feel like your monk's robe and appearance as a Japanese Zen Buddhist Monk distances you from ordinary people with whom you meet daily,  generating separation and distance between you and others?

 

*24:28 What do you think if I should do if I feel constant and permanent pain in my soul?

 

*29:21 If the emphasis is to wake up from our own suffering, then why don’t I just become a recluse and not deal with people and society?

 

*31: 29 When you say there is no soul, then all the other religions that believe in one wrong? And could one from a buddhist perspective say there is one-soul or one-mind?

 

*35:20 How important do you believe is it in interactions to also admire each other?

 

*36:30 Can you explain a little more of your thoughts on “bardo?’

 

*40:28 Can you describe when you have glimpsed the absolute realm and also when you have recognized it in other people and how you recognized it in other people?

 

*45:28 When in your life was the first time that you felt this burning desire for waking up?