The practice is always brightened and clarified and fired up while listening to anything that Robert Thurman says. It’s a lot of what Dae Soen Sa Nim called “dry cognition”, but he is definitely not only that — it’s not even most of his presentation. He has clearly attained something. Didn’t Bodhidharma himself that there are “two” gates for entering the Way — by Reason and by Practice? Chan (Zen) monks in Tang Dynasty China would often say, “For philosophy, study the Flower Ornament Sutra; for attainment, practice meditation [Chan/Zen].”

Prof. Thurman has the both wings of the bird, in ways that few mere intellectuals do with Dharma when they open their mouths to express it. (In my humble opinion.)

This is the first in a series of talks on this sutra, one of my favorites. I’ll need to use some donation funds to pay for the tuition.

One year ago, I purchased the course he gave on the Vimalakirti Sutra — a package of 12 talks — and the Zen Center family gathered around the computer once a week to hear his broadcast. It inspired us all. Most importantly, it caused some members of our community, who had never really “touched” the sutras, to become more deeply inspired, seeing this vast borderless and inconceivable expression of Dharma.

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